Michigan named J.B. Brown as its special teams coordinator toward the end of last week. He is being elevated from an analyst position after spending the previous three seasons as a special teams analyst, advising Jay Harbaugh.
Hit the jump for more.
Brown is originally from Texas and then played baseball at Pacific before being drafted in the 14th round of the 2010 MLB Draft by the Mets. He then became a graduate assistant at Kansas (2015-2016) after his baseball playing days were over, followed up by two years doing the same at Houston (2017-2018). He got his first coaching gig at FCS Texas Southern (2019-2020), when he was their special teams coordinator.
Michigan has had one of the top special teams units in the country over the past several years, including the three (2021-2023) when he has been on staff. I have heard good things about him from behind the scenes, but those are just tidbits. He has very little on-the-field experience except at the FCS level, so it's difficult to gauge how effective he will be. We like to attribute Jay Harbaugh's special teams prowess to Jay Harbaugh himself, but certainly part of the credit has to go to Brown.
Since there's not much to go on, I'm more inclined to wonder how Brown will fit on the coaching staff and on the recruiting trail. Specifically being named "Special Teams Coordinator" means he probably won't have much to do with offensive/defensive positions. Michigan hasn't had a specific special teams coach since 2015, when John Baxter came to Michigan for Jim Harbaugh's first year. Otherwise, it has always been in the hands of either Chris Partridge (who coached safeties and linebackers at different times) or Jay Harbaugh. So whereas Jay Harbaugh coached the safeties the past couple years, now the entire secondary may fall to co-defensive coordinator/cornerbacks coach Steve Clinkscale. Presumably, Michigan will have just four defensive coaches:
- Co-DC/CB: Steve Clinkscale
- DL: Mike Elston
- LB: ??? (previously Chris Partridge/Rick Minter)
- Co-DC: ???
This makes the defensive coordinator hiring very interesting. The hot name right now is Kansas City Chiefs defensive line coach Joe Cullen, who overlaps with Elston.
Another consideration is where Brown will be assigned as a recruiter. I would like to think he should be a positive on the recruiting trail because of his youth and his lack of a prominent role on the coaching staff. A Texas native who went to school in California, coached a little bit in Kansas, and then went back to Texas before coming to Ann Arbor should be an asset in the Texas area.
Michigan's coaching staff as it stands today:
- HC: Sherrone Moore
- OC/QB: Kirk Campbell
- RB: Mike Hart
- WR: Ronald Bellamy
- TE: Steve Casula
- OL: Grant Newsome
- DL: Mike Elston
- LB: ???
- CB: Steve Clinkscale
- S: ???
- STC: J.B. Brown
Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what to think about Brown but obviously he impressed Moore so that's probably good enough for now. Perhaps an on-field coaching role was necessary to retain him against other suitors. Or maybe he'll be an asset in recruiting which Moore seems to be prioritizing (an approach I strongly question).
I'm a little surprised that Cullen is getting traction in the rumor mill given he is reportedly being considered for multiple NFL DC positions. Can Michigan really afford to just wait while that situation unfolds?
I think there's some feeling (exclusive to the Michigan fanbase) that Michigan coaching positions are comparable to NFL coaching positions. The only time that's really worked out is guys who are getting fired (or about to) in the NFL moving to Michigan -- and all of THOSE guys had past ties to the program (HC Harbaugh in 2015, DC Greg Mattison in 2011, RB Coach Wheatley 2015). Everyone else moving from NFL to Michigan is moving up. Please let me know if I'm wrong or forgot someone.
Anyway, point is that Cullen probably isn't coming to Michigan as it looks today. If he does it will be because Washington and the team in Washington pass on him, which will probably take time that MIchigan probably doesn't have.
But if Cullen does come! ----- you have to like his veteran presence opposite Sherrone and his connection to the Ravens system, but you also have to question if he's a good fit for the college game after so many years in the NFL. I'm not so sure he'd be any better than Elston anyway, assuming Elston has picked up a lot of the Ravens stuff in the last few years under Minter and McDonald.
I think the Elston/Clinksdale partnership as co-DCs could work if they beef up the analysts with Ravens system guys and make Ravens-adjacent hires at LB and Safety. With our best players being along the DL I would work extremely hard to keep Elston on the staff.
If Hart is retained, wouldn't he be due for a co-OC designation beside Campbell? Seems like the next logical step after going from RB coach to Run Game Coordinator. Then again I'm not sure there's lots of other offers for his services.
Delete@ Lank 1:06 p.m.
DeleteI think perhaps the Co-OC title is an option, but I'll just say - and I don't want to make an entire post about it unless/until Hart leaves - that I don't think Hart is a good fit to work with Moore. I just don't think it's a good dynamic, and I think Hart is probably not happy with how things have played out in Ann Arbor. My gut feeling - which isn't like Sam Webb's gut feeling, I know - is that Hart will not be in Ann Arbor in 2024.
@ Lank 1:05 p.m.
DeleteRegarding NFL guys coming to Michigan, I think of a guy like Greg Jackson. He was part of Harbaugh's staff with the 49ers and came to Michigan for one year with no ties to Michigan. I have to think he could have found another job in the NFL if he had looked around. He was hired by Michigan in mid-January of 2015, so the NFL coaching cycle was still in flux. He was basically just two weeks behind the hiring of Harbaugh.
@Thunder
DeleteI have no insider info but I agree with your take on Hart. He hasn't been out in the public a ton in the last year or two but when he has I have not gotten a ton of enthusiasm like you'd expect from someone in his role.
Greg Jackson was an assistant under the 49ers DB coach Ed Donatell. Jackson was promoted to a full DB coach at Michigan. Mgoblog reported that situation incorrectly when it happened so I think there's been lingering confusion all these years later. He was moving up the ladder. He went back to the NFL the following year to be a safeties coach and has had that role ever since. Michigan was a promotion for him in the same way that it was for Mike McDonald.
I wonder about all these internal hires (even the TE coach was a UM analyst), but when you're promoting from a NC staff, it's not the same as retaining guys from an 8-1o win season
ReplyDeleteMy hope is that some of Jay Harbaugh's success rubbed off on Brown. I have some questions about the on-field coaching prowess of Brown since he has such a short history of coaching. It's one thing to draw up plays and study film. It's quite another to teach technique, evaluate players, walk guys through drills, etc.
Delete