Tag: coaching changes

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.

Ex-Wolverine Updates: The Coaches

Scot Loeffler is the new offensive coordinator for the Auburn Tigers

Taking a look into the past, here’s a glance at every former Michigan coach over the past decade.  Most of these guys have landed on their feet elsewhere, with the exception of former defensive coordinator Greg Robinson.

If you have additions or corrections, please leave them in the comments section.


Teryl Austin (DBs, 1999-2002): Austin has spent his time since his Michigan days with the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, and Florida Gators.  He was hired as the secondary coach for the Baltimore Ravens prior to the 2011 season and still holds that job.

Vance Bedford (DBs, 1995-98, 2007): Bedford spent 2008-09 as Florida’s cornerbacks coach before becoming defensive coordinator at Louisville in 2010, a job he still holds.

Adam Braithwaite (Safeties, 2010): Braithwaite was the defensive coordinator for Christopher Newport University, a D-III school, in 2011.  He was hired prior to this coming season to be the safeties coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga.

Erik Campbell (WRs, 1995-2007; Asst. HC, 2005-07): Campbell was hired to be Iowa’s wide receivers coach prior to the 2008 season, a position he has held since that time.  He also spent 2008-09 coaching the tight ends.

Mike DeBord (Various positions including OC, OL, TEs, and Asst. HC, 1992-1999, 2004-07): DeBord was hired as an assistant OL coach for the Seattle Seahawks in 2008 and coached the TEs there in 2009.  He spent 2010 and 2011 as the TEs coaches for the Chicago Bears, a position he still holds.

Tony Dews (WRs, 2008-10): Dews spent the 2011 season coaching TEs and being the recruiting coordinator for Pitt.  He was hired prior to this coming season by Rich Rodriguez to be the WRs coach at Arizona.

Ron English (DBs, 2003-07; DC, 05-07): English spent 2008 as the DC for Louisville before becoming the HC at Eastern Michigan, a position he still holds.

Greg Frey (OL, 2008-10): Frey was hired as OL coach at Indiana prior to the 2011 season, a position he still holds.

Tony Gibson (DBs, 2008-10; Asst. HC 2010): Gibson was hired as the DBs coach at Pitt prior to the 2011 season, but left to become Rich Rodriguez’s DBs coach at Arizona prior to the upcoming season.

Jim Herrmann (DC, 1997-2005): Herrmann was the LBs coach for the New York Jets from 2006-2008, then was hired to be the New York Giants LBs coach in 2009, a position he still holds.

Jay Hopson (LBs, 2008-09): Hopson was hired to be the safeties coach and DC at Memphis in 2010, but resigned after the first two games of the 2011 season after being demoted.  He was hired prior to the upcoming season to be the HC at Alcorn State (known best for producing former NFL quarterback Steve McNair).  Hopson is the first white head coach in the history of the SWAC.

Ron Lee (DBs, 2006): Lee was hired by the Minnesota Gophers to be the DBs coach from 2007-10, where he also served as co-defensive coordinator from 2009-10.  I can’t find any info on where he might be coaching now.

Scot Loeffler (QBs, 2002-07): Loeffler, a former Michigan QB, spent 2008 as the QBs coach for the Detroit Lions.  He then spent 2009-10 as the QBs coach at Florida, 2011 as the OC/QBs coach at Temple, and was hired prior to the upcoming season to be the OC/QBs coach at Auburn.

Calvin Magee (OC, 2008-10): Magee spent the 2011 as Asst. HC, RBs coach, and co-OC at Pitt.  He was hired by Rich Rodriguez to the same role at Arizona for the upcoming season.

Terry Malone (OL, 1997-2005; OC 2002-05): Malone has been the TEs coach for the New Orleans Saints since 2006.

Andy Moeller (OL, 2000-07): Moeller was the assistant OL coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 2008-10, and was promoted to be the OL coach in 2011, a position he still holds.

Greg Robinson (DC, 2009-10): Robinson appears to have retired from coaching after leaving Michigan.

Rich Rodriguez (HC, 2008-10): Rodriguez spent the 2011 season as a college football analyst for CBS Sports before being hired as Arizona’s HC prior to the upcoming season.

Scott Shafer (DC, 2008): Shafer was hired to be the DC at Syracuse prior to the 2009 season, a position he still holds.

Bill Sheridan (LBs, 2002; DL, 2003-04): Sheridan spent the 2005-08 season as LBs coach for the New York Giants before spending one year as DC in 2009.  For the past two seasons, he was the LBs coach for the Miami Dolphins.  He was hired prior to the upcoming season to be the DC for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Rod Smith (QBs, 2008-10): Smith spent the 2011 season as the QBs coach and co-OC at Indiana.  He was hired prior to the upcoming season by Rich Rodriguez to the same position at Arizona.

Steve Stripling (DL, 2005-07): Stripling spent a year out of college coaching before being hired as Central Michigan’s DEs coach for 2009.  Prior to the 2010 season, he was hired to be Cincinnati’s Asst. HC and DL coach.  Prior to the upcoming season, he also added the title of co-defensive coordinator.

Steve Szabo (LBs, 2006-07): Szabo spent as year as the DC/LBs coach at Colgate in 2008, then a year as Asst. HC and LBs coach at Eastern Michigan in 2009.  He took 2010 off from coaching before being hired as Illinois State’s DC/LBs coach prior to the 2011 season, a position he still holds.


Bruce Tall (DL, 2008-10): Tall has not actively been coaching since being let go by Michigan, but he has been hired as the DC for the fledgling college football program from Charlotte, which begins play on August 31, 2013.

Urban Meyer, Buckeye

Urban Meyer has at least one thing in common with Brady Hoke . . .

