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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Michigan Assistant Coach Rumors

Greg Roman could be Michigan's next offensive coordinator
We as fans are never happy. We just got our dream coach, and now we'll be concerned about who his assistants will be. When Jim Harbaugh was asked about filling his staff, he said, "Measure twice. Cut once." So he wants to be careful about who he brings on as assistant coaches. Here is a look at some potential coaches to fill out the ten offensive and defensive staff jobs:

1. Jim Harbaugh, Head Coach: Signed, sealed, and delivered. Next.

2. Offensive coordinator: San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman has been with Harbaugh since the Stanford days, and some reports - as well as common sense - suggest that he will follow Harbaugh to Michigan. Roman is from New Jersey and has spent most of his time in the NFL, except for two years in Palo Alto. Roman has mostly worked with the offensive line and tight ends throughout his career, so I would expect him to help out with one of those positions.
Other possibilities: Andy Moeller, Tyrone Wheatley

3. Running backs: Buffalo Bills running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley has not been promised a return in 2015, and being a Michigan legend, he might feel a desire to return to Ann Arbor to help resurrect the program. Harbaugh might also float the idea of being a co-offensive coordinator, which would make a little more sense from Wheatley's perspective. He has a desire to be a head coach someday, so one would expect him to be looking for some kind of promotion up the ladder.
Other possibilities: Reggie Davis, Fred Jackson, Roy Manning

4. Wide receivers: No, this isn't the former Detroit Lions wide receiver, but San Francisco 49ers wide receiver coach John Morton is out of a job. Morton grew up in Michigan and played wide receiver at Western Michigan, so he's a midwest guy and would presumably have some connections in the area. San Francisco's wide receivers weren't spectacular, but he has worked with some pretty big names in Anquan Boldin and Michael Crabtree.
Other possibility: Ronald Curry

5. Tight ends: Kentucky tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow has been rumored to be a possibility. Harbaugh has reportedly already reached out to Marrow, whose help in recruiting at Kentucky has been pretty impressive. Marrow grew up in Ohio and played football at Toledo, so he's another midwest guy.
Other possibility: Reggie Davis

6. Offensive line: San Francisco 49ers offensive line coach Reggie Davis was with Harbaugh for each year in San Francisco. He has spent his entire playing (Washington, San Diego Chargers) and coaching (UNLV, Oregon State, San Francisco 49ers) career on the west coast. Maybe he's attached to the lifestyle, family, and friends out there. If he comes with Harbaugh, he'll be a much needed connection on the west coast.
Other possibilities: Tim Drevno, Andy Moeller

7. Defensive coordinator: Florida defensive coordinator and interim head coach D.J. Durkin has been a popular name floating around for the past few weeks. He worked with Harbaugh at Stanford and has experience working with special teams, defensive ends, and linebackers, so he could help out in any of those areas.
Other possibility: Greg Mattison

8. Defensive line: Oklahoma defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery has been suggested as a possibility. Montgomery, of course, was at Michigan for the first couple years of Brady Hoke's tenure and then left for a bigger paycheck in Norman. Montgomery was only ever in charge of part of the defensive line at Michigan, so the only real reasons to move back would be another pay raise and/or control over the whole position group.
Other possibilities: D.J. Durkin, Roy Manning, Greg Mattison

9. Linebackers: Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison might be a holdover from the previous staff to this one. Mattison has family in the area, loves the University of Michigan, is a pretty good coach with NFL experience, and is a great recruiter. He also has connections to Harbaugh and potential defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin.
Other possibility: Roy Manning

10. Defensive backs: San Francisco 49ers defensive backs coach Greg Jackson will be looking for a job. He is from Florida and played college football at LSU, so his potential connections in Florida and SEC country could help Michigan's recruiting efforts in difficult locations.
Other possibility: Roy Manning

OVERALL
It would be unlikely that so many 49ers guys would follow Harbaugh to a college to which they have no connections, and other guys coming to Ann Arbor from the NFL (Wheatley, Moeller) would also be a bit of a stretch. Will all of those guys end up standing on the sidelines of Michigan Stadium? Probably not. But I would expect at least a couple of them, particularly Roman. Otherwise, some likely possibilities seem to include Vince Marrow and D.J. Durkin.

