Tag: coaching changes

Who should be happy/sad about the Doug Nussmeier hire?

Could Shane Morris be the next A.J. McCarron?

THIS HIRE IS GOOD FOR . . . 
Fifth year senior quarterback Devin Gardner. Gardner has one final chance to show his stuff at quarterback, and I think Nussmeier will bring a more cohesive offense to Ann Arbor. Gardner can run out of the shotgun and pistol, and he’s not bad throwing from under center. I expect Nussmeier to simplify Michigan’s blocking schemes, which should help out the young linemen and the quarterback. The new offensive coordinator also likes to push the ball down the field (as did Al Borges), which suits Gardner well because he has a strong arm and throws a nice deep ball.

The offensive line. Michigan’s young offensive line was terrible this past season, and it appears that Nussmeier may bring in a new offensive line coach to help him out. Whether coach Darrell Funk remains or not, I expect that Nussmeier will want a little more beef up front, and his coaching pedigree at Alabama suggests that he can help those guys achieve a new level of success.

Sophomore running backs Derrick Green and De’Veon Smith. Nussmeier utilized the inside zone game and zone sweeps to great effect at Alabama, which recruited Green out of high school. Both Green and Smith fit the role of good inside zone runners, because both of them are north-south runners capable of running through tackles. Green has the better speed of the two and would likely be more effective on the zone sweeps.

Sophomore quarterback Shane Morris and freshman quarterback Wilton Speight. Nussmeier has tutored numerous successful college quarterbacks (A.J. McCarron, Jake Locker, Drew Stanton, Jeff Smoker) and spent time with the St. Louis Rams under passing game guru Mike Martz. I can see Morris as a McCarron-like Game Manager Plus, a guy who can not only take care of the football and keep his team in the game, but make some downfield throws to really stress defenses.

Redshirt freshman H-backs Khalid Hill and Wyatt Shallman. Nussmeier likes to use his H-backs as lead blockers, wings, slot receivers, etc. Hill and Shallman appear to be good fits for this role, more so than the fullbacks who have been playing the past couple seasons.

THIS HIRE IS BAD FOR . . . 
Redshirt junior running back Justice Hayes. Nussmeier does not appear to be a fan of scatback types, at least not for featured roles. Hayes was reported to be moving to slot receiver, although he started Michigan’s bowl game at running back. His chances of winning the running back job next year likely took a hit with this hire.

Junior fullback Sione Houma and redshirt junior fullback Joe Kerridge. Nussmeier is a proponent of a one-back offense and doesn’t have a whole lot of use for true fullback types. The hire will almost certainly diminish their role in the offense, which was already more significant than it should have been based on Michigan’s personnel and abilities.

Doug Nussmeier, Wolverine

Doug Nussmeier with A.J. McCarron

Offensive coordinator Al Borges’s replacement is none other than Doug Nussmeier, who is leaving the same position at Alabama. Nussmeier was a college quarterback at Idaho under former Michigan State head coach John L. Smith and won the Walter Payton Award, which is given to the DI-AA/FCS Player of the Year. He was a 4th round pick in the 1993 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints but was used sparingly, throwing for 455 yards, 1 touchdown, and 4 interceptions. He went on to play with a couple teams in the CFL.

Here’s a list of his most recent coaching stops and some notable players:

• Michigan State quarterbacks, 2003-2005: Drew Stanton
• St. Louis Rams quarterbacks, 2006-2007: Marc Bulger
• Fresno State offensive coordinator, 2008: Ryan Matthews
• Washington offensive coordinator, 2009-2011: Jake Locker, Keith Price
• Alabama offensive coordinator, 2012-2013: A.J. McCarron, Eddie Lacy, T.J. Yeldon, Amara Cooper

Al Borges, Ex-Wolverine

Denard Robinson had some good times with offensive coordinator Al Borges back in 2011.

Michigan head coach Brady Hoke announced on Wednesday that offensive coordinator Al Borges would not be retained for the 2014 season, meaning almost everyone got their wish. Borges sprinkled amazing offensive performances (including record-setting 2013 games against Indiana and Ohio State) in with too many horrific game plans. I said after the bowl loss against Kansas State that heads should roll. Lots of other people called for it earlier, of course, but I wanted to see how 2013 played itself out.

Borges was hired by Hoke at San Diego State prior to the 2009 season, spending the next five seasons (two at SDSU, three at Michigan) together. They had some very good years together in San Diego and things started off pretty well in 2011 when the team went 11-2 and Michigan had two 1,000-yard rushers in quarterback Denard Robinson and tailback Fitzgerald Toussaint. But things started to go south in 2012 when Robinson failed to mature as a passer and the running game festered despite a veteran offensive line. A younger offensive line in 2013 forced the offense to mostly take steps backward again, with historically bad performances against Michigan State and Nebraska.

I hesitate to get into potential replacements, because these things almost never work out like you hope they will. What I would be looking for with the personnel and philosophy Michigan has is an offensive coordinator that has experience with the pistol and multiple tight end sets. As opposed to shotgun, the pistol lends itself more to pro-style and power running, which suits running backs Derrick Green and De’Veon Smith. Meanwhile, Michigan has the horses in Devin Funchess, Jake Butt, Khalid Hill, and Ian Bunting to make multiple tight ends work. Furthermore, quarterback Devin Gardner can run some option looks out of the pistol while still playing in a shotgun type of passing offense that suits his skills. Beyond Gardner, who’s only around for one more year, Michigan has quarterbacks Shane Morris and Wilton Speight in the pipeline, both of whose skills are suited to more of a pistol/shotgun spread look. Michigan has a spate of good receivers on the team and headed to campus, and they don’t have the maulers up front to be Alabama, so meshing Hoke’s power running philosophy with a pistol passing philosophy seems like the best idea to me.

