Michigan Insider Podcast: Newsome to TE coach, Jay to defense
I was listening to the free insider podcast with Zach Shaw and Steve Lorentz and they dropped the nugget that Grant Newsome was moving from analyst to TE coach and Jay was moving to the defense. They were quite positive about the moves and spoke of them as some deals.
Had anyone heard this reported anywhere else? What position would be available for Jay to coach on D? Hope he holds onto coaching special teams, that wasn't mentioned.
February 8th, 2022 at 5:52 AM ^
Yeah, I have more optimism for the offense with at least Weiss and Harbaugh being familiar with each other. A big name hire would have been nice on that end but our offense last year looked fairly good toward the end of the year and not shaking up that dynamic might be best.
Defensively, however, yeah... Jay has done a good job with every positional group he's worked with but I am a bit skeptical. Already going to struggle without Hutch and Ojabo wreaking havoc. I hope to God our secondary takes a step up this year..
February 8th, 2022 at 7:21 AM ^
The offense improved significantly with Weiss coming in last year.
February 8th, 2022 at 7:38 AM ^
The running game improved dramatically. The passing game wasn't amazing.
February 8th, 2022 at 8:38 AM ^
Well, the guy in charge of that part just left soo...
February 8th, 2022 at 10:08 AM ^
No, Weiss and Hart are both still here. I assume you’re talking about them since this year was good and previous 2 years were not.
February 8th, 2022 at 10:49 AM ^
He's saying the guy who was in charge of the passing game just left. That was Gattis. Weiss was run game coordinator, and we had a pretty good run game.
February 8th, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
Sure, but one has to wonder why the offense suddenly seemed to click last year. Was it Gattis' year 3 that finally came together? Or was it the addition of Weiss, Hart, and the promotion of Moore to co-OC?
The fact that Gattis is departing pissed off and nobody else on offense is suggests to me what the feeling within Schembechler might be...
February 8th, 2022 at 7:27 AM ^
I can’t wait to hear about your next promotion so I can comment on how underwhelming it is.
February 8th, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^
You cared so little that you posted about it. Thanks.
February 8th, 2022 at 6:05 AM ^
This is besides the point but I would be very interested in Jay as a future coordinator the next time we have an opening. If he is moving to the defense, this would be 3 different positions that he would be coaching, giving him a solid understanding of both offensive and defensive schemes. And as a coach he was decent as a RB coach and pretty good as a TE coach. It always seems like he’s left each position better than he found it at least. Pretty good recruiter too.
February 8th, 2022 at 6:21 AM ^
I think Jay needs to go get a job outside Ann Arbor before every being considered for a coordinator position here. I know he's done well with the units he's had, but it's odd he hasn't gotten or hasn't taken a coordinator job anywhere. Would feel like a very Brian Ferentz hire
February 8th, 2022 at 6:34 AM ^
I have confidence Jay will do fine coaching D, because he has a good track record. At the same time, agree with you that at some point he needs to look around for other opportunities to establish himself in a program not run by his dad. Now, perhaps he has tried to do that and the stigma of nepotism, despite being unjustified in this case, has kept him relegated to Michigan. The Harbaugh name itself opens a lot of doors, so if he really tries to move on I am pretty sure he could get a job somewhere. Maybe more of a lateral move to start, but he's gotta look at the long game.
February 8th, 2022 at 7:55 AM ^
Counterpoint: It doesn't get much better than working with your dad, with other family members nearby, and coaching winning football at Michigan.
Sure, he could probably move with his wife and kid to Rice or San Jose State and be a coordinator, but...well...
February 8th, 2022 at 8:13 AM ^
He is currently a coordinator at Michigan. Yeah, ST is maybe a step below OC or DC, but it's still a position requiring the management of 30-some athletes and staff, all with different needs, abilities, and characteristics. It still requires strategy and tactics. Far more than either OC or DC, it requires a level of inter-staff coordination and deal making to get good players and time for them to practice. And, by any account, he's been the most successful ST coordinator Ann Arbor has seen in decades.
But I do agree, and have said so many times, that he needs to step outside the family to make his own name. The Brian Ferentz analogy is spot on...