Otherwise, Michigan has a couple ace recruiters in its pocket with Mattison and Manning if they so choose to keep them. Manning is supposedly still in Ann Arbor and hoping to catch on with the new staff. I didn't list him as option #1 at any positions above, but that's partly because he has coached running backs, linebackers, and cornerbacks, and he played a hybrid defensive end position. Harbaugh could put him in a variety of spots, although Michigan's cornerbacks performed questionably this past season under his tutelage. I would not want Manning to be in charge of all the defensive back positions by himself, but maybe a year of honing his skills with the cornerbacks could help him improve in year two of coaching the position.

32 comments:

  1. Keeping Mattison or Manning around wouldn't be a disaster, but we've seen the consequences of having guys who can recruit but not coach and develop players for the last two years. A clean sweep is preferable...and please, keep Andy Moeller a long way from this program. He was terrible as an O-Line coach here, and will be nothing more than mediocre anywhere else.

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    1. I don't get the insult for Mattison. Michigan had a pretty good defense in 2014 despite having a pretty bad offense. And Michigan's linebackers (his position group) did pretty darn well this year. Add his recruiting prowess to that, and I'd be glad to keep him around.

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    2. Obnoxious Anon strikes again.

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    3. Sorry, but Michigan's defense was just not that good last year, certainly not when it mattered. How many games where there when the defense needed to step up with big stops and flopped? ND, Minnesota, OSU, etc., etc. And how many players under Mattison have people expected to break out as big stars and never did? Clark, Bolden, Ross, Pipkins, Countess, etc., etc.

      If you're going to pump up Mattison, give us a list of the highly rated recruits that he turned into genuine stars on the field, and then compare his player development to Narduzzi's. I'll make a list of the highly rated recruits who have been mediocre or downright flops under Mattison, and we'll see whose list is longer.

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  2. Much of Homes undoing had to do with the Offensive line. Need a top-nothlch coach in that role to start with. Ya know, someone that can teach them to block

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    1. Aside from coordinators, finding a good offensive line coach would be my top positional priority.

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    2. Tim Drevno, USC's OL coach, is being discussed as a candidate. From the review of him on mgoblog, this guy sounds rock solid. I'd take him over Andy Moeller any day.

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    3. Definitely. Go back and look at our rushing YPC while Moeller was OL coach. Mediocre to poor. And downright bad for everyone other than Mike Hart. He never had any business coaching that position at a major college level.

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  3. I would love to get Montgomery back if that is a real possibility. Also, as much as I love the guy, I think it's time for Fred Jackson to go off into the sunset.

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    1. I do not think Jackson will return, but considering he's been at Michigan from Moeller to Carr to Rodriguez to Hoke, I wouldn't put it past Harbaugh to keep him around. I think Jackson is a good coach, but a younger guy might be able to do the job just as well.

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    2. Well, if Ty Wheatley is coming, Fred Jackson has to go. I get the point of keeping him, but I think Ty Wheatley might be the better option in the long run. Wheatley, after all, is a legend. Wheatley might one day replace Harbaugh.

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    3. Yeah Jackson is a must go, and possibly mattison

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  4. I like Manning and he is good for recruiting, too, but someone more qualified might have to take his place. I'd be okay with him staying, but as Anon 7:57am said, we really need top-notch coaches to turn this program around. The only coach I'd be sad to go would be Mattison. I am happy that Mattison is likely staying (though not as DC). I know there's one more year left on his contract, so we might as well pay him the DC money for one more year.

    I also heard Erik Campbell might come back as WR coach. Not sure if this is the best news, even though he was a big-name player here. I also heard that the pool for assistants is big -- 5 mil -- so hopely Harbaugh can assemble a terrific staff.

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    1. I would be ecstatic if Erik Campbell returned. I haven't heard any rumors that he might return, but the guy can flat-out coach wide receivers. Michigan's wideouts were always good under him, and then Iowa had a good run of receivers when he was there. That's not a coincidence.

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  5. How do you feel about Roman, after receiving the bulk of the credit for the 49ers offensive relapse this year after switching schemes and somewhat poor playcalling in key situations?

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    1. To be honest, I haven't watched a single San Francisco game this season. I did watch them in past years and when he was at Stanford, and I can't say that I have any qualms about hiring him. I mean, sometimes you just have a bad year. And frankly, I've never been very high on Colin Kaepernick. I think he represented the NFL's first concerted effort to run a lot of Pistol stuff, and I think that helped him out as teams adjusted. But now that defenses have caught up a little bit - and Kaepernick seems not to have grown - I think the 49ers are somewhat limited at the QB position. Maybe you can put some of that on Roman himself, but he's just not a QB on the level of Rodgers, Manning, Brady, etc.

