Courtney Viney interviewing, potential Greg Jackson replacement
Looks like Courtney Viney is interviewing with Michigan to fill the coaching vacancy.
https://thefootballbrainiacs.com/ou-oklahoma-sooners-football-calvin-th…
And here is some info on Viney, seems like the type of coach Harbaugh loves:
http://newsok.com/article/5479211
Not a proven coach, but on an upward trajectory, can coach ST and DBs and a strong recruiter.
February 22nd, 2016 at 11:30 AM ^
Put his name in the title please
February 22nd, 2016 at 11:32 AM ^
Good idea, thanks and done.
February 22nd, 2016 at 11:33 AM ^
If his name's not Mike W. Devotee, I think they are being short-sighted. The kid is relentless in his search for knowledge.
February 22nd, 2016 at 11:39 AM ^
a satellite camp for harbaugh in fresno last year
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:00 PM ^
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:23 PM ^
Great point about the satellite camps. Not only did Michigan get to see a ton of prospects, they got to see alot of potential staff members as well.
If my memory serves correct, we now have Bush on staff who hosted a camp in Florida, a coach from Prattville who worked a camp, and now potentially Viney, also from the camps.
I doubt many coaches who complained about satellite camps thought about this angel and it will only make them whine more.
February 22nd, 2016 at 11:42 AM ^
Viney was a former UCLA DB who was now a defensive grad assistant at Oklahoma before getting a staff job recently as a special teams guy. At Oklahoma, he worked directly under Bob Stoops, who made his way up as a DB coach.
Being a young, black coach from California, and a guy that has worked under some of the best coaches at his position group would likely make for a nice addition to the staff. In the mean time, he can continue to work with another DB coach at Michigan, along with Brown, to help him with the adjustment.
So seems like it would be a good get for Michigan.
February 22nd, 2016 at 11:45 AM ^
Yep, seems like there are a lot of positive aspects to hiring him.
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:48 PM ^
Young - seems to be working with Jay and Partridge
Black - not going to engage the 'I don't see color' folks, but look at all of the secondary players on the roster then determine if they would notice if the coach was black
From California - tons of recruits
Great Recruiter - seems like having another one of those would be a good thing
Wears Cleats to Practice - HARBAUGH
February 22nd, 2016 at 11:56 AM ^
Not necessarily interviewing for the DB coach job. For someone who's never been a position coach before, it may be for one of the support/analyst positions that are open
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:10 PM ^
Potentially, but with his history with Stoops I don't know if he would take a lateral move to Michigan.
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:32 PM ^
Lorenz is reporting that he is specifically interviewing for the DB assistant vacancy.
http://michigan.247sports.com/Board/59424/Contents/OU-assistant-intervi…February 22nd, 2016 at 10:49 PM ^
So many great quotes in the article, but here's some from the Sooner DBs:
When Mike Stoops first took Viney into the defensive backs meeting room to introduce him, those players thought he was a new transfer.
“We all just looked at each other like, ‘Who is this dude?’” remembered Zack Sanchez. “We thought it was a player transferring in or something.”
Then, the defensive backs were surprised by how involved Viney was in their training.
“What I did notice is that the coaches trusted him a lot to do things that I didn’t normally see from the GAs,” said former OU defensive back Kass Everett. “They gave him trust in running DB drills. They let him coach with his personality; they didn’t really try to tame him. They let him be who he was.”
Sounds like a great pick-up, a new sprout on the coaching tree.
February 22nd, 2016 at 11:58 AM ^
That Football Brainiacs website has a guy named Ace AND a guy named The Yost as contributors.
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:03 PM ^
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:25 PM ^
I guess Bill Belichick was busy and did not want the job. /s
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:29 PM ^
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:31 PM ^
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:31 PM ^
Viney also surprised the players by frequently wearing his cleats to workouts and challenging both other defensive backs and receivers to one-on-one battles. He went head-to-head against guys like Sterling Shepard and Jalen Saunders.
This alone reminds me of something Jim Harbaugh would do.....has done, in fact. The fact that his biggest takeaways from coaching are pretty similar to things Harbaugh has said - watching guys grow, transform, improve, etc. make me think this woul be a great fit for the staff here in Ann Arbor.
February 22nd, 2016 at 1:43 PM ^
This sold me. Players love when coaches compete with them (generally speaking).
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:33 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 22nd, 2016 at 1:00 PM ^
February 22nd, 2016 at 1:10 PM ^
Maybe they are waiting on staff to be settled before announcing it.
February 22nd, 2016 at 1:14 PM ^
Hope he's here longer than a cup of coffee. At least stay for dinner.
February 22nd, 2016 at 1:51 PM ^
We're having it catered by Cracker Barrel!
February 22nd, 2016 at 1:18 PM ^
This is making neurons wayyyyy in the back of my brain connect, but I'm pretty sure either Lorenz or Webb mentioned Viney several months ago as an absolute dynamo of a recruiter. I think it was specifically mentioned in relation to the Caleb Kelley recruitment and it may have had something to do with having tremendous familiarity with the west coast in general and Fresno in particular.
If I'm right - and I'm pretty sure I am - that's a compelling piece of evidence that this guy is the real deal. At that time, he wasn't being considered with respect to a Michigan job at all.
February 22nd, 2016 at 1:33 PM ^
This would be a another Harbaugh home run hire. Another young, aggressive coach on the way up. This is how he builds coaching trees.
February 22nd, 2016 at 2:39 PM ^
He'd be awesome on the recruiting trail in California. I'd love to see more David Long and Devin Asiasi type players. Plus the defense has experienced coaches with Mattison and Brown to teach the younger coaches.
February 22nd, 2016 at 4:40 PM ^
Looks like a great fit.
February 22nd, 2016 at 5:56 PM ^
Description of him from his players reminds me of UM players' descriptions of Coach Manning when he was here. Interested to see how this plays out!
February 22nd, 2016 at 6:01 PM ^
because he didn't want to be called Cow "Chip"....