February 8th, 2022 at 6:10 AM ^
Assumption is that Helow is leaving so for now I’ll assume Jay takes his spot.
February 8th, 2022 at 9:14 AM ^
I thought the same thing
February 8th, 2022 at 6:23 AM ^
Newsome to TE is fine. He was a OT and is reportedly a really smart guy so that's a good entry job for him. Jay to the defense is underwhelming but he's done fairly well everywhere else thus far so I'll withhold judgement for now
February 8th, 2022 at 9:15 AM ^
You said it man
February 8th, 2022 at 7:11 AM ^
Sounds good to me. Jay has been excellent everywhere he has coached. I'm looking forward to him recruiting a bunch of elite safeties. Also, it's worth noting that if Minter is the guy, he is currently the DC/safeties coach at Vandy. Jay would have some help.
February 8th, 2022 at 9:25 AM ^
If Minter comes, why isn't he going to be coaching the safeties? The idea that our coordinators don't also coach a position group is oddly persistent on this site.
February 8th, 2022 at 7:37 AM ^
This is excellent news. Keep everything in the family.
February 8th, 2022 at 7:40 AM ^
I was hoping that we would get a big name hire than just promoting everyone. Seems like a late Dantonio move.
February 8th, 2022 at 8:01 AM ^
Promoting young upcoming coaches (Weiss/Newsome) is not the same as shuffling staff to create an illusion of change.
February 8th, 2022 at 8:14 AM ^
The point is you are not gaining anything from it. These guys were going to be here anyways. Jim's son isn't leaving. So you lose McDonald and Gattis and are replacing them with one person who is Jesse Minter.
February 8th, 2022 at 9:01 AM ^
There’s a reason Harbaugh hires analysts just like Bama, now. Analysts are off-field coaches, not some schmucks. Bama has often hired their replacements from their analysts. It’s weird that folks just want “names,” and act like Harbaugh has no eye for talent. Position coaches have a benefit of getting to focus on technique and placement for just a few guys—a few spots. What do you know about Jay’s overall knowledge? His work ethic? I’m pretty sure he can handle 95% of a position coach job at the highest level (off field development stuff, recruiting, basic drills, basic assignments). If he didn’t have acumen, he wouldn’t be there.
Shanahan, McKay…two very young guys whose last names helped them move quickly up ladders. But there’s no way any of these guys last and do well unless they are actually very good at what they do.
As for what position folks played…Bellamy brought both his experience as a WR and his HC acumen to the defensive backfield last year. Gattis is the opposite.
The smarter a guy is at the sport, shouldn’t matter where he played or if he played.
These posts are redundant every year. Man gossip.
February 8th, 2022 at 6:01 PM ^
And Jedd Fisch didn't even play football at all, he was a tennis player.
February 8th, 2022 at 10:08 AM ^
The flip side is if you don't promote your top performers, they'll get frustrated and leave the org for better opportunities.
I know it doesn't scratch the "shiny new toy" itch like bringing in a big name outsider does, but it shouldn't be viewed as a bad or wrong approach.
February 8th, 2022 at 10:54 AM ^
They also brought in Ellston, so that's a new voice as well. So they're replacing two people with...2 new people.
Again, I don't get the doom-and-gloom characterization unless that's just a goal.
February 8th, 2022 at 12:43 PM ^
Wow, Thad being overly negative, that’s a shock!
February 8th, 2022 at 4:07 PM ^
Addition by subtraction works.
February 8th, 2022 at 8:36 AM ^
Exactly like late Dantonio except these are successful coaches on a successful team and those were desperation moves to plug a sinking ship with damaged cogs. But yeah, otherwise the same
February 8th, 2022 at 1:23 PM ^
While this is a negative take its at least understandable... not sure why we need to neg him for this.
February 8th, 2022 at 8:00 AM ^
Sam Webb has been saying Bellamy will move over to offense to coach receivers. So, possibly safeties?
February 8th, 2022 at 8:26 AM ^
Clink's background is secondary, so if he gets the DC job he could easily take Jay under his wing and help him. Maybe similar if Minter gets the DC job. His background is coaching safeties. I think for continuity, esp considering the past month, I'd rather see Clinkscale get promoted. Maybe you could even throw a bunch of money at Minter and get him to come over as a position coach. If not, you go get someone else to help with the secondary.
