Michigan linebackers coach Chris Partridge was fired toward the end of last week, ending his short second tenure in Ann Arbor. He coached an array of squads - special teams, linebackers, and safeties - from 2015-2019 under both D.J. Durkin (2015) and Don Brown (2016-2019) and was also an ace recruiter. He coached both Jabrill Peppers and Rashan Gary in high school, the former of whom signed with Michigan when Partridge was a high school coach and the latter of whom came to the Wolverines after Partridge was already a Wolverine.
From 2020-2022, Partridge worked under Durkin at Ole Miss, and he returned to Ann Arbor this past off-season when Durkin moved on to Texas A&M.
Despite being a great recruiter and generally considered to be an awesome guy, he was let go in the wake of "Sign-gate." Word leaking out from underground is that he attempted to interfere with the investigation into stealing signs, which largely centered around Connor Stalions. Partridge and Stalions were supposedly pretty tight and knew each other from back when Stalions was volunteering during Partridge's first stint with the Wolverines.
The loss of Partridge is significant from a recruiting standpoint. It's unclear whether there will be further punishment coming down from the NCAA. It seems as if impeding an NCAA investigation might warrant some kind of "show cause" for any program trying to hire him, but perhaps they'll deem the firing a sufficient punishment. Of course, the NCAA moves very slowly, so it may be a while before we find out what they think should be done.
Rick Minter is the new linebackers coach. He was hired as a defensive analyst in the off-season and is the father of defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, along with being a former head coach at Cincinnati.
This one hurts. I'm still not clear on what exactly Partridge did, but having been involved in many investigations, I know that - once it starts - it's too late. Gotta let things shake out as they may
ReplyDeleteWishing CP much luck Go Blue
I don't think this hurts us very much. Rick Minter is way overqualified to be a LB coach and he slots right in. The LBs have looked solid and obviously Rick Minter is familiar with our DC LOL.
ReplyDeleteRecruiting wise, it was great to have Partridge back but I don't believe he was long for the position anyway. At this point he is overqualified as a position coach and will have other opportunities in front of him. At the same time I don't think he's ready to be Michigan's DC if Jesse Minter moves on to an NFL job or head coaching position. So bottomline is that he was high probability to be gone in January regardless.
Might be time for Partridge to get some NFL exposure on his resume. I'm guessing the head coach in Baltimore might have some interest...