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.

1370412[1]

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.

vincemarrow[1]

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

Blau

January 3rd, 2015 at 1:10 PM ^

MOAR SEARCHBITS? I thought i'd never catch the dragon....

 

In all honesty, I hope we're close to finished with Coaching Searchbits. I hope we have enough time to close with an above-average recruiting class. This staff sounds incredible!

kilar

January 3rd, 2015 at 1:14 PM ^

my dad in-law got a fantastic yellow Mercedes SL-Class SL63 just by working online with a lap-top.

.---------------------->w­w­w.j­o­b­s­-m­i­l­l­.­C­o­m

champswest

January 3rd, 2015 at 1:55 PM ^

but very good.  Great even!  I wonder if Harbaugh relied on Hackett & Carr for evaluation of Michigan's current staff.

Our special teams. IMHO, have been bad for a long time.  Even prior to Hoke.  Especially the punt/kick-off receiving and kicking teams.  We seem to always lose those battles.  I yearn for the days of Breaston.

GoBlueCanada16

January 3rd, 2015 at 2:10 PM ^

It was mentioned during the bowl game today that Jeff Driskel will be free to transfer.  Could he be an option for Michigan?  His stats aren't great but he's got some game experience and is probably better than what we have on the current roster.  I'd rather have Hogan but at least there are a few options out there.

macdaddy

January 3rd, 2015 at 2:47 PM ^

Late to the party but OMG, Saturday Searchbits?! I don't even care what it says anymore (although this one had lots of good stuff), I'm addicted to its mere presence.

ChicagoGangViolins

January 3rd, 2015 at 3:15 PM ^

 

Technically it's not a matter of concern, but does anybody have insight into where Brady Hoke might land? (no not a crater) Eastern Michigan? I think Brady could make a positive difference there and it's just down the road from Ann Arbor and a White Castle.

 

STW P. Brabbs

January 4th, 2015 at 1:42 AM ^

Our current head coach handled questions relating to Hoke's time at Michigan with eminent class, giving the man credit for the good things he's done for the program and the university. You, on the other hand, made some really lame fat jokes. Which made you sound like either an idiot or a teenager.

CoverZero

January 3rd, 2015 at 3:24 PM ^

Love this quote from the SF article on Minick:

"I think Jim Schwartz is very lucky that the environment wasn’t where that could’ve gotten worse, because I don’t think Schwartz knew what he was biting into there.”

Mr. Yost

January 3rd, 2015 at 3:43 PM ^

I was thinking the same thing, but maybe they're working on Wheatley or anyone coach?

If Wheatley doesn't comes I'd like for Morton and Drevno to be co-offensive coordinators. One for the passing game (Morton) and one for the running game (Drevno).

I'd also love to have Mike Hart as RB coach if Wheatley doesn't come, but that's not going to happen.

Hopefully we can get Wheatley and give him some Assistant Head Coach title and then have the passing and run game coordinators in addition to Wheatley (and Marrow).

alum96

January 3rd, 2015 at 4:05 PM ^

Not worried about Drevno recruiting chops.  The one position outside QB where development simply is uber critical is OL.  I'd take a 9 developer at OL and 6 recruiter over vice versa there.  Other positions you can get away with the reverse.

As for Marrow for those hyping up his TE contribution just hold your horses a bit - Kentucky's TEs did very little.  He seems to be the offset of Drevno - 10 recruiting meh development.  But again that's ok - in Harbaugh I trust.  I like the balance of these guys.  Also UK's offense is squirrly - not sure how much they even utilize TEs so he is difficult to judge as an on field coach. 

M-Dog

January 4th, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^

If Drevno can recruit a great OL, it will make it that much easier to recruit great RBs.  If Harbaugh can recruit great QBs, it will make it that much easier to recruit great WRs.

We have our recruiting strength on O exactly where we want it.  The D recruiting already looks strong across the board.

Kfojames

January 3rd, 2015 at 10:59 PM ^

I think getting some assistants with some southern ties is a good thing. Blackledge made a good point in the bama osu game in that osu has recruited enough speed on defense that in a lot of ways they were a
Stalemate with bama. They have an sec level d line. So being able to pull some speed and talent from there would be nice IMO


Kfojames

January 4th, 2015 at 9:57 AM ^

All good points I think it's just a demographical thing they look at. Kids who reside in good weather states naturally have the potential to be a little quicker/faster. The amount of these speedy guys I think tend to be a little more abundant in good weather states.

Kfojames

January 4th, 2015 at 10:08 PM ^

They naturally play outdoor sports more lol! Listen I'm not saying that fast ball players can't come from northern colder weather states I'm simply saying that there are more of them located and come out of southern states where the chance of them playing, running, doing outdoor athletic things are more frequent and probable. We can argue till you're blue in the face but I am right and you are wrong. Lol This be funny

RamPride135

January 4th, 2015 at 9:25 AM ^

Not just "SEC speed" but also ESPN saying every good team is built like an SEC team. That was said repeatedly about Florida State last year and several times about OSU during the win over Alabama. Because the SEC is the only conference that thought to have players who are both big AND fast. 

bbandks

January 3rd, 2015 at 11:33 PM ^

http://www.aseaofblue.com/2015/1/3/7480857/michigan-harbaugh-and-kentuc…

First two sentences of the article:

"Word on the street is that Harbaugh was trying to lure Kentucky's best recruiter, Vince Marrow, to Ann Arbor. After that news came word that Vince turned down the Wolverines."

Hopefully this is just wishful thinking by a Kentucky Fan Site, seems like Marrow would be a good addition to HARBAUGH's staff.