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  6. Come on guys Mattison is very good. Dismissing him as not good developing talent is ridiculous.

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    1. DJ Durkin thing appears to be happening, so if Mattison is willing to accept the demotion, I'd love to have Mattison around.

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    2. This Anon is much better than the one above.

      -Anon #3

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  7. Having watched them both run, I'd favor Hart over Wheatley as a coach on the basis that on the best day Mike Hart ever had as an athlete he couldn't carry Tyrone Wheatley's any piece of equipment you might care to name, but he still might have been a better running back.

    Hart did it with smarts, vision, technique and of course heart. I'm not sure you can teach the vision thing although I know you can teach em where to look. Wheatley did it with vision, power and speed. I also know for a fact that you can't teach power and speed because if you could, I would have had me some.

    You can teach football smarts and technique. You can demonstrate heart.

    As somebody said recently, you never want to compare great to great, because somebody gets diminished. And, it is not my intension to dis Tyrone Wheatley in any way as I was and remain a huge fan, but I can't remember him ever getting caught from behind. When a hole happened and it became a footrace, Tyrone Wheatley won it.

    Mike Hart, not necessarily. And yet, he was about as productive a three down back as we have ever had around here. Best of all,he irritates Sparty to apoplexy.

    Yeah, I know ..... Tyrone Jr.

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    1. I don't think what they did as players really matters. What have they done as coaches? Is Wheatley responsible for coaching up Fred Jackson (the NFL back, not his coach at UM)? Is Hart responsible for the kid at WMU who has done pretty well?

      I'm not sure either is the best fit. RB is a spot where you can put an ace recruiter. If they think Manning can deliver that he could end up here. If they think Hart can recruit it will be a leap of faith.

      I could be wrong, but it seems like Wheatley is only being mentioned because he's an alum. It doesn't make sense for him to come to UM unless he gets a promotion. Roman and Wheatley seem almost mutually exclusive.

      Similar story for Moeller except he's probably about to get fired. Would anyone really want him if he wasn't a former captain and best buddies with Jim? I'm not so sure this would be a great hire for UM.

      On D, Durkin seems like a near done-deal, which is great IMO. If Mattison joins him...everything else will be gravy.

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    2. You know, I love Hart too, but I think Wheatley is more accomplished. Hart could one day come home and be a coach for us, but as of moment TW is better option.

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  8. I don't remember Eric Campbell playing wide receiver at Michigan, I have him as a Safety that moved up to whatever they called the Nickel occasionally, back in the day. I think he was a four year starter ..... at DB. Which in my mind would make him a helluva DB.

    I know he had some fine receivers at Iowa, and all the great receivers we had around here forever. If they call and ask, I'm voting for Campbell.

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  9. I'm in agreement with those who were not knocked out by our CB play this year and are hanging manning with it. I'd favor Greg Jackson as my DB or Safeties coach. If his timeline is correct, he should have a Superbowl ring having played for the 1990 Giants and "The Big Tuna". He would know how to handle adversity.

    I'm also in agreement with those that would like to find a place for manning on the strength of his recruiting abilities, I just don't know who he can supplant as a position coach on this list of guys.

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  10. Player development should trump everything else. We already have great recruiters on the staff -- Harbaugh himself, Durkin (assuming this happens), and probably Mattison. We have a great need at OL, DL, and DB for player development. This need should eclipse all else.

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  11. This is a nice rundown of the rumors I've been reading. Nice work Thunder.

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  12. OK fellas, some more news: http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/12/report_usc_ol_coach_tim_drevno.html

    Tim Drevno (USC, OL) and John Morton (49ers, WR) appear to be coming to Michigan.

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  13. Drevno to OC. Well, that's one way to pry him away from the Trojans.

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    1. Drevno is OL specialist, and I hope he can get the OL going for the type of complex power offense Harbaugh likes to run. Soon, I think our offense will be very good.

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  14. Moeller would be a terrible hire. Awful coach, awful human being. Got a DUI at Michigan and like two more with the Ravens. History is likely to repeat itself if he ends up back in Ann Arbor. Waste of time and money if you ask me.

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    1. With the Drevno hire, Andy Moeller is off the table. No worries.

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