SEARCHBITS XXXII: FALLING INTO PLACE Comment Count

Brian

DURKIN STUFF. He's coaching Florida right now, for what little a January third bowl game as an interim means. Expect him to be announced tonight or tomorrow; Florida players aren't happy he's leaving:

"I think he's an amazing coach," safety Keanu Neal told The Sun. "I hate that he's leaving, but it is what it is, it's part of the business. But he's been the same. He's been coaching his tail off, like he would have if he had a job. I'm surprised that he's doing that. He's really doing a good job."

Durkin did special teams before he got elevated to DC and may be able to chip in some there, especially with Mattison sticking around.

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DREVNO STUFF. Allen Trieu pings various Scout analysts for information on new Michigan OC coach Tim Drevno and comes back with a mixed bag on his recruiting but a highly positive take on his coaching skills. USC folks didn't seem blown away by his salesmanship, but at Stanford—where Harbaugh had coaches recruit their position no matter where the recruits were geographically—this list of names is stunning:

He had David DeCastro, Jonathan Martin, Kevin Danser, Khalil Wilkes, Sam Schwartzstein, David Yankey, who were really big ones, all guys who were the backbone there, and he was the point person or the initial evaluator on those guys and developed a few before he left with Harbaugh. Decastro was a top tier guy, Martin was a three-star, Yankey was a three-star out of Georgia, Wilkes was from Georgia, so they were identifying guys and he developed them and was the point person there and he contributed a lot to the outstanding offensive line they had under Harbaugh and the early part of David Shaw.

I've started going over old Stanford games and it's boggling to watch a team in 2010 just mashing opponents off the ball with power, power, power.

NO FERRIGNO. Michigan's worst-performing assistant will not return.

Under Ferrigno, Michigan special teams were dismal. Their archaic punt formations cost them return after return, lanes on kickoffs and punt returns were nonexistent, and fielding eleven players was a challenge not always met.

Meanwhile Michigan's tight ends improved in no way whatsoever. Even the much-maligned Darrell Funk saw his OL take a major step forward this year.

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MARROW ON THE CLOCK. In related news, multiple outlets are reporting($) that Kentucky TE coach Vince Marrow has an offer in hand from Michigan and should decide on it by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. The Michigan side of things is confident here, with rumors that it was Marrow reaching out to Michigan rampant and Sam Webb saying a friend of Marrow pegs it at 98%($).

Kentucky folk are relying on Marrows long association with Mark Stoops, but even if they make the money equal a guy like Marrow—who was a GA as recently as three years ago—is probably going to consider job security highly, and even though Mark Stoops is doing pretty well for himself the flameout rate of Kentucky coaches is near 100%.

THIS PERSON ISN'T ACTUALLY A COACH BUT HE'S CLOSE I GUESS. Longtime Harbaugh associate Jim Minick will be Michigan's director of operations. As of 2011, Minick was working as a Marine recruiter in a 14 state area—he's a retired colonel. Minick and Harbaugh go way, way back. Like third grade way back. In fifth grade, meanwhile:

And we were playing football in the front yard. You know, my brothers and Jim and John, and we were arguing over a call, Jim and I were. Jim and I are – I guess from our parents’ side, unfortunately – very much alike. So we’re arguing over a call, and his dad and my dad just kind of look at each other and go, ‘Damn it, that’s enough. You two fight.’ So right in the front yard, our parents had Jim and Jim square off in a fistfight, just to quit arguing about calls. And sure enough, that’s what we did. And I caught him real good. I caught him right in the mouth, cut my hand open on his tooth. Blood’s everywhere. And at that point, they broke us up. And the funny thing about it is, because the fight was called because my hand was bleeding, Jim claims he won the fight.

Minick should bring some stability to the football ops spot after it's seen five different people occupy in the years after Brad Labadie was fired for his role in stretchgate. I imagine a retired Marine colonel will manage to get his paperwork done.

ETC.: Nebraska hires 49ers OL coach Reggie Davis, so he won't be joining Harbaugh at Michigan.

Comments

Boom Goes the …

January 3rd, 2015 at 12:39 PM ^

things are coming together just as planned.  Only thing we haven't heard a peep about is secondary coach.  Any wild guesses?

teldar

January 3rd, 2015 at 2:07 PM ^

I'm going to wish for Turley as he sounds like he is one of those guys thinking outside the box and doing great things for injury prevention and acual playing strength. However, I would imagine that anyone who has been a coach for an NFL team is someone to be respected. Maybe even the Lions...

teldar

January 3rd, 2015 at 2:04 PM ^

I think they were more to changing the defense rather than Manning. I agree that I would rather have someone who had coached the secondary more than just last year, but according to recent reports, including by brian, he's a hell of a coach and may end up being just is if not more capable than other coaches. And I look at it like this, we're going to have a ton of coaches who have worked with multiple positions. Everyone can support everyone else on this staff and I just can't see that was something that happened before.

