So who’s back and who comes in?
Moving off of Brown obviously seems like the first of several moves coming, especially defensively. I think everyone assumes that Shoop will be gone, and probably Nua given the decommits. Do you all think there’s a full defensive house cleaning? All that’s left is Jean-Mary and Zordich, the latter of whom I know many people would want gone for recruiting reasons.
Personally, I’d rather not see Partridge back as DC, given how bad the Ole Miss was this season.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:45 PM ^
The board is on fire today...
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:50 PM ^
Looks like Keith is wearing one of those cheap disguises
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:33 PM ^
There was a major coaching move for the team we all root for/post about.
Why wouldn't the board be active?
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:40 PM ^
I agree. I like the fact that there are so many good posts. I upvoted the OP. No disrespect intended. Thanks, though, for checking.
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:40 PM ^
My bad. I'm so used to sarcasm I guess I got a little defensive ?
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:46 PM ^
Thought Zordich was the lead recruiter / draw for 2-3 of the elite CBs is 2022?
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:55 PM ^
I also don't think Domani and Will are anywhere close to committing. You could probably hire a new DB coach, build the relationship, and get some better results in 2021 to help get them in the 22 class.
That being said, we would be fine if they kept Zordich.
December 22nd, 2020 at 11:10 PM ^
But didn't he play with one of the recruits' dads for a while? Or even some other in? You can't just build a relationship like that. Although having said that, I don't think they should keep Zordich just for a couple recruits. I'd be fine keeping him, but he does seem to be dead weight recruiting-wise usually. Steve Sharik had a good post earlier this year for whoever may have missed it. TL;DR, the technique Zordich teaches is fine, but also harder to learn and so possible better suited in a place like the NFL.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:48 PM ^
He is.
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:15 PM ^
Family friend’s son committed to an SEC school and signed last week. He had a Michigan offer and Zordich was his primary recruiter. Feedback is he’s a great teacher and no doubt knows his stuff. Michigan stayed in the game long enough largely because the family liked Zordich.
But comparing him to other position coaches as recruits, there’s apparently a noticeable difference. Basically he recruits more like a defensive coordinator and less like a position coach. Some guys sell the kid and the family on the relationship they’ll have with the position coach while Zordich isn’t that warm and fuzzy type, but rather recruits by relying on pitches around how he’d coach the kid, how many NFL guys he’d coached and how he’d get the kid into the league in 3-4 years.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:47 PM ^
I think Sherrone Moore and Warriner are 100% safe and Jim would fight to keep them and so should administration. I also feel Gattis is probably sticking around. Other than that, I’m not sure anyone else is safe.
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:26 PM ^
Would he fire Jay? I think Jay has done a decent job as a coach and is a plus recruiter. He’s gotta be back, right?
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:51 PM ^
For Jay's own sake, it's time for him to leave the nest and establish a reputation on his own now. He needs to get to the point where he's thought of as a rising coach before he's thought of as "Jim Harbaugh's son".
I believe he can do it.
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:49 PM ^
There’s a point where you become a target (Jeff Bowden, Jay Paterno), you’re assumed to be either incompetent or not worth it (Sean Snyder) or where you go out and prove yourself (Shane Beamer). Maybe he goes out and gets a G5 coordinator gig.
December 23rd, 2020 at 5:57 AM ^
Jim’s not going to fire his son. At worst he’d find a soft landing spot for him and it’ll look like Jay left on his own accord. Maybe OC or a Co-OC in the Mountain West or something, HC in D-II or FCS, etc.
And even that said, not sure Jay should be on the chopping block. But this is emblematic of the different philosophies of so many on the board.
Derek Mason can coach defense but isn’t a world beater in recruiting. Chris Partridge can recruit but coordinated one of the worst defenses in FBS last year. Which would people prefer? It’s quite a mix.
Jay can recruit. And more of the criticism lobbed at him has less to do with his coaching and more to do with an extension of anger towards his father.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:47 PM ^
Ghost of Wilfred Brimley as DC. He will give opposing offenses diabeetus.
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:16 PM ^
Can we take a break from staches?
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:28 PM ^
So no Dave Wannstedt?
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:47 PM ^
This did not need to be an OP just comment in the Don Brown threads or front page article, sigh.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:49 PM ^
Shoop is Harbaugh’s insurance policy. I’m not saying he’s staying, but he does have 14 years experience as a DC.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:51 PM ^
Whatever the situation, he just cost the most talented recruit on the defense a year of development. That’s not someone you can bring back with a promotion.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:53 PM ^
Whose fault is that? Only Harbaugh, Brown and Shoop know, and I doubt they’ll ever say anything about it.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:53 PM ^
Unfortunately for Shoop, DC isn't a no-show job.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:58 PM ^
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/why-michigan-football-four-star-223222986.html
Colson is saying he was blindsided by Brown’s firing. Very little makes sense from the outside.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:04 PM ^
He should’ve read the Twitter tea leaves like the rest of us.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:46 PM ^
I mean, unless he was told directly from brown that he was staying, I don't really get it? Most of the recruits were saying things like "you commit to the school, not to the coach" like they knew he was leaving
If he's unhappy, I'm sure Michigan will let him out of his LOI
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:52 PM ^
Not good, Bob.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:32 PM ^
Shoop hasn't even been working this year.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:50 PM ^
Mark Schlissel is getting moved to DB Coach.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:52 PM ^
Ole Miss had a historically young D lacking talent, but they did get quite a hall of D players for next year. Partridge did not have the Jimmy’s & Joe’s this year to do very much, so I think he deserves a pass on this.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:56 PM ^
Ole Miss can give him a pass. Michigan can’t bring in a guy with 1 year as a Co-DC and that one year was.... whatever the hell happened at Ole Miss
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:17 PM ^
Gotta be a spot for him. Up and coming coach and fantastic recruiter.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:18 PM ^
Then bring in Travis Williams as DC with Roy Manning.
