Jay Harbaugh named one of four Special Teams Coordinator of the Year
January 4th, 2022 at 10:46 AM ^
Count me as a non believer in Jaybaugh, thinking it was just Jim giving his son a leg up, and to steal a much used phrase now adays, starting him on second without having to hit a double.
Jay has turned into, maybe, our most important recruiter, and has done a hell of a job, like the OP stated, in every coaching role he has been involved in.
Hope he stays around and continues to grow the Michigan program.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:05 AM ^
I too was in the “Jay is just holding a spot for a real coach” camp at one time. I do think he’s a better finder of talent than developer of talent.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:46 AM ^
HeS a NepOTiSm HirE
January 4th, 2022 at 10:49 AM ^
He was. That doesn't mean he isn't a good coach.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:03 AM ^
He was a quality nepotism hire. He had a similar if not better profile than Dabo and Lincoln Riley when they got their first position coaching gigs after being grad assistants.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:04 AM ^
Real Question: Does it count as nepotism if the person hired is qualified and talented? Most of the definitions I have read say "unfair use of power" or "favoritism".
January 4th, 2022 at 11:05 AM ^
Nepotism hire infers that the individual doesn’t have the talent or credentials for the job. Jay was a successful position coach in the NFL. This narrative continues to be lazy.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:11 AM ^
I disagree. He was only an Offensive Quality Analyst for the Ravens (also a nepotism hire). That was his only job he's had (though he also was a student assistant at Oregon State during his undergrad there). I think you would be hard pressed to find someone being hired as a position coach at Michigan with a thinner resume.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:37 AM ^
The defacto QB coach this year had essentially the same path to the team…his last name isn’t Harbaugh.
that wasn’t too hard pressed actually.
January 4th, 2022 at 12:09 PM ^
This isn't even remotely true. Matt Weiss:
- Actually played college football
- Was a GA for 4 years (vs 4 years of JayBaugh as a student assistant)
- Coached for the Ravens for 12 years (vs 3 for JayBaugh)
- Was a lead position coach for 3 years (1 at CB, 2 at RB), vs 0 for JayBaugh
- Was an assistant position coach for 4 years (1 at LB, 2 at QB, 1 at WR), vs 0 for JayBaugh
- Was a quality control/random other assistant for 5 years, vs 3 for JayBaugh
January 4th, 2022 at 1:26 PM ^
Agree. You could maybe make a case with George Helow, as he has less overall experience than JayBaugh, but much more before joining the Michigan staff.
Regardless, JayBaugh has clearly worked out.
January 4th, 2022 at 3:06 PM ^
The key lesson here is - if Jon Harbaugh recommends him, hire him.
January 4th, 2022 at 1:29 PM ^
As I referenced, Lincoln Riley was a grad assistant at TTech for several years before being hired to TTech as a position coach.
Dabo played at Alabama, then went to business school, and became was a grad assistant a couple years before hired as a WR coach at Bama.
Jay working as an undergrad student assistant at Oregon State is equivalent to a GA role, and his offensive analyst and quality control role for the Ravens exceeds those other persons qualifications before their first position roles.
I agree that not every position coach can have such paltry experience, but most head coaches hire someone at that experience level to ensure youth in the coaching room which helps with recruiting and connecting to a younger generation. Also, young coaches may lack families and may be more likely to work their butts off and travel more.
If his name wasn't Harbaugh, it would not have been a controversial hire. It would have been seen as giving an opportunity to a promising young coach - same as nearly all coaches started their careers.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:16 AM ^
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Harbaugh
Was he? Wikipedia says he was Offensive Quality Control Assistant...for the Ravens. His first position coach role was when he came to Michigan.
I honestly don't care that he's coaching here. He's a good ST coach and recruiter, but he hasn't shown any ability as a position coach. To say that his hire wasn't nepotism is just ignoring reality.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:34 AM ^
He hasn’t shown any ability as a position coach? TEs and RBs have done well under his watch. If his last name weren’t the same as the head coach’s, we’d absolutely be calling him a rising star.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:42 AM ^
You don't think an NFL QA to a college assistant coach is a common, reasonable move up the coaching ladder?
January 4th, 2022 at 11:56 AM ^
Ignoring recruiting:
- He started coaching TE room that included a guy named Butt.
- Karan Higdon was our first 1,000 yard rusher in a long time and a B1G selection.
- Chris Evans was also selected for B1G honors, and was drafted.
- Zack Chabonnet broke the freshman rushing record.
- He identified and groomed Hassan Haskins who was very good even before this year.
- He also recruited and coached Corum for a year.
- The majority of our RB groups have been known for their blocking.
- Recruits talk about his football knowledge.
- Also, our TE group was very good this year.
I think saying he has not shown a position coaching ability is just ignoring reality.
January 4th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
I gave him credit for recruiting and for ST. It's the reason that I've never cared about the nepotism.
Jake Butt was coming on as a Freshman and had an abbreviated Sophomore season due to injury. His Junior and Senior seasons have higher numbers from playing in more games and getting more targets. If you want to credit the fact that Jake Butt got more targets to Jay, fine. I'll disagree and give the credit to the change in offensive play-calling due to the change in OC.
I'll let you have Higdon, but there's not really much evidence that he improved once Smith left beyond receiving the carries.
Evans was the same player when left as when he came in. Charbonnet came in talented (recruiting) and never improved. Haskins and Corum were excellent recruits, but I don't think it's a coincidence that they blew up the same year that we brought in a RB coach with experience.
The TEs were very good this year. I'd add caveats, but those caveats would apply both ways for when Sherrone Moore took over.
