The wolves are howling for a Wolverines head coaching change ... and at Indiana, too

Minnesota, which hosts Iowa Saturday, got ahead of the curve. It fired its football coach, Tim Brewster, in midseason.

Whether that helps the Gophers get a better successor to Brewster, we'll see. But Minnesota may have company in the Big Ten when it comes to hiring an overpriced search firm for its most-important job in its athletics department.

Michigan, at 7-4 in Rich Rodriguez's third year there and facing a near-certain 7-5 after it plays at Ohio State Saturday, could have upheaval. Wednesday, Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News spelled out his thoughts on the matter pretty succinctly. He wrote:

If the Wolverines lose again in embarrassing fashion to the Buckeyes, it's time to make a change. ...

Should Rodriguez's tenure be pinned to this one game? Three years isn't very long to prove oneself, but there's too much at stake to be completely fair. This game has long been the bedrock of Michigan football, and if Rodriguez loses, he'd have dropped pretty much every contest against a tough opponent. He's 15-20 overall, 6-17 in the Big Ten, winless against rivals Michigan State and Ohio State, 2-1 against Notre Dame.

The numbers are staggering, starting with that awful defense, the worst in school history. Wisconsin ran the ball its final 31 plays in a 48-28 victory, and that physical pounding in the Big House was the most-disturbing and telling game yet.

Wojnowski advocates what many Michigan men and women would concur: Stanford's Jim Harbaugh is the man for their job.

Meanwhile, Al Hamnik of the Northwest Times of Indiana looks to the south-central part of his state and comes up with this opinion: Indiana should fire football coach Bill Lynch. A snapshot of his column:

Lynch has lost several games he should've won. His players, though talented, can't hold the mouthpiece of blue-chippers at Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, even Northwestern.

Bill Lynch needs to go, yesterday.

Life is tough in the Big Ten, my babies. Ron Zook escaped the grim reaper at Illinois this season. His guys have won six games, with a shot at a seventh next week at

Fresno State. The baying in Pennysylvania for Joe Paterno to finally retire at Penn State has apparently subsided for the moment, and Paterno says he's coming back next year.

But this thing in Michigan, I believe change is coming. This may be the school's only shot at getting Harbaugh, who has shown he's a wonderful coach. NFL franchises, who have seen how brother John Harbaugh has brought a smart, winning hand to the Baltimore Ravens, will come calling.

As someone who has chronicled two men's basketball coaching changes at both Iowa and Iowa State within the last five years, let me say this: I'm glad to let someone else have the turmoil for a while.