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:00 PM ^
The “spot for him” would be as a positions coach with the possibility of a Co-DC title alongside a proven DC. But at that point, why would he leave Ole Miss for a lateral position move? Especially when Michigan could have kept him around by giving him a Co-DC title last season and we refused.
Just face it, the ship has sailed on Partridge. You don’t want a “young, up and coming coach” for DC when the head coach is coaching for his job. You want a proven DC (like Mason or Muschamp) and you surround him with position coaches that are those young up and comers with recruiting chops.
You don’t fire a guy with a top 15 defense in four of his 5 years here (though I agree it’s time for him to go) and replace him with a guy who has 1 year as a Co-DC with arguably the worst defense in the NCAA. Dead last in yards per game, bottom 5 in yards per play, and bottom 6 in points per game.
I get that we liked Partridge when he was here and he was a great recruiter. But he’s absolutely not a great DC, which is what this program truly needs. You can find great recruiters and make them positions coaches. You need a schematically sound guy to be the DC.
December 22nd, 2020 at 11:00 PM ^
I agree with the idea for a proven DC. But we also need strong recruiters and up and coming coaches as well. Our pipeline to NJ has dried up and we are not doing a good job recruiting Ohio. Cannot base anything on 1 season at Ole Miss. I would not hand the keys to the defense over to him but did like him.
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:20 PM ^
They weren't "historically young" D; they had an average amount of returning production on defense. All 5 of their leading tacklers were upperclassmen, and even when the schedule lightened up they still gave up a ton of yards and points. And in terms of recruiting they brought in one defender in the top 300 nationally (a safety) as well as a couple of JuCo DTs who were not ranked/lowly ranked coming out of HS. I'm sure he's a better coach than one who helped oversee the worst defense in college football, but there's still a huge gap between that and him being prime DC option. You can find good recruiters out there who have also shown an ability to coach.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:54 PM ^
I want Mason Banks Garner DL coach from Auburn and keep Jean Mary and Zordich
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:56 PM ^
I want to keep Warriner, Zordich, Sherrone, and Jay.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:02 PM ^
I don't have any premium subscriptions, but I've been reading a lot of the tea leaves across social media. If I had to guess at what our staff will be next year, I'd say:
HC/QB: Harbaugh
OC/WR: Gattis
OL: Warinner
TE: Moore
RB: Hart(?)
ST: Jaybaugh
DC: Mason
S/Co-DC: Banks
LB: Jean-Mary
CB: Zordich
DL: ????
I could also see us bringing in a different QB coach/co-OC for Gattis.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:15 PM ^
Hart?
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:33 PM ^
I don't see how you can keep Jean-Mary. The LBs went from great to terrible in one year.
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:12 PM ^
How are Mason & Banks regarded as recruiters?
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:15 PM ^
Banks is solid, but not elite. He recruits Detroit really well. Based on his recruiter profile, Mason is an awful recruiter.
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:43 PM ^
Mason also was recruiting for Vandy so his quality of recruits definitely comes with an asterisk.
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:56 PM ^
Mason was a very good recruiter in his short time at Stanford. Vanderbilt is not the kind of school where you pull in elite talent. He still pulled in better classes than a good majority of the Big Ten.
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:41 PM ^
I just don't see it from looking at his recruiter profile on 247. Between seven years at Vanderbilt, two as Stanford's DC, and two more as a Stanford assistant, he has a total of seven recruits credited to him. He's listed as a secondary recruiter for all of them. The top-rated recruit on the list was the #790 recruit in the country.
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:29 PM ^
Hart is not a better running backs coach than Harbaugh. I am literally going to post this in every thread I post in until the staff changes are finalized. And every time someone brings him up. Great player for Michigan. Not a better running backs coach than Harbaugh. Also they will have a true QB coach. No more of Harbaugh being the QB coach.
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:07 PM ^
Feels like J is a fine recruiter but the jury is still out on whether he's a top-level RB coach. I mean, we've had a revolving-door of 4- and 5-star backs, most of whom turn out to be just guys. Our best back at the moment, Haskins, was an obscure 3-star who they tried to play on defense. Higdon became a good back in the end. The rest have been...just guys.
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:17 PM ^
You may be correct.
But...the theory would be that Hart would add a great recruiter to the staff. Jaybaugh is a great recruiter and has proved to be a plus coach also.
The staff needs MORE plus recruiters, and Hart is probably a pretty good guy to coach the position as well...
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:14 PM ^
Do you think they'll keep Jay as RB coach?
If they bring in a true QB coach, they could hire someone who could also be a passing coordinator or co-OC like Moorhead.