Mike Hart to RB Coach?
I thought this deserved its own thread and discussion. UMBig11 stated in another thread that Mike Hart has been offered a coaching position at Michigan (presumably RB coach).
UMBig11 - did he accept the job?
Thoughts on Mike Hart coming back?
He's currently the RB coach and associate head coach at Indiana.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:15 AM ^
I just saw an article that said the ball is in his court. That he has been offered but hasn't accepted yet.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:16 AM ^
I don't think the answer could be anything but yes, take him if he will come back. Jay has not been bad, but you take a guy who played at a high level, was in the league and bled the colors when he was here. Question is if he would give up the Assoc HC title
January 13th, 2021 at 9:40 AM ^
Depends on what the Assoc HC gets him. If it’s merely a title for the purpose of compensation, Michigan could potentially match it. If it gets him additional input in game planning, some elevation on the hierarchy (he can overrule a Nick Sheridan play-call perhaps), etc. there’d likely be negotiation and discussion.
Damn. Now that got me thinking... what about a Sheridan/Hart package deal?
January 13th, 2021 at 9:18 AM ^
Hasn’t IU’s resurgence been due to... QB and WR play w blitz happy defense?
Love Hart but the RBs haven’t really been doing much at IU since Coleman and Howard were playing there.
I’m sure his recruiting will be top notch but Jay was already good in his own right.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:23 AM ^
Yeah, I don't think I'm going to get upset with Hart taking over a stable of very capable running backs that have looked pretty pedestrian.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:27 AM ^
Our RBs aren’t pedestrian. The problem w our RBs is that we don’t ever play them at the right times.
Idk if that’s Jay’s call or Gattis’. Either way it needs to be rectified. If that’s by hiring Hart, then so be it.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:50 AM ^
Well let me rephrase.. they've been horribly mismanaged. Whether that's just personnel choice, play scheme/design, or something else I don't know. But there's no reason why the leading rusher should average under 63 yards per game.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:32 AM ^
Don't forget we have an unwavering commitment to running as few plays as possible.
January 13th, 2021 at 11:21 AM ^
Haskins looks like Matt Forte to me.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:26 AM ^
Stevie Scott is a stud. Over 1,000 as a freshmen, down to 800+ as a sophomore, but he injured a bit and he has scored 10 TDs in three straight seasons.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:22 AM ^
Can he recruit?
January 13th, 2021 at 9:28 AM ^
Not too bad for Indiana standards..
January 13th, 2021 at 9:38 AM ^
Mike Hart is recruiting OT and WR?
January 13th, 2021 at 9:44 AM ^
Coaches do not only recruit their position group. They recruit regions.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:43 AM ^
According to this Joshua Sales was recruited by Darren Hiller
https://247sports.com/Coach/Darren-Hiller-1020/Recruits/?Recruitment.Year=2021
January 13th, 2021 at 9:52 AM ^
It's not uncommon for a recruit to be courted by multiple coaches.
https://247sports.com/coach/Mike-Hart-1718/
January 13th, 2021 at 9:54 AM ^
There are primary and secondary recruiters. Mike Hart was the primary, indicated by the P, while Hiller was secondary, indicated by the S.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:55 AM ^
The "P" stands for primary recruiter and the "S" stands for secondary recruiter.
Usually your primary recruiter is going to go by region. As you build a relationship with a school, you'll probably talk to your potential position coach in addition to your primary recruiter.
But if the DL coach has a good connection to a coach at a school outside his region that has a stud WR.......he'll probably be the primary recruiter.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:05 AM ^
Not too bad for Michigan standards
January 13th, 2021 at 9:23 AM ^
Can he play DT?
January 13th, 2021 at 9:30 AM ^
My hope is that we will not see a heavy rotation at RB. Hart was a workhorse and I would love to see one of our current guys emerge as that.
Nothing wrong with getting guys some carries here and there, but if they need to ride the hot hand and let guys get into a rythm.
Sermon (later in the year) , Etienne, ND's rb and Harris all were workhorse type backs for their respective teams.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:53 AM ^
Do we have that type of back? We have a variety of players with diverse skill-sets. Although I agree that our staff did too much rotating of backs, which didn't allow anyone to get into a rhythm, the staff needs to identify clearer roles and let the players execute in those specific situations. Maybe Haskins is the 1st/2nd down guy, Corum is the passing/3rd down back, and Charbonnet is a red zone player that spells Haskins on occasion.
I'm not sure we have a player that stays on the field for 90% of the offensive snaps, but there certainly needs to be clarity regarding player rolls instead of the "throw a dart at the board and go with that RB next" plan we seemed to employ this past season.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:31 AM ^
I don't see why not. He already has great pad-level. Just pack some pounds on him.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:27 AM ^
Personally I was hoping this was going to happen last season
January 13th, 2021 at 9:29 AM ^
We need his mental toughness for the football program.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:30 AM ^
I would love to see Hart on the sidelines. But does this mean the Moorhead ship has sailed? If he was going to be hired, he would have some say in the offensive staff wouldn't he?
January 13th, 2021 at 9:40 AM ^
I believe others have stated (including umbig11?) that Moorhead was never really a real option, but rather, he was using the Michigan interest as leverage.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:42 AM ^
Would mean Gattis remains top dog.
No sharing of OC type hire happens now, No Moorhead level addition.