 

DrWolverine23

January 3rd, 2015 at 12:50 PM ^

We get Marrow, that is huge. Both in recruiting and the development of TE's. Drevno should be able to get our OL to a position of stregth by the fall.

The only two people I would like to see be retained are Manning and Mattison, everyone else needs to be let go. 

I'm excited about recruiting again, because we are going to have an AMAZING staff that can develop future draft picks. 

glewe

January 3rd, 2015 at 12:52 PM ^

Ferrigno really was the worst performing assistant.

We really need a good ST coach, though, and I'm nervous about the way the chips are falling right now with ST seeming de-prioritizes. The Durkin bit is good news.



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RobM_24

January 3rd, 2015 at 1:13 PM ^

There's also probably more time to find a S&C guy. I'd imagine you'd want to fill your staff of position coaches (who are recruiters) first. I'm sure all the players are already on offseason programs that they can basically do by themselves until the new staff is hired.

I Hate Buckeyes

January 3rd, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^

My wife said I was way to obsessed when I purchased the 2011 Orange Bowl between Stanford and Va. Tech last year. I just love watching true manbaugh at its finest. It is still surreal for me knowing that will be our offense in a couple of years.

H2V

January 3rd, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^

I love it that we are getting some proven assistant/position coaches... Many of whom have history with Harbaugh. So true about ST being down in the Hoke yrs.!

growler4

January 3rd, 2015 at 2:11 PM ^

When was the last time Michigan excelled at special teams? I've been watching for decades and cannot recall...

Also - off the field issues aside - I'll give Hoke credit for restoring Gibbons' confidence and making him a functional place kicker as a result.

sj

January 3rd, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^

I totally agree with Brian on the problems with tight ends and special teams. Williams and Heitzman showed no progress and Jake Butt is clearly talented, but the offense seemed to never figure out a role for him. There is plenty of blame to go around, and plenty of blaming going around, but it doesn't reflect well on the tight ends coach. 

The special teams problems are well documented. 

More generally, Harbaugh seems to be making an effort to keep Manning and Mattison, while letting the others go. Great judgment!

The team dodged a bullet with Nussmeier getting the Florida job. Here's a guy who left Alabama and their offense got better, replaced Borges at Michigan and the offense got a lot worse, then converts that into a job with the Gators! Michigan could easily have been saddled with his very expensive salary/buyout clause until Florida's surprising coaching search made that decision. Falling into place, indeed!

chewieblue

January 3rd, 2015 at 11:03 PM ^

I've actually sat in several coaches clinics and listened to Fred Jackson. He is an extremely knowledgeable blocking scheme and running game guy. Around here he generally gets the tongue-in-cheek treatment, and I get that a lot of it is deserved. Mostly so, because of his strange statements about player potential. Even still, Fred's a bright guy and I think most people would be shocked to know just how much Fred knows.
That said, I get the feeling he knows that his time has come to step away.

teldar

January 3rd, 2015 at 2:11 PM ^

There were people doing a lot of complaining about Kiffin and his play calling in their bowl game against tUOSU. I think if Nuss had been given a shot and not been given a bunch of players broken from lack of development he probably would have fared better. I certainly can't fault Nuss as the only reason the offense was horrific last year. For all of DG's skill, for example, he never learned to throw the damn ball away instead of taking a 20 yard sack.

 

jackw8542

January 4th, 2015 at 2:51 PM ^

Nussmeier improved the offensive line play dramatically, built an effective running game and managed to get a number of RBs to contribute in spite of injuries.  This year the offense looked coherent except for the QB play and a lot of dropped passes (usually at the worst possible time).  Further, the offense seemed to improve in virtually all respects (except QB) as the season progressed.  Given another year, Nussmeier would have had the offense clicking.

cGOBLUEm

January 3rd, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^

I so excited about Drevno. As we all know, a couple years back we had the best OL haul in the entire country. The problem has been development. The talent is there, and I believe the OL can be very special.



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growler4

January 3rd, 2015 at 2:21 PM ^

... you put a lot of faith into recruiting "stars". Who determines whether a guy is a 3-star or 5-star recruit? Do any of these evaluators have extensive coaching or scouting experience? I'd caution about putting too much emotional investment into their evaluations. It's a business to grab eyeballs and $$.

Furthermore, it is generally accepted that OL recruits take longer to develop into college football players than those at other positions, particularly "skill" position players. Some never really make it.

Hopefully, Coach Drevno can help continue to develop our guys into an elite group and identify and recruit top HS talent. He seemingly has a good track record.

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

January 3rd, 2015 at 1:02 PM ^

lynchpin to get a staff announced with both coordinators named at once.

Hard to believe the S&C leader is not known with winter conditioning only 4 days or so away and coaches unable to lead offseason sessions.  That search seems very quiet.