brian smith is ungoogleable

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82

Exit: Brian Smith
Ace •


[Bryan Fuller]

Michigan has lost safeties coach Brian Smith after two years on the coaching staff. ESPN's Ivan Maisel reports that Smith, as rumored, will take the defensive coordinator position at Rice:

New Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren is hiring Michigan secondary coach Brian Smith as his defensive coordinator and North Carolina Central head coach Jerry Mack (31-15, four seasons, three MEAC titles) to run the Owls' offense. Bloomgren worked with Smith at the New York Jets a decade ago, and with Mack at Delta State prior to that.

TMI's Steve Lorenz has confirmed the report.

Smith had a solid track record in his two years as safeties coach, getting excellent seasons out of Delano Hill and Dymonte Thomas in 2016, helping Hill raise his draft stock all the way to third-round pick, and getting an early impact from promising youngsters like Josh Metellus and J'Marick "Ol' Woods" Woods.

His departure gives Jim Harbaugh some flexibility with next year's coaching staff. Mike Zordich has coached the cornerbacks, who have been downright great, for the last three seasons; he's also a former All-American and 12-year NFL veteran as a safety, and spent four years coaching the position with the Philadelphia Eagles before coming to Ann Arbor.

Michigan didn't have a wide receivers coach on the staff last year, allowing a grad assistant to handle much of the position coaching. It'd make a lot of sense for them to give Zordich control of the entire secondary and bring in a WR specialist, especially with so many talented young pass-catchers on the roster.

EDIT: I should clarify. A new NCAA rule means Michigan will have a tenth coaching spot beginning in January, so they have two spots open right now. Hiring a WRs coach is very likely to happen. The question may be whether to bring in another secondary coach or, alternatively, a full-time special teams coach. Zordich has had special teams duties since 2016 and there have been some notable issues in the third phase this season. Either way, both the receivers and Zordich should be getting some help in the near future.

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45

Brian Smith to Coach Defensive Backs
Seth •

It appears Michigan has tapped Philadelphia Eagles asst LBs coach Brian Smith to fill the vacant secondary coach spot opposite Mike Zordich.

Sam seemed pretty certain last night:

And various media have picked it up this evening.

Quick bio: Don Brown brought in a familiar face. Smith played for Brown as a defensive back at UMass then coached linebackers under him before jumping to the NFL with Eric Mangini's Jets. Smith shifted around positions there under Rex Ryan (offensive quality coach, defensive quality coach, asst. DBs coach). Chip Kelly--who has a history of looking to the Northeast for his coachin talent--made Smith the Eagles assistant (to the) linebackers coach last year. He's only 36, which is very young I say. Quite young. Spring of his youth.

Quick react: Unlike the last time a linebacker coach moved to the secondary, at least Smith played defensive back (cornerback and safety) and has some history of coaching the position. This may be a return to his natural habitat. It does appear to be a Don Brown hire all the way--his former player (when Don was the DC at UMass), and a guy Brown as head coach elevated to coaching before losing him to the NFL.

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