HC: Jim Harbaugh
OC/QB: Weiss
Co-OC/OL: Moore
RB: Hart
WR: Bellamy
TE: Newsome
DC: Clinkscale
Co-DC/DL: Ellston
LB: Helow
S/ST: Jay Harbaugh
CB: ??
February 8th, 2022 at 8:17 AM ^
I can't believe all the doubt that Jaybaugh still gets from Michigan fans. Have the last 7 years of unquestioned success at every position he's coached really not convinced people, yet? He's proven his worth many times over, and has earned the benefit of doubt.
Dude can coach.
February 8th, 2022 at 8:39 AM ^
Blessing and a curse to sharing the name as the guy in charge! You get the opportunity, but you also get little respect.
It's a strange sport where nepotism is pretty much accepted everywhere with good and bad results. All things point up for Jay, he'll get an opportunity one day to step out of the shadow and I'm confident he'll prove his worth.
February 8th, 2022 at 8:21 AM ^
I still love Grant Newsome, so awesome.
Jaybaugh's units continue to excel, so seems logical to promote.
Sounds good!
February 8th, 2022 at 8:27 AM ^
Jay is a quality assistant.
February 8th, 2022 at 8:28 AM ^
Rumor has it young Jack Harbaugh is being considered for ball boy..... the nepotism is egregious!
FFS.... Jay has been a great assistant coach with every assignment he's been given. There are a lot of contributors here that are quite 'underwhelming'.
February 8th, 2022 at 9:11 AM ^
At this point Jay will have coached at least one position group in each of the 3 phases. I can’t imagine there will be another HC candidate more qualified than Jay after he gets his first Coordinator gig (assuming he’s successful with it).
Since Jay has been successful in every role he’s been placed, it’s hard not to recognize that he has acumen and talent. He also has the luxury of several other football minds in his family. The fact his dad is the HC may have gotten him his first job with the team, but he certainly has excelled in every role since then. Kudos to Jay.
February 8th, 2022 at 9:14 AM ^
I don't know what else people need to see from Jay to make them a believer in his coaching and recruiting abilities.
February 8th, 2022 at 9:26 AM ^
I’d prefer not to experiment and find out how is he coaching on the defensive side for the first time in charge of an extremely young group whose success or failure could define the defense and pretty much the season.
And I’d say that if we were randomly switching Moore to linebackers too
February 8th, 2022 at 10:48 AM ^
Ron Bellamy was a HS coach who played WR in college and was a first-year safeties coach last year and it all worked out. The idea that Michigan is "experimenting" with Jay Harbaugh because he hasn't explicitly coached on defense before but has been coaching for years now is a bit reductive.
February 8th, 2022 at 12:05 PM ^
It's not really an experiment to take a guy from a football coaching family that has been around the game his whole life and switch his position coaching responsibilities. If they were asking him to coach tennis then I would understand the concern trolling.
February 8th, 2022 at 2:16 PM ^
I'd prefer you never be in a position of influence ever.
February 8th, 2022 at 9:20 AM ^
With Gattis gone we might move to run heavy, Newsome move makes me think they want him teaching blocking to the TE's
February 8th, 2022 at 9:27 AM ^
Half of the M fan base: " Mike Hart should be a frontrunner to be the head coach". The other half and quite possibly the same half: " Jay needs to leave Jim's shadow and be a coordinator at a different school."
What in the actual fuck. I'm not saying Jay should be a OC or DC, but at the same time, what makes Mike better then Jay. Mike's not a Harbaugh? And I'm also not saying Mike isn't or shouldn't be a headcoach, but shouldn't he leave and get some head coaching experience before being anointed head coach here? Or at least be a coordinator somewhere.
February 8th, 2022 at 12:31 PM ^
Jay deniers are the flat earthers of Michigan fandom.
February 8th, 2022 at 9:29 AM ^
The constant call by some here for “home run” hires from outside the program are tedious. Sometimes hiring from outside is a necessity and hiring established coaches a preferred choice, but when you have young, smart coaches and assistants within a program, especially ones who’ve shown they can coach no matter what role they get moved to, then looking outside for the “home run” hire is stupid, IMO.