chuck heater
assistant coaches
tyrone wheatley
dj durkin
kevin tolbert

SEARCHBITS XXXV: SURELY THIS IS THE LAST ONE Comment Count

Brian

Jedd-Fisch-Jags.com_[1]

ranks high on the OMG WHAT DID DENARD DO TODAY scale
can you call him
OMG that's his phone number
wow wow… no, no don't call him I'm too nervous

JEDD FISCH? A name for Michigan's wildcard spot:

Fisch was just fired after two seasons as the Jacksonville Jaguars' OC; before that he was OC at Miami for two years. That followed a vagabond existence as an NFL position coach mostly spent teaching WRs and QBs; his only college experience prior to his Miami run was a couple years as a GA at Florida under Spurrier. [UPDATE: Ace reminds me that Fisch was briefly at Minnesota as OC/QB when the Gophers were rolling with the pretty decent Adam Weber.]

Fisch and Jimmie Dougherty on the same staff would be a little awkward. Dougherty's done QB/WR as well, with a single year as a TE coach at San Diego. Either one of those two rumors is going to fizzle out or Michigan's going to have one of the two as a TE coach and leave the OL entirely to Drevno.

It's difficult to find out anything about Fisch other than that there are an immense number of websites willing to report on the firing of an NFL coordinator. Fisch was the architect of one of the weirdest FEI seasons in memory: Miami's 2011 offense, which finished in the middle of the pack in almost all standard metrics but was third in FEI that year for reasons I can't discern. All of Miami's individual FEI numbers are also mediocre. I don't get it. Miami was 23rd in S&P, the play-based metric, FWIW.

Fisch didn't do much in Jacksonville, but it's hard to see how he could:

Teams with successful rookie Qbs also don’t start 7-8 rookies on offense at the same time.

Successful rookie Qbs tend to have at least something to lean on, run game, great TE, a line, a Vet at WR, a great D.

This year was sausage being made. It is better to have the result than to see the process.

by mnkman322 on Dec 30, 2014 | 5:54 PM

Blake Bortles seemed pissed that Fisch got axed, FWIW.

Getting a guy coming off four years as an OC as basically a position coach seems pretty good, if that is the case. Without a source connected to Michigan reporting it's a possibility, not a probability.

UPDATE: Sam says Fisch is in, also WR coach.

TOLBERT IN. Anvil-lifting, weight-flinging assistant 49ers S&C guy Kevin Tolbert is unofficially official:

I would hold your horses with the Gittleson worry, people who worry about those kind of things. Michigan went after Stanford's Shannon Turley hard—like seven-figure, three-year contract hard—for a reason and Harbaugh isn't going to just shrug and buy a bunch of Nautilus machines because he missed. Tolbert's been around the block with Stanford and the 49ers.

I will admit that Tolbert is one of a small number guys on staff who haven't established himself as a quality idea outside the Harbaugh orbit. I'm still not too worried about it. Harbaugh is a guy who knows how to hire guys.

EP-130819108[1]

zoom

WHEATLEY OFFERED. On WTKA today Sam laid out the current Wheatley situation($): offered the RB job, going back home to talk about it with his family. Currently no extra title like run game coordinator or associate head coach but a solid likelihood that one will be available in a minute here since Harbaugh people go on to do things. (His last staff at Stanford featured five current CFB head coaches and Pep Hamilton, who's probably going to be an NFL head coach in the near future.)

We should hear something soon, and that's very probably going to be yes.

OTHER NAMES. Also from WTKA today: Sam expects another coach in the secondary($) and Roy Manning is interviewing today, presumably for that spot. If Manning doesn't get that job, Marshall DC Chuck Heater is a possibility.

Heater played at Michigan and then embarked on an infinitely long career as a college assistant that has taken him through Wisconsin, OSU, ND, Colorado State, Colorado, Washington, Utah, Florida, Temple, and now Marshall. He's been a DBs coach for the large bulk of that time, added co-DC stuff under Urban Meyer for the last three years of his career there, and has been a DC the past three years. At 62 he'd probably be planning to retire at Michigan if he came, and money would not be a problem—Heater's making "just" 200k as a coordinator, something Michigan could bump a la Dougherty.

OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL. As I mentioned six months ago, DJ Durkin would be come official for the 29th time when Michigan issued an official release on his hire. They did so. Hooray, hooray.

"Reuniting with Jim at the University of Michigan is an opportunity that I could not pass up," said Durkin. "We had some great times working together at Stanford, and I look forward to producing great results at Michigan. I look forward to coaching in the Big Ten after growing up in that footprint. I am excited to return to the Midwest and recruit and teach some of the best and brightest young men in the country."

The most notable item from this blitz of non-news was Durkin saying he'd previously run both 3-4 and a 4-3 defenses and would fit the defense to his personnel. There's a distinction here that gets lost a lot: you can run a 30 front from time to time and still be a 4-3 defense. The much bigger distinction is one gap versus two gap, and a lot of 30 fronts are just 4-3 defenses in which the fourth guy is a blitzer.

FWIW, Durkin's last defense at Florida occasionally appeared to be 3-4 but played like a one-gap attacking 4-3 with a sometimes-standup Crable-esque DE and non-planet NT.


DJ Durkin Florida Defense vs. FSU Every Snap by DGDestroys

If Durkin is serious about installing a 3-4 this is what it would probably end up looking like:

  • DE: Glasgow, Wormley, Poggi
  • NT: Pipkins, Mone
  • DE: Henry, Hurst, Godin
  • WOLB: Charlton, Marshall, Ojemudia, Furbush
  • SOLB: Ross, Stone, Winovich
  • ILB: Morgan, Bolden, McCray, Gedeon

3-4 DEs are often three-tech types from a 4-3 under, and the nose tackles have to be super consistent at taking on doubles. Pipkins's lack of playing time last year would make me leery. Michigan has a clear 4-3 weakness—DE—as well.

I doubt Michigan will flip its defense around extensively. It's likely to remain pretty much a 4-3, give or take some frippery.

GUESSOCHART. Throwing Fisch on there and downgrading Dougherty and Manning some.

OFFENSE COACH confidence DEFENSE COACH confidence
OC Tim Drevno lock DC DJ Durkin lock
QB Jim Harbaugh lock DL Greg Mattison lock
RB Tyrone Wheatley very likely LB Durkin lock
WR Jedd Fisch lock DB Greg Jackson lock
OL Drevno lock OLB/DE Roy Manning probable
TE Jimmie Dougherty probable ST John Baxter lock

S&C: Kevin Tolbert

OTHERS: Chuck Heater(CB), John Morton (WR).

Comments

Ron Utah

January 8th, 2015 at 4:40 PM ^

We are getting a guy who just spent two years as an NFL OC, and two years before that as a college OC (at Miami [YTM]) to be our WR coach and help with our passing game, since our OC's strength is obviously running and the OL.

That is awesome, and adds even more cache to the "Come to Michigan and we'll prepare you for the NFL" pitch.  SEVEN (!!!) of our ten coaches (according to guessochart) have NFL coaching experience.  The guys that don't are Durkin (a college superstar with a record of coaching guys into the NFL), Baxter (a ST guru who is one of the best at his role in the country), and Dougherty.  Heater played in the NFL and Morton played and coached in the NFL seem like our other options, and would only add to the "we can get you to the NFL" credibility.

Also, Harbaugh is fanatical about his staff...if Fisch didn't fit what he wanted, he wouldn't be hired.

Joined: 02/28/2012

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alum96

January 8th, 2015 at 3:09 PM ^

Will MGo be funding outpatient clinic care for those who have become addicted to searchbits?  Or it just on these people to try to go cold turkey out there in this cold, unforgiving world?

