Greg Mattison
Defensive line coach Greg Mattison and linebackers coach Al Washington have both fled to Columbus, Ohio. Mattison had been Michigan’s defensive coordinator under Brady Hoke from 2011-2014, and he was demoted to defensive line since 2015, working under defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin that first year and then Don Brown the past three seasons.
Hit the jump for more.
Jim McElwain
Michigan wide receivers coach Jim McElwain will reportedly be the new head coach at Central Michigan. McElwain spent just one season in Ann Arbor after previously being the head coach at Florida and Colorado State, along with being an offensive coordinator at Alabama. Central Michigan fired head coach John Bonamego at the end of the season, a 1-11 year and the worst in program history (Bonamego was 7-6, 6-7, and 8-5 the previous three seasons).
McElwain appeared to do a good job as the wide receivers coach this season. I heard positive reports from behind the scenes about his personality. And on the field, his charges performed well. While they didn’t put up huge numbers, they generally caught the balls that came to them and created some big plays. Donovan Peoples-Jones was a third team all-conference player (39 catches, 541 yards, 7 TD), Nico Collins had a breakout season (33 catches, 552 yards, 6 TD), and freshman Ronnie Bell was a low-ranked prospect who came in and caught 8 passes for 145 yards and 2 touchdowns.
It’s unclear how much McElwain was involved in play calling, since Michigan did not name an offensive coordinator this season. It has been assumed that McElwain, Pep Hamilton, and Ed Warinner all had some say in game planning, along with head coach Jim Harbaugh. McElwain also has not been known as an ace recruiter, so he should not be missed too much in that respect, either.
It’s too early to tell who will emerge as a possible replacement. Graduate assistant Roy Roundtree (a former Wolverine wide receiver) came to Michigan this season to work with the position, but his resume is rather thin after one year at Michigan and previously having coached at Indiana State. I would be very surprised if Michigan promoted him to the open wide receivers coach gig, except perhaps as a short-term replacement through the bowl game and for recruiting purposes.
Tim Drevno (image via 247 Sports
)
This is “old news” by now because it was announced yesterday and I posted a link last night, but I wanted to share a few thoughts on the departure of offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Tim Drevno.
Some of Michigan’s offensive line numbers over the past few years:
ADJUSTED LINE YARDS
2015: #52
2016: #64
2017: #20
ADJUSTED SACK RATE
2015: #13
2016: #28
2017: #117
Hit the jump for more.
It’s late on Thursday evening and some things are brewing with Michigan’s coaching staff, so here are some brief thoughts on the current situation:
Dan Enos
One expected staff change has taken place, and that’s the hiring of Dan Enos. Enos spent the last three years as offensive coordinator at Arkansas under Bret Bieleman, he was the head coach at Central Michigan before that, and he spent several years with Mark Dantonio as a position coach at Cincinnati and Michigan State. Enos is from the state of Michigan and played QB at Michigan State.
Hit the jump for more.