So who’s back and who comes in?

Submitted by jimmyshi03 on December 22nd, 2020 at 6:38 PM

Moving off of Brown obviously seems like the first of several moves coming, especially defensively.  I think everyone assumes that Shoop will be gone, and probably Nua given the decommits. Do you all think there’s a full defensive house cleaning? All that’s left is Jean-Mary and Zordich, the latter of whom I know many people would want gone for recruiting reasons. 
 

Personally, I’d rather not see Partridge back as DC, given how bad the Ole Miss was this season.

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Gulogulo37

December 22nd, 2020 at 11:10 PM ^

But didn't he play with one of the recruits' dads for a while? Or even some other in? You can't just build a relationship like that. Although having said that, I don't think they should keep Zordich just for a couple recruits. I'd be fine keeping him, but he does seem to be dead weight recruiting-wise usually. Steve Sharik had a good post earlier this year for whoever may have missed it. TL;DR, the technique Zordich teaches is fine, but also harder to learn and so possible better suited in a place like the NFL.

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bamf_16

December 22nd, 2020 at 9:15 PM ^

Family friend’s son committed to an SEC school and signed last week. He had a Michigan offer and  Zordich was his primary recruiter. Feedback is he’s a great teacher and no doubt knows his stuff. Michigan stayed in the game long enough largely because the family liked Zordich. 

 

But comparing him to other position coaches as recruits, there’s apparently a noticeable difference. Basically he recruits more like a defensive coordinator and less like a position coach. Some guys sell the kid and the family on the relationship they’ll have with the position coach while Zordich isn’t that warm and fuzzy type, but rather recruits by relying on pitches around how he’d coach the kid, how many NFL guys he’d coached and how he’d get the kid into the league in 3-4 years. 

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NashvilleBLUE

December 22nd, 2020 at 6:47 PM ^

I think Sherrone Moore and Warriner are 100% safe and Jim would fight to keep them and so should administration. I also feel Gattis is probably sticking around. Other than that, I’m not sure anyone else is safe.

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bamf_16

December 23rd, 2020 at 5:57 AM ^

Jim’s not going to fire his son. At worst he’d find a soft landing spot for him and it’ll look like Jay left on his own accord. Maybe OC or a Co-OC in the Mountain West or something, HC in D-II or FCS, etc.

 

And even that said, not sure Jay should be on the chopping block. But this is emblematic of the different philosophies of so many on the board.

 

Derek Mason can coach defense but isn’t a world beater in recruiting. Chris Partridge can recruit but coordinated one of the worst defenses in FBS last year. Which would people prefer? It’s quite a mix.

 

Jay can recruit. And more of the criticism lobbed at him has less to do with his coaching and more to do with an extension of anger towards his father. 

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burtcomma

December 22nd, 2020 at 6:52 PM ^

Ole Miss had a historically young D lacking talent, but they did get quite a hall of D players for next year.  Partridge did not have the Jimmy’s & Joe’s this year to do very much, so I think he deserves a pass on this.  

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JonnyHintz

December 22nd, 2020 at 8:00 PM ^

The “spot for him” would be as a positions coach with the possibility of a Co-DC title alongside a proven DC. But at that point, why would he leave Ole Miss for a lateral position move? Especially when Michigan could have kept him around by giving him a Co-DC title last season and we refused. 
 

Just face it, the ship has sailed on Partridge. You don’t want a “young, up and coming coach” for DC when the head coach is coaching for his job. You want a proven DC (like Mason or Muschamp) and you surround him with position coaches that are those young up and comers with recruiting chops.

You don’t fire a guy with a top 15 defense in four of his 5 years here (though I agree it’s time for him to go) and replace him with a guy who has 1 year as a Co-DC with arguably the worst defense in the NCAA. Dead last in yards per game, bottom 5 in yards per play, and bottom 6 in points per game.

I get that we liked Partridge when he was here and he was a great recruiter. But he’s absolutely not a great DC, which is what this program truly needs. You can find great recruiters and make them positions coaches. You need a schematically sound guy to be the DC. 

 

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NCBlue15

December 22nd, 2020 at 11:00 PM ^

I agree with the idea for a proven DC. But we also need strong recruiters and up and coming coaches as well. Our pipeline to NJ has dried up and we are not doing a good job recruiting Ohio.  Cannot base anything on 1 season at Ole Miss. I would not hand the keys to the defense over to him but did like him. 

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bronxblue

December 22nd, 2020 at 8:20 PM ^

They weren't "historically young" D; they had an average amount of returning production on defense.  All 5 of their leading tacklers were upperclassmen, and even when the schedule lightened up they still gave up a ton of yards and points.  And in terms of recruiting they brought in one defender in the top 300 nationally (a safety) as well as a couple of JuCo DTs who were not ranked/lowly ranked coming out of HS.  I'm sure he's a better coach than one who helped oversee the worst defense in college football, but there's still a huge gap between that and him being prime DC option.  You can find good recruiters out there who have also shown an ability to coach.

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chunkums

December 22nd, 2020 at 7:02 PM ^

I don't have any premium subscriptions, but I've been reading a lot of the tea leaves across social media. If I had to guess at what our staff will be next year, I'd say:

HC/QB: Harbaugh

OC/WR: Gattis

OL: Warinner

TE: Moore

RB: Hart(?)

 

ST: Jaybaugh

 

DC: Mason

S/Co-DC: Banks

LB: Jean-Mary

CB: Zordich

DL: ????

I could also see us bringing in a different QB coach/co-OC for Gattis.

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chunkums

December 22nd, 2020 at 9:41 PM ^

I just don't see it from looking at his recruiter profile on 247. Between seven years at Vanderbilt, two as Stanford's DC, and two more as a Stanford assistant, he has a total of seven recruits credited to him. He's listed as a secondary recruiter for all of them. The top-rated recruit on the list was the #790 recruit in the country.

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MJ14

December 22nd, 2020 at 8:29 PM ^

Hart is not a better running backs coach than Harbaugh. I am literally going to post this in every thread I post in until the staff changes are finalized. And every time someone brings him up. Great player for Michigan. Not a better running backs coach than Harbaugh. Also they will have a true QB coach. No more of Harbaugh being the QB coach. 

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mackbru

December 22nd, 2020 at 9:07 PM ^

Feels like J is a fine recruiter but the jury is still out on whether he's a top-level RB coach. I mean, we've had a revolving-door of 4- and 5-star backs, most of whom turn out to be just guys. Our best back at the moment, Haskins, was an obscure 3-star who they tried to play on defense. Higdon became a good back in the end. The rest have been...just guys.

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