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82301

Mais e Blu

January 9th, 2015 at 9:55 AM ^

First post...long time reader. Love this place. It appears to me that there is no better way to stay relevant than to stay in the news. Stretching the hiring process out until the dead period ends is a great way to stay in front of potential recruits and continue to create buzz about the program. 

Joined: 12/31/2014

MGoPoints: 3

DonAZ

January 8th, 2015 at 3:14 PM ^

Is that Chuck Heater, who used to be a running back in the early 70's?  Wow ... that's a name from the past.  I recall Bob Ufer speaking of him, imagining Fritz Crisler longing for Heater in the old single wing ...

Joined: 12/05/2011

MGoPoints: 16679

SeaWolve75

January 8th, 2015 at 3:49 PM ^

Was a running back on the 1973 (10-10 tie) team.  A very non-flashy but productive runner.  The flash would come when the regulars had the game in hand (which was early and often) and young Rob Lytle would come in.  Heater has been a long-time assistant and appears to play a similar role: not flashy but productive, competent, and fully the team-the team, the-team.  Harbaugh obviously is trying to get a mix of young/old and personality types; I'd bet he looks at Heater if his type of personality is needed for the mix on the coaching staff and will look somewhere else if a different type of personality is needed, be it younger, louder, whatever.

Joined: 10/31/2014

MGoPoints: 60

DetroitBlue

January 8th, 2015 at 3:23 PM ^

A little surprised to hear Manning is interviewing for a secondary coach position. Last year's results were definitely sub-par and he doesn't have any experience playing or coaching the secondary, but in Harbaugh we trust



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Joined: 07/02/2008

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Reader71

January 8th, 2015 at 5:15 PM ^

We weren't beaten over the top much, though. Its hard to make the kids good, corner is the hardest position on the field. There are only a handful of lockdown corner in the NFL, and even fewer on college. But if you keep them in front, you give the defense a chance on the next play. DBs weren't a strength, but they weren't bad, and did show improvement through the season.

Joined: 08/30/2009

MGoPoints: 22968

funkywolve

January 8th, 2015 at 7:16 PM ^

How much of that was do to improved DB play vs going up against poor QB's?

CJ Brown of Maryland had a QBR rating of 41.3 for the year, Siemian of NU had 40.7, Diamont (starter for IU in UM game) had 17.0 and Hackenberg had 31.5.  For comparison's sake, Gardner's QBR for the year was 42.4.  So essentially UM was facing a bunch of QB's who were worse then Garnder during the later part of the year.

Nova's QBR rating for the year was 65.2, Cook was 71.9 and Barrett 81.9.

Joined: 10/08/2008

MGoPoints: 20176

Reader71

January 9th, 2015 at 12:21 AM ^

That's a really good question. I cant say that I have an answer. But again, they did keep guys in front of them for the most part, even if their coverage wasn't as tight as we would have liked on a lot of big downs. To me, bad secondaries give up TDs and big plays. We seemed to do pretty well in that regard, we just allowed too much underneath stuff.

Joined: 08/30/2009

MGoPoints: 22968

CoachBP6

January 8th, 2015 at 7:06 PM ^

I completely disagree. I watched every game 10x while breaking down the film. The errors and poor fundamentals were very noticeable. Very thankful we have a great coach coming in to help the secondary out bc we are way better than the results on the field have shown.

Joined: 12/18/2013

MGoPoints: 7967

JeepinBen

January 8th, 2015 at 3:31 PM ^

Brian used to call Manning's main role "Beyonce" because his main job was to recruit. The same players in 2013 that were great really struggled at press man in 2014. Scheme has a lot to do with secondary sucess. If Manning is still in the secondary he'll have a new boss and new coaches who can help him with his position. He can also keep recruiting to the left... to the left.

Joined: 01/22/2010

MGoPoints: 32224

alum96

January 8th, 2015 at 3:23 PM ^

One positive for searchbits addicts is with how quickly Harbaugh guys get promoted to higher positions, we're probably going to be doing searchbits annually but hopefully for only 1-2 position coach/coordinator each year.  So slimsearchbits.

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