Running backs coach Fred Jackson was Michigan’s offensive coordinator in 1995 and 1996 but is rumored to be nearing retirement, making him an unlikely candidate. Wide receivers coach Jeff Hecklinski has been an offensive coordinator in the past, most recently at Central Missouri State in 2002; he was also the passing game coordinator at Arizona in 2003. Tight ends coach Dan Ferrigno has not been an offensive coordinator since 1986 when he was at Western Michigan. Offensive line coach Darrell Funk has never been more than a position coach at the FBS level.

Michigan’s previous offensive coordinator, Calvin Magee, spent 2011 as Pitt’s offensive coordinator before reuniting with head coach Rich Rodriguez at Arizona in 2012. Before him was Mike Debord, who spent 2011-2012 as the Chicago Bears’ tight ends coach before getting hired as the University of Michigan’s Olympic sports administrator, a position he currently maintains.

Roy Manning, Wolverine . . . again

Roy Manning (#58) (image via Mike DeSimone)

Michigan has hired Roy Manning to replace defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery, who left Michigan for Oklahoma last week.  Manning will coach the outside linebackers (a.k.a. the SAM linebacker) and presumably help with coaching the weakside ends, coaching special teams, and doing a good deal of recruiting.

Manning played high school football at Saginaw High School in Saginaw, MI.  He was a part of the 2000 class, preceding fellow Saginaw products LaMarr Woodley and Jerome Jackson.  He earned the starting rush linebacker job (a very similar position to what he will be coaching) and made 39 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, and 1 sack as a senior in 2004.  He won the Roger Zatkoff Award, which is given to the team’s best linebacker.  In his college career, he made 72 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, and 3 sacks.  After he left Michigan, he had a short NFL career with the Packers, Texans, Bills, Jaguars, and Bengals, totaling 31 tackles and 1 pass deflection from 2005-07.

Manning was a graduate assistant for the University of Cincinnati in 2010 before taking a grad assistant job for Michigan in 2011, helping out with the offensive line.  For what it’s worth, Michigan churned out a ton of rushing yards that year with both Denard Robinson and Fitzgerald Toussaint topping 1,000 yards, Michigan allowed very few sacks, and center David Molk earning the Rimington Award.  Manning then went back to Cincinnati to be their running backs coach in 2012.  Starting running back George Winn had 1,334 rushing yards (the second-best total in UC history) and 13 touchdowns, and backup R.D. Abernathy averaged 5.3 yards/carry with 3 touchdowns.

Personally, I really like the hire.  Brady Hoke has worked with Manning before, so he knows that Manning will be able to mesh with the staff.  Manning also has a great deal of experience with the position he’ll be coaching, and he has experience at the next level, so he can impart some of what he knows to the young players.  It doesn’t hurt that he is a young, black male who might be able to connect to recruits and players in ways that some other coaches on the staff might not.  And when you look at on-field production, his position groups the last two years have done some outstanding things; while he wasn’t fully in charge of Michigan’s offensive line in 2011, he was able to observe what successful coaches and players do on a daily basis.  Hopefully that type of success can carry over with helping players like Jake Ryan and Cameron Gordon reach their potential.

Jerry Montgomery, ex-Wolverine

Jerry Montgomery (image via Detroit News)

“Defensive line” coach Jerry Montgomery left Michigan for the Oklahoma Sooners over the weekend.  Montgomery was hired by Brady Hoke when the latter came from San Diego State.  Immediately preceding his Michigan employment, Montgomery had been at Wyoming.  He had also previously coached at Northern Iowa and been a student assistant at Iowa after his playing days were over.  Montgomery was a four-year starter at Iowa.

Michigan’s defensive linemen combined for 205 tackles, 30 tackles for loss, and 12 sacks in 2012.  Those aren’t great numbers, but consider that Michigan was dealing with some position changers and mediocre talent left over from the Rich Rodriguez era.  The defensive line showed a great deal of improvement from the years of Bruce Tall to the years of Montgomery, although some of that credit goes to Brady Hoke and defensive coordinator Greg Mattison, too.

Montgomery also has value as a recruiter.  He’s young (33) and the lead recruiter for all three of Michigan’s current 2014 commits, as well as 2014 targets Da’Shawn Hand, Malik McDowell, Nyles Morgan, and Artavis Scott, among others.  He pulled in some excellent players in the class of 2013 with Jake Butt, Taco Charlton, Jaron Dukes, Derrick Green, Mike McCray II, and Henry Poggi.

At Oklahoma he will reportedly become the defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator.  In case you’re wondering, Oklahoma is pursuing a number of players that Michigan has offered, including WR Mark Andrews, TE Tyler Luatua, OT Cameron Robinson, OT Andy Bauer, OT Damian Prince, OT Braden Smith, DE Myles Garrett, DE Da’Shawn Hand, DE Solomon Thomas, DT Khairi Clark, LB Dwight Williams, CB Jalen Tabor, CB Nick Watkins, S Jamal Adams, and S Brandon Simmons, among others.  So Michigan coaches will probably cross paths with Montgomery on the recruiting trail.

There are a few obvious choices to take Montgomery’s spot on the staff.  It has been reported that Michigan won’t necessarily hire a defensive line coach, but instead might hire someone to coach the outside linebackers.  One seemingly obvious choice would be former Michigan linebacker Roy Manning, who spent some time as a graduate assistant at Michigan, but Manning was just hired in January as the running backs coach at Northern Illinois.  He has also coached at Cincinnati.  Another option might be Steve Morrison, a former Michigan linebacker who has coached at Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Syracuse.  Other names thrown out there have been former Michigan player/coach Erik Campbell and former Michigan running back Mike Hart, but neither one has experience playing or coaching defensive line or linebackers.