Where are they now? Former M coaches
Over at TTB, I put together a rundown of where virtually every coach for Michigan over the last 20+ years - and several former players - are now coaching (LINK).
It's always interesting to me how the coaching fraternity works, and how guys stick together as they move place to place. Like how Calvin Magee and Rich Rodriguez are still together, Darrell Funk followed Al Borges to UTSA, and the Indiana State Sycamores coaching staff has been full of former Michigan coaches.
I mean, I get how Borges is still a coach - he had some decent stuff before Michigan. But Darrell Funk? Just how in hell is he still involved in college football coaching circles? He was - literally - the worst OL coach I have ever seen at Michigan. And it's not even close! I understand that Michigan, on average, hires some people at (near) the top of the college football game, but Funk wasn't even close. Schembechler, Moeller, Carr, or Harbaugh wouldn't even have answered his phone call, let alone entertained an interview! I'm not convinced that Rodriguez would have, either...
WTF, Brady???
Re Funk:
Brady wouldn't have hired him at Michigan either if he was filling an open position. Not without their history together. That was really the biggest issue I had with Hoke. He brought coaches from Ball State to SDSU to Michigan out of a sense of loyalty and familiarity. Critiquing their performances or looking for obvious upgrades wasn't a part of the job he embraced. He'd probably be our coach now if he had.
Funk was bad compared to expectations for Michigan, but he wasn't completely unqualified. If we had traded him for UTSA's OL coach, I doubt we would have been any happier with him. Funk's now at the level he belongs. We have a tendency to pick out a scapegoat or two and exaggerate their deficiencies. We're doing the same with Pep. He wasn't great, but nothing we complain about with him was entirely his responsibility. Hell, we're still not entirely sure what he was responsible for.
You can pretty much look at Brady’s whole staff and say that. With the exception of Mattison and Jerry Montgomery, none of Hokes staff really stuck around the P5 level.
Add in Roy Manning. Those are the three guys he hired to fill open positions on his staff.
3 for 3 on new hires, 0 for 6 on the guys he brought with him.
Thanks Magnus.
Saturday night I had dinner at Maiz in Ypsi (good mexican food if you get a chance to go over there - worth checking out) and sitting two tables across from me was none other than gorgeous Borges. As he was walking out I said Hi to him and chatted with him for just a few minutes. Asked him if he was still coaching in TX and he said he retired - so no longer at UTSA. RIP Gulf Coast Offense.
What was he doing in Ypsi?
Eating, maybe?
He appears to be good at it...
Didn't his wife have a connection to Eastern?
Thanks. I didn't know how long he would stay on as a consultant.
Still a bit sad about Baxter at USC. Would have been AOK keeping that guy.
Honestly, I don't really think we lost much in that transaction. They had 4 blocked punts/kicks last year, and Michigan had 3. Pretty much equal in punt returns. USC had a better KR average, but Michigan had 1 KR TD and USC had zero. It was pretty much a wash.
And I think freeing up a position coach who can also handle other duties is a plus overall. Baxter seems like a good dude, but Michigan's recruiting is boosted (IMO) by having an actual position coach in that place.
Fair points - it did seem like some of his general philosophy remained with the staff as well so maybe there was some knowledge transfer and we're just as well off in current setup. Though to be fair USC was kind of a train wreck last year so that may play into results on the field.
Chris Partridge replaced Baxter on the staff. I don't know that there was a spot for him otherwise and we may well have lost him. It all worked out for the best.
Thanks for leaving Pep Hamilton off the list. Let’s pretend he never coached here
Pep who?
He didn't.
Pep Hamilton, General Manager/Head Coach (Washington, D.C.’s XFL team): Hamilton is going into his first year as the head coach and GM of D.C.’s XFL team, which is as yet unnamed.
Pretty sure he added it later. Magnus always went to bat for Pep whenever the opportunity presented itself
Thanks for putting together Magnus.
A couple Tight Ends from the turn of this decade are doing some coaching as well.
Kevin Koger is an Offensive Quality Control Coach for the Green Bay Packers, and;
Jon Bills (former walk-on on the team) is the Tight Ends Coach / Recruiting Coordinator at UMass
Here's one more former player for your list, Siena Heights head coach Jim Lyall, who played for Bo in the early 70's:
http://shusaints.com/sports/fball/coaches/lyall_jim?view=bio
Last I checked, he had to retire early due to illness (cancer I believe). I think Matt Kohn is now the head coach. He set some DII passing records at Indianapolis I think. I’m an alum at SHU, but I don’t really keep up much with the school. They didn’t have football when I went there in the early 2000s.
