Michigan coaching staff turnover 2015 - 2017
With all of the speculation of what coaches are coming. I was interested to look back on how much change has taken place in three years under Harbaugh:
Here's a chart of the coaching staff and other key positions over the past three years:
| 2015 | |||
| Offense | Defense | Special teams | Other |
| Drevno | Durkin | John Baxter | S&C - Tolbert |
| Fisch | Greg Jackson | Recruiting - Partridge | |
| Jay Harbaugh | Zordich | Recruting - Matt Doherty | |
| Wheatley | Mattison | Operations - Rick Finotti | |
| 2016 | |||
| Offense | Defense | Special Teams | Other |
| Drevno | Brown | Partridge | S&C - Tolbert |
| Fisch | Partridge | Recrutiing - Bam Richards | |
| Jay Harbaugh | Zordich | Player Personnel - Tony Tuioti | |
| Wheatley | Mattison | Special Projects - Biff Poggi | |
| Smith | |||
| 2017 | |||
| Offense | Defense | Special Teams | Other |
| Drevno | Brown | Harbaugh | S&C - Tolbert |
| Pep Hamilton | Partridge | Partridge | Recruiting - Matt Dudek |
| Jay Harbaugh | Zordich | Recruting - Cooper Petagna | |
| Greg Frey | Mattison | Player Personnel - Sean Magee | |
| Smith |
Looking into year four (assuming Pep & Drevno are gone), Michigan will have turned over 5 offensive, 3 defensive, 1 Spectial Teams, and 1 Strength & Conditioning Coach for a total of 10 over 3+ years. In addition to the coaches, Michigan has not had the same team leading recruiting in any year and the football operations people have had equal turnover during that time.
That seemd like a lot of turnover in 3+ years so I decided to check a few other teams:
MSU: 0, yes, that's total. Other than shifting roles, they have not changed anyone.
OSU: Defense: 2, Offense: 3, S/T: 0, S&C: 0 Total: 5
Clemson: Defense: 2, Offense: 0, S/T: 0, S&C: 0, Total: 2
Alabama: Defense: 4, Offense: 4, S/T: 0 (moved around) S&C: 0 Total 8 (4 of which basically left to become HC's, and one left due to NCAA violations)
Compared to arguably the three top teams in the country the past three years, and one of our rivals, Michigan has had more turn over, and in some cases significantly more.
Also, I did not include it in the numbers, but all of the schools had more stable recruiting coordinators over that time as well.
Does it mean anything? Well, I don't think many people are arguing about the need for turnover on the offensive staff this year. That said, OSU, Clemson, & Alabama have had more stability and I think that shows in the consistency of their play and their recruiting. Hopefully Harbaugh gets some stabiliy where the only change comes from someone moving onward and upward due to their great success at Michigan.
January 5th, 2018 at 4:39 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 4:47 PM ^
Michigan certainly has not been hurting in recruiting under Harbaugh (even this years class many complain about is top 15). That said, to ultimately compete year in and year out, Michigan will need to bring in a few more of the truly elite talents (like Peppers, Gary, DPJ, etc) on a more regular basis. There are many factors impacting that outside of Michigan's control, but somehow they need to find a little more consistency for elite prospects. I would argue they have been good so far with everything else. Maybe the change you mentioned will yield those results. It has to be harder bringing in the elite talent with constant turnover in some key relationships.
January 5th, 2018 at 10:08 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 4:42 PM ^
If you want to show comparison to relevance, what happened the first three years of their staffs? Could there be a sequence where the good ones have to figure out the right combos until they get stability? I'm not saying there is but that could be a solution. I don't care enough to look but it would be a comparison that would be better aligned.
Thanks for taking the time to build this.
January 5th, 2018 at 4:46 PM ^
Exactly. I don't understand the constant comparison to teams that are years ahead. And Myers particularly took over a really good program. Tressel wasn't fired for sucking.
Also, Harbaugh's bringing in top end coaching talent. There's going to be more changeover when you hire highly desired coaches and you can't make everyone an OC or a DC.
Don Brown was a great pickup though as a top end talent who's not focused anymore on an HC position
January 5th, 2018 at 5:09 PM ^
As much as we wring our hands about staffing changes in football, the vast majority of which are inevitable for various reasons, I am kind of comforted in a way by the fact that these guys are in demand because that is a sign that you've got a staff that others consider good too. I would be far more worried, I think, if there were absolute silence and no one came knocking.