So, overall, I'd say there's weak evidence that he's competent at TE, but we could have gotten better a better coach had we hired someone with a proven track record. There's strong evidence that he's not a good RB coach. There's very strong evidence that he's a great recruiter and ST coach.
There is no chance that he would have been hired at Michigan as a TE coach had anyone not named Harbaugh been in charge of the hiring process. An argument could be made that Harbaugh hired him for ST and brought in Baxter for a year to help Jay become the long-term ST coach, but who else gets that treatment? Jay's hire was 100% nepotism. I also don't care. I've seen plenty of nepotistic hires that have worked out plenty well. I've never complained about his hire. I've never complained about him staying on the team. All I've pointed out is that his dad hired him for a position at which he had no track record over others that have proven track records. That is the textbook definition of nepotism. The fact that it has worked out doesn't change the fact that it was a nepotistic hire, which is all I was pointing out.
January 4th, 2022 at 3:25 PM ^
So, overall, I'd say there's weak evidence that he's competent at TE, but we could have gotten better a better coach had we hired someone with a proven track record. There's strong evidence that he's not a good RB coach.
You provide almost no evidence but do earn a gold medal for mental gymnastics. We as fans will never now the true impact of any individual coach and most of your takes are based off of speculation.
FACT: He coached a 2 time 1st Team All-B1G, All American, Mackey award winner at TE.
FACT: He coached an excellent TE group this year including a very underrated Erik All.
FACT: He coached Karan Higdon to back to back season of over 1,000 total yards, 3rd team(2017) All-Big Ten offensive first-team (2018)
FACT: The two years Higdon was the starter our backups where Chris Evans, Ty Isaac, and Tru Wilson. They averaged nearly 1200 yards for a near 6 yard averaged and totaled 15 TDs
FACT: Zack Charbonnet broke the freshman rushing TB record.
FACT: Hassan Haskins was a 2 Start recruit. Jaybaugh discovered and developed him. Out of Haskins three seasons as a major contributor THIS WAS HIS LOWEST YPC.
I will give you Blake Corum's progress but in 2020 he was a true freshman sharing a backfield with Haskins, Charbonnet, and Evans. That year was Jaybaugh's worst as a position coach but his unit still averaged 107 rushing yards and 1.67 TDs per game at 5.2 yards per carry. (should be noted that 2020 was a dumpster fire and considering the rest of the team this was good.)
Is he as good a coach as all those numbers and accolades suggest? perhaps not BUT every position group he has coached has been excellent. After seven years that is not luck, it is good coaching.
January 4th, 2022 at 12:29 PM ^
What a lot of people missed in the whole "nepotism" argument is that lots of coaches get their big break through personal connections. It's not like it's ever been some pure meritocracy.
What matters is whether the guy can actually coach or not. Brian Ferentz quite possibly can't. Jay Harbaugh, by all indications, can.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:16 AM ^
I think Jay is a good coach and holds his own on Michigan's staff.
I also think Michigan's success with Special Teams is as much a function of Jim Harbaugh as it is any position coach. Michigan's special teams have been good from Baxter to Partridge to Jay Harbaugh. I think Jim Harbaugh believes special teams is important and puts an emphasis on it allowing the coaches to use the best players on the team. I cringed every time I saw Haskins and Corum running down on the punt team to make a tackle this year. Not many coaches would allow the bread and butter of the team to be used on punt teams other than as the returner. There were many other starters on offense and defense who played special teams this year.
January 4th, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
Bama and UGA all use their starters on special team. Coaches understand the importance of ST.
January 4th, 2022 at 12:45 PM ^
When Jim was w the bears as 2nd string qb he begged ditka to let him play special teams because he wanted to play and contribute. He is all in on special teams.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:17 AM ^
Jay Harbaugh is both a nepotism hire and a great coach. It's fair to say that he got an unfair shot at the coaching position, but it's not fair to say that he hasn't continued to earn the spot.
Congrats, Jay!
January 4th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
At what point is someone’s shot considered fair/unfair? Have you ever been considered for a job because you had connections that worked at that company or industry? And are you careful to ensure that you don’t introduce your children to any professional opportunities?
It’s just hard for me call Jim hiring - Jay “unfair.” My wife works in medicine, and probably followed that path because her parents work in medicine. Is that unfair, that I didn’t get the same exposure from my parents vocation? Or is that just life - we all leverage our contacts and relationships?
Jim thought Jay was a quality coach - that could have blown up to prove untrue if Jay sucked, and Jim would answer for that. But I can’t understand the unfair narrative.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:19 AM ^
The dude is like Rip in Yellowstone.
He coaches where he is needed so new coaches can come in and take positions that they want.
He never complains and just does a great job, whatever role, without question.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^
Well Deserved! Special Teams Unit was great this season.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:36 AM ^
to conclude nepotism, you would have had to be involved in the hiring process and confirm that he was lesser qualified than most if not all other candidates
by virtue of growing up in a family of professional coaches, he had exposure to coaching and probably mentoring that his peers would not have
he's done a great job, stfu with the nepotism bs....
January 4th, 2022 at 11:42 AM ^
Best ST in the country. Smoked the #2 team in the B1G Championship.
Well-deserved.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:45 AM ^
it's funny: when you win, suddenly you collect a lot of awards. who knew?
January 4th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
Congratulations!
(It's a curious cluster, coaches at 3 Midwestern schools, and another from western North Carolina, the Midwest of the South.)
January 4th, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
Jay Harbaugh = good coach
January 4th, 2022 at 1:24 PM ^
Jay-baugh
January 4th, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
The majority of familial hires in coaching are bad. Sometimes they're ruinous, a la Brian Ferentz. But Jaybaugh is an excellent recruiter, a top-notch position coach, AND one of the best special teams coaches in the country. I guess Harbaughs are just built different