As crazy as it may seem, I would actually put Borges as the 3rd worst OC we have had since 2011. Nuss and Pep were worse IMO. Borges had some incredible duds (2012 OSU where instead of using Denard in the 2nd half to have Vincent Smith run up the middle is a strong example), but he did have some strong games; 2013 ND/OSU, End of the year in 2011. Nuss' offense was bad and Pep had one of the worst passing playbooks I have seen.
Let's hope Gattis bucks the trend here and we can look back and just shake our head on these OCs.
IIRC, the problem Borges had in 2012 OSU was that he would insert Denard into the game and use him without any variation. In other words, when Denard came into the game as a RB or as QB in the gun, he was getting the ball. There was no deception.
I'd add 2011 Iowa and 2011 MSU (sort of) to the Borges wall of bad games. The Iowa game put Denard under center. We almost won when he loosened things up near the end. 2012 MSU was the opposite - we had ok results running the ball, but Borges seemed determined to throw the ball around the Trash Tornado.
2013 and 2014 game planning didn't matter because there was no offensive line.
If we're talking shitty OCs and reasons why there was a big one in the 2013 MSU game.
Late in the game, down several scores, 3rd and long, something like -38 rushing yards at the time. What play is called? A long developing play action pass. That'll really make the defense pause.
2013 and 2014 games did matter because we had a crappy OC that couldn't maximize the players he had albeit in their limited capacity. Put your players in the best possible situation to compete and excel. Not get their bodies blasted over and over again by calling plays that sure as shit won't work. A lot of plays didn't work those years but some didn't work and were very very bad. The playcall in the above situation is one of them. That play in that situation pretty much sums up gorgeous Al Borges to me.
That 2013 MSU game along with the 2014 ND game were just awful. Double A gap blitz all day long.
Somehow Borges decoded against OSU to spread out the defense do quick passes to Gallon, roll out with Gardner, and we had 600 yds of offense. More than our 3 previous losses combined. That 2013 squad had some players. 14 would have been better if Gardner wasn’t broken, Funchess wasn’t hurt, and we realized our 5th string RB was way better than everyone in front of him.
Where's Fred Jackson? Like Rich Rod only BIGGER and FASTER!
He was coaching at Ypsilanti High School through 2017 (they went 4-5 that year), but he didn't coach after that year, as far as I know.
Thanks, Magnus - was a rhetorical question, though.
I heard a rumor Keith Jackson passed away a few years ago.
I heard Koalas have a higher intellect than chimpanzees.
Well, Mean Joe is rather clever for a Koala, just remember...
Also, from some varmint website: "A koala’s brain is smaller, when compared to its body, than other marsupial brains: about 0.2% of its body weight. It’s possible a svelte brain saves the koala energy, which it has little to spare because of its nutrient-poor diet."
BTW, where has he been?
I guess he has to work for a living.
Any word on what became of Andy Moeller? I know it's an unfortunate story.
Nope. No idea.
Great list. So Schaffer is at Middle Tennessee State and will be back at the big house. Wonder how that will go for him.
Who is this Schaffer fella? Do you mean Scott Shafer?
Well, obviously I want an easy win for Michigan, but I also hope the crowd gives a warm welcome to Scott Shafer. He was run out of town because he spoke out about running a real defense aligned to the players rather than that crap pile preferred by Rich Rod. RR fired him for bucking the 3-3-5, not for poor results.
I like having the Sycamores coaching staff as mostly former Michigan guys, I am a ISU alum and walked on to the football team back in the 90's. They've done really well and Roy Roundtree recruited a kid out of my hometown who plays WR for them and played last year as a true freshman and took a couple punts tot he house. They're projected to be a top 25 outfit this year in a tough division with North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, Youngstown State(Bo Pelini) and South Dakota State
Yeah, Curt Mallory has actually done a decent job there. They went 0-11 in 2017 and turned it around to go 7-4 in 2018. For their sake, hopefully they can keep that momentum going. I like to see former Wolverines succeed.
Darrell Funk's son Tyler coaches tight ends there.
They had a decent offense last year with Heck running the show, it was a multiple WR no huddle spread. Closer to an air raid than spread and shred. I'll probably get up there to watch them play S Dakota St and Youngstown at least. Looks like they play at Kansas to open up.
Good shit, Magnus.
Greg Frey just got hired as an analyst for Florida.
No Dan Enos? :)
Dan Enos. Ah, the memories. All 2 of them.
Great list. Really informative.
So Borges was fired as OC at UTSA, but stayed on as an offensive assistant?
I thought Brady Hoke going back to San Diego State as a position coach under his former DC-now-Head Coach was intriguing.
Get Mike Hart back to AA.
What a bout Dan Enos? he was on staff for a cup of coffee and a danish.
I don't think that Sparty hack showed up for even one day.