January 5th, 2018 at 5:22 PM ^
That's why I chose OSU, Clemson & Bama over the past three years instead of when their Head Coaches started. If any staffs were to be poached over the past three years, it would have been those three. With the sustained excellence they have had, wouldn't most of their coordinators & assistants be desired? And yet, OSU & Clemson have had significantly less turnover. When you get into the fine detail, even though Bama has had similar turnover as Michigan, they have had good stability with some key personnel.
But, I had a little extra free time and looked up Meyer, Swinney, & Saban. I didn't look year by year, instead I looked at their staff the first year and looked at the staff in year three to see the difference. Here's the info:
OSU: Offense: 0 changes, Defense: 2
Clemson: Offense 1, Defense: 3
Bama: Offense: 1, Defense 2 (interstingly enough, one of the losses was a position coach going to Clemson to be the D-Coordinator).
There is a chance there was more turnover in the inbetween years for each of those staffs, but again, the numbers are significantly lower than what Harbaugh has expereinced so far.
January 6th, 2018 at 12:46 AM ^
Thank you. Pesky facts are pesky. I agree that the staff turnover is too much and is a problem. How many years has it been since the offense had the same head coach and OC for more than two years? They are so busy changing tack and re-learning schemes (didn't we change O-line blocking mid-year this year???) that they never really have any "I have things dialed, let's kick ass" years. It's a problem.
January 5th, 2018 at 5:18 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 4:57 PM ^
MSU will have at least 1 change going into '18 as they are losing Barnett to FSU.
January 5th, 2018 at 5:06 PM ^
With the new DC, at least some of the position coaches will change too.
But really, MSU doesn't scare me in the long run. We're about to go back to owning them like we did in the past when we routinely recruited and developed top talent until the end of the Carr tenure
January 5th, 2018 at 5:11 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 5:40 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 5:58 PM ^
2017 was self inflicted whereas 2015 was a fluke play.
January 5th, 2018 at 6:00 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 6:02 PM ^
No one said "every game"
January 5th, 2018 at 6:28 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 8:01 PM ^
Go love your Spartans, kissy face
January 6th, 2018 at 6:04 AM ^
The Michigan difference! Letting the truth and homer glasses get in the way. It is so tiresome when somone on this board is critical of the team and is just being honest then homers get offended and call the other a sparty lover. F you kaz!
January 6th, 2018 at 6:22 AM ^
Do you ever get tired of being wrong about Sparty ? Fuck them, but to play devils advocate, they are two plays away from being 3-0 against us. And....forget the blocked punt. That is irrelevant if we don't let their fat-ass full back catch a 10 yard pass, and then RUN 80 YARDS to the 1 yard line earlier in the game. Also, McDoom needs to catch that pass this season. Regardless, there is no doubt that our program is about to get stronger, but beating them "regularly" will require them to get weaker too. That won't happen unless their Ohio pipeline is cut off because the coaching and talent are too solid. Variables go back and forth unless one team is so much better that the games are not close. That probably won't be the case as long as Mork is there.
January 5th, 2018 at 5:17 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 5:39 PM ^
That when we went back to stability we'd own MSU again. It's just that now we finally seem to be heading into stability. But sure, if say Harbaugh leaves it may not work out that way. But I believe he is here for the long haul
January 5th, 2018 at 5:42 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 5:47 PM ^
Harbaugh should be 3-0 against MSU already. One win, one fluke loss and one where we shot our selves. But MSU hasn't actually risen up beaten us once.
Who are all you idiots who keep negging for the Spartans? Leave your wolverine card at the door. I'm not shutting up for a bunch of green lovers. I'll have a salad for lunch
January 5th, 2018 at 5:56 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 6:08 PM ^
McDoom's drop, five turnovers, we still only lost by 4. Did you watch the game? Our offense sucked.
I'm not saying they didn't win the game. Just that if we had a C- offense it wouldn't have been close. Our offense will get better. We replaced our entire offense and entire defense mostly with youngsters. D is always ahead of O.
January 5th, 2018 at 6:18 PM ^
"We would have won if our offense didn't suck" isn't the same as "we should have won."
The offense sucking is part of the game. We lost because we weren't good enough.
January 5th, 2018 at 7:01 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 8:22 PM ^
Kaz is short for my home town, Kalamazoo.
I'm a Michigan alum.
My family are all Michigan alums and fans.
You're a pathetic spartan lover. Thank God my mother retired in Florida now and I don't need to visit you pathetic ... wenches.
I hope you're a hanger on from West Virginia because you suck as a Michigan fan. Particularly since I'm right and we should be 3-0 and MSU should be fearing the future.
So let me ask you this. I'm book marking this quote. If in five years I'm right, you going to admit you're the Spartan fan that you are?
