Could Michigan Target Arkansas' Jeff Long To Be Wolverines' New AD?

It seems like Jeff Long is mentioned as a potential candidate for every high profile AD opening in the country in recent years, and that's likely to continue for a while, at least if he stays at Arkansas.

This is par for the course when we're talking about someone who has won AD of the Year awards, is the face of the College Football Playoff, and gained a tremendous amount of respect nationwide for firing Bobby Petrino. Long is arguably the most famous AD in America.

This year, the big opening is at Michigan, and people aren't hesitating to throw out Long's name as a possible candidate. He's the first person listed in The Detroit News' list of four possible candidates, and other outlets have also mentioned him.

We've seen Long suggested before as candidates at schools like Stanford and Texas, but Michigan might be a bit different. Long has deep connections to Michigan, having worked there from 1987-1998. His wife is also an Ann Arbor native.

It should be noted that this is all very early in the absolute initial speculation point of the process. We're talking about it just because, as linked above, there are major outlets throwing around Long's name.

There have been no indications that Long has seriously considered any other jobs to this point. He seems to have great relationships with his coaches and student-athletes, and he continues to lead the development of new facilities projects for the Razorbacks, which have yet to include the long-discusses football stadium expansion. In addition to all of that, Long is about to complete his second year of a term on the Playoff Committee that isn't set to end until after the 2017 season. He is a bit busy.

Furthermore, Jim Harbaugh doesn't exactly have the best reputation for being easy to work with, which could be off-putting to an athletic director who's already managed Bobby Petrino for four years. Or maybe not. I don't know.

All I know is that I'm not worried about it at this point, although I do think it's worth keeping an eye on.

To follow along with Michigan's AD search, you might want to follow our Michigan site, Maize N Brew.