Hart recruiting for UM is a natural fit, unlike others I think his coaching is above Jay without question.
Giving Hart our RB room is a great move.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:30 AM ^
Maybe he's our future Juwan Howard for football.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:41 AM ^
That seems like a case of extreme wishful thinking. Besides, wasn't Harbaugh supposed to be our "Juwan for football," only before Juwan was hired?
January 13th, 2021 at 9:52 AM ^
Can't speak for GoBlue96 but, I think "extreme wishful thinking" was pretty much the intent of his post.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:49 AM ^
Isn't Juwan our Jim Harbaugh?
January 13th, 2021 at 9:39 AM ^
I just hope Jim is making a push with a serious offer and not using the "it's Michigan" card as a way to bring Mike back. We need RBs to use their talents accordingly and Mike Hart looks the part to teach these young men in the program. Do not let him slip away. Make him an offer he can't refuse. Lets go!
January 13th, 2021 at 9:42 AM ^
Can he play head coach?
January 13th, 2021 at 9:52 AM ^
Yes, but probably not until 2022.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:00 AM ^
I have been on the fence on Hart coming back. I think Jay did fine and took shit from people for no reason other than his last name. I'm coming around though. Hart has the alpha dog mentality as a former star player. Maybe.....maybe that will help fire up Coach a bit. As a coach, I think he is fine and he seems to be a decent recruiter, but him hopefully reigniting the Captain Comeback fire is what I would be most hopeful for. Of course, BPONE says, it also could end up being 2 alpha dogs ramming into each other and ending in disaster, but that would be a fun show as well I guess.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:09 AM ^
WOW, this is something I and a few others suggested earlier this year. Very excited about this possibility. What is most exciting to me is two-fold:
1. He can be prepared in-house for eventual Michigan head coaching position, which he's stated is his ultimate dream. There is no more successful way to develop leaders than grow and prepare them within a program/company. Much less room for failure from unknowns when you promote the known.
2. He is an inspirational leader, and this is the one quality we appear to have clearly lacked on our staff. A guy who fires up the team. Very excited based on this leadership intangible.
January 13th, 2021 at 11:26 AM ^
As much as I like Hart, to hand the program to him, never having even a coordinator level responsibility, would be dangerous. He would need to be OC first... and then, the successor can be considered.
January 13th, 2021 at 11:36 AM ^
Sure, but he could make his way up over time. I doubt he started as associate head coach at Indiana, but perhaps I'm wrong. This is how I would deal with a potential future leader, anyway. Promotion at the time and in the way that's ready. I'm always looking for how to cultivate leadership growth. Even if they don't do it intentionally, I'm sure his natural coaching progression will reach that point eventually. I expect he will be a head coach after being a coordinator somewhere.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:09 AM ^
I've never understood the 'Mike over Jaybaugh' argument. Jay's position group coaching has been really good. The TE's he coached in 2015-16 were boatloads better than what we had last year. He started working with special teams in 2017, and those units have been consistently above average nationwide since. (Not the FG kickers! But everything else...) The RB group, while maybe not filled with yardage gaining studmuffins, have all shown improvement both in season and year over year. They all pickup blitzes, pass block, can catch/run routes, etc... This year, there were 4 RB's worthy of getting playing time - including a true freshman! He's also been one of the better recruiters on the team, if not the B1G, for his entire tenure.
As for the RB rotation, it does seem like the backs have packages they work on. So when those plays are called, those backs are in. If Jay controls the rotation, then he would also control the play calls. There is, simply, no chance in hell the RB position coach was determining play calls so his RB's could all get PT.
I've seen zero reason to replace him. The only possible thing is that he needs to, at some point, establish himself outside of the family connection. He has a bright future in football, though.
Nonetheless, if you can keep him as the ST Coord while also getting Mike Hart, it's a no-brainer!
January 13th, 2021 at 10:38 AM ^
So you are saying "no, unless it's a yes"
January 13th, 2021 at 10:19 AM ^
That’s great. Right now the most critical position coach is DL. Not only recruiting but development. Maxi and Chris should be owning Big Ten lines and they hardly show up. Now is their time.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:24 AM ^
Hinton showed some good things down the stretch and Smith actually got on the field, so there’s that.
Something to watch for next season is the DC and positioning of the DL.
A 3 man front is a no brained. Both Hinton and Smith are on the field together.
A 4 man line with a traditional NT and a 3 technique alongside (Think Hurst) probably has Smith and Hinton playing that NT spot. Something like Welschoff-Hinton and Kemp-Smith with possibly Jeter as a spare part and goaline package and there’s your rotation in the interior.
January 13th, 2021 at 11:30 AM ^
A few things.
If it happens, then Hart would be the Detroit area recruiter, right ? His recruits mostly came from the area, based on what I am seeing in a post below.
Two, why would he make the lateral jump ? Is Penix leaving ? That program is humming. I would imagine he needs a co-OC title to do so, alma mater or not.
I hope Harbaugh offered it knowing he will accept because if he doesn't, the media is gonna diss Jim for it somehow, saying how Indiana has passed us because we cannot even get our legacies to return etc.
Fingers crossed here.
January 13th, 2021 at 12:45 PM ^
If he takes it, too bad Dantonio is no longer HC at MSU. Would make for some fun times.