January 5th, 2018 at 9:35 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 9:43 PM ^
From the last hundred years, you would make you vomit, Spartan lover
January 5th, 2018 at 9:50 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 9:56 PM ^
Program history is great but it doesn't guarantee the future nor does it give you a right to talk shit while you're losing, and we've been losing. Take your pompous attitude, month-old account, and piss off. You make the rest of us look bad.
January 5th, 2018 at 8:04 PM ^
If you read the conversation you'd know you didn't contradict me. I said that we lost, they didn't win. You owe me positive cred ... if you have integrity ...
What I argued was that we're going to start beating them every year. You didn't contradict that. I did NOT say they didn't deserve to win this year. They did
January 5th, 2018 at 8:18 PM ^
"Harbaugh should be 3-0 against MSU already." -kaz
You're just another jackass homer who has no doubt been beating their chest about how good we're going to be for the last decade. How about you shut up til we're actually doing it so as to not embarrass the rest of us?
January 5th, 2018 at 8:26 PM ^
I said they beat us. I just said they lucked into a 2-1 record and going forward we're primed to beat them as has been since the dawn of time.
Do you have no pride, man?
January 5th, 2018 at 8:39 PM ^
I hope we do beat them, but I'm just not some delusional prick like you who thinks that wins are a birthright. State has a really good team, and really good coach, so acting like they're gonna be a pushover who has just been lucky so far is fucking stupid.
January 5th, 2018 at 9:45 PM ^
Is a prick?
Mirror.
You're one ... sick ... duck ...
January 6th, 2018 at 6:11 AM ^
Is very old!!!! If by chance you are a Michigan alum you sure could have fooled me. Me thinks not. I am thinking more like still a petulant child.
January 5th, 2018 at 6:31 PM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 8:05 PM ^
That contradicts nothing that I said.
And yet you keep negging me on behalf of your beloved Spartans.
Say high to Dantonio for me
January 7th, 2018 at 3:58 AM ^
Glad I'm a Wolverine.
January 6th, 2018 at 12:50 AM ^
No we didn't "replace our entire offense". We returned our starting quarterback for chrissakes, and he stunk up the joint until he got hurt. Then so did the next guy. And the next guy.
The offense reminded me of a Brady Hoke offense. Sucked from the get go and never improved.
January 5th, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
Dantonio has had double-digit win seasons 6 out of his last 8 seasons, while also winning 3 B10 titles, a Rose and Cotton, beaten Meyer's OSU twice, and at least reached the CFP. He lives and breaths the Michigan rivalry. To say we're just going to own them again, at least anytime soon, is being unrealistic. They look better going into next season, and the game is at East Lansing. I believe Harbaugh will turn this ship around next year, if not already, but nothing is a cakewalk in the Big Ten anymore.
January 5th, 2018 at 8:06 PM ^
You know, when Harbaugh was here?
Spartain lovers make me sick. Go to your East Lansing paradise and stop pretending to be a Wolverine
January 5th, 2018 at 8:24 PM ^
Admit you're a Spartan fan. I keep giving you more posts to neg. Man up
January 6th, 2018 at 1:13 AM ^
When Harbaugh was here: 2-1 record against UM. Won the Big 10/reached the CFP, and won the Holiday Bowl.
-.- I went to Michigan man. That doesn't mean I'm going to be delusional. Dantonio's record is what it is. Yes, Harbaugh should have been 3-0, or at least 2-1, but we've suffered from too many near-victories last several years that it doesn't matter to me anymore. I don't care who we hire or recruit, just find a way to play all four quarters and get the win.
January 5th, 2018 at 8:09 PM ^
They don't look better going into East Lansing next year than we do. First of all, MSU play under Dantonio is super inconsistent, even in home games. Yes on any given day they can pull out a good game, but they also choke harder than Michigan ever would, say in the CFP, or even against Western.
Next year state has one quarterback with any real experience, and an offensive line that is going to have some serious holes in it. Just thinking about what our DL is going to be able to do to Lewerke and if so where that puts Dantonio for the remainder of the 5-6 (if bowl eligible) games if he gets hurt, is going to be something Dantonio can't prepare for.
Then go look at Patterson's highlight video by Sam Webb and hope he gets the eligibility he should next year.
Also Enos has Dantonio's number, so don't forget to factor that into the equation. I'm so buying tickets to that game.
January 5th, 2018 at 8:28 PM ^
Everything you just said is so dumb it's blowing my mind. Get your head out of your ass.
January 5th, 2018 at 9:45 PM ^