Well, the persistent rumors that had been buzzing for weeks finally came to fruition on Monday morning.  It was reported that Urban Meyer – former head coach at Bowling Green State University, Utah, and Florida – has accepted the head coaching job at Ohio State.  The fate of interim coach Luke Fickell, who went 6-6 in place of Jim Tressel, seems unclear right now.

Meyer went 17-6 in two seasons at BGSU, 22-2 in two seasons at Utah, and 65-15 in six seasons at Florida; that gives him a combined 104-23 record (nearly 82% winning percentage).  He also produced first round draft pick Alex Smith (San Francisco 49ers), Heisman winner Tim Tebow, and two national championships in Gainesville (2006, 2008).

Many Michigan fans seem to be bemoaning Meyer’s hiring in Columbus, as if this will instantly relegate Michigan to also-ran status.

News flash: Ohio State will be good.  How that changes the rivalry is beyond me.  The Buckeyes were good under Tressel, John Cooper, Earle Bruce, and Woody Hayes, too.  Ohio State is a good program and almost always has been.  But Brady Hoke, Al Borges, and Greg Mattison have proven to be pretty good coaches, too.  And speaking of Mattison, he used to be Meyer’s defensive coordinator at Florida.  So was Charlie Strong, who’s now the head coach at Louisville.  Dan Mullen was his offensive coordinator, and he’s the head coach at Mississippi State.  Meyer can’t do it all by himself, and he’ll need to hire good coordinators to get the job done.

One of those coordinators might be Fickell.  I’m not a fan of Luke Fickell, but I think he did a decent job with the hand that was dealt to him this season.  He had a freshman quarterback, star players who were suspended for large chunks of the season, and obvious distractions.  There were slip-ups here or there, but when your star quarterback, star running back, and star wide receiver miss the whole season, half the season, and most of the season, respectively, I think expectations should be lowered.  Fickell was a defensive coach for the Buckeyes prior to being elevated to head coach and he’s also an Ohio State alum.  I think it would be the right thing to do for Meyer to keep Fickell on as defensive coordinator.

Meyer’s hiring in Columbus will undoubtedly affect the recruiting landscape in the midwest, but not to an alarming degree.  The fact is that the state of Ohio produces tons of talent and Meyer will likely try to mine his old recruiting grounds in the south, too.  Michigan will still be able to poach some players from Ohio who could succeed in any system.  The interesting dynamic here is that now Ohio State and Michigan have flipped roles; unlike Rich Rodriguez in Ann Arbor and Jim Tressel in Columbus, now Brady Hoke will be recruiting pro-style players and Urban Meyer will be searching for spread-type players on offense.  Class of 2012 running back Bri’onte Dunn has already stated that he doesn’t want to play in the spread offense, and Meyer did a pretty poor job of developing running backs and wide receivers, with the exception of Percy Harvin.  That opens the door for bigger backs, pro-style receivers, and pro-style quarterbacks from the state of Ohio to come to Michigan.  Conversely, dual-threat quarterbacks and slot receiver types will be more drawn to Ohio State.

It will be interesting to see how the story plays out in Columbus, where the dolts who run the university and the athletic department still seem clueless about how tarnished their program might be when the NCAA decides how to punish them.  There could be a loss of scholarships and probation, which might very well affect how quickly Meyer finds success.  But considering Meyer’s achievements, he will most likely produce anywhere from a good to great program and they will be challenging for Big Ten titles for several years to come.  And that’s the way it should be.

Rich Rodriguez, Arizona Wildcat

Rich Rodriguez

Former Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez has been hired as the new head coach at Arizona.  The news was announced Monday evening, and he will be introduced by the athletic director on Wednesday.  From the press release on Arizona’s website:

Rodriguez carries a career college coaching record of 120-84-2 in 18 seasons, marked by Division I records of 60-26 at West Virginia from 2001-2006 and 15-22 at Michigan, where he coached from 2008-10. He began his coaching career at Salem in 1988 and then coached at Glenville State from 1990-96. He has worked as a CBS Sports football analyst this year.

Rodriguez’ West Virginia teams were Big East Champion four seasons – 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, appearing in two BCS bowls, the 2005 Sugar Bowl with a victory over Georgia for an 11-1 record and a loss to Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl to finish 10-2. His 2006 club finished 11-2 after a victory over Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl.

 I want to wish Coach Rodriguez, his family, and the Arizona Wildcats program well in the coming years.  I always felt badly for Rodriguez, his family, his colleagues, and his players when he was at Michigan.  His name was unjustly dragged through the mud by West Virginia before he even started coaching in Ann Arbor, and a lot of Michigan fans, players, alumni, and critics never gave him a chance.  Tuned-in Michigan fans knew this well before the release of John U. Bacon’s book Three and Out

 in October, but Rodriguez was doomed from the beginning when he began work in Ann Arbor.

This is not to say that Rodriguez didn’t make mistakes of his own.  He did, and those have been well documented.  The biggest mistake he made was failing to win games, and that was a direct result of hiring defensive coaches who were either incompetent or a poor fit with the rest of the staff.  When your football team is allowing 35 points a game in your third season as head coach, then something is wrong.  There was no reason to believe that the defense would have improved in 2011 and, therefore, he needed to go.

Regardless of how Rodriguez fared in Ann Arbor, he runs an offense that can work anywhere in college football.  There will be struggles in Tucson like there were at his last job, because the Wildcats are not a team prepared to play spread option football.  The roster includes purely pro-style quarterbacks, including Pennsylvanian Tom Savage, who was heavily interested in Michigan a few years ago but whose interest was not reciprocated.  Starting quarterback Nick Foles is slow-footed like Ryan Mallett, although Foles is a senior and will be gone by 2012.  The Wildcats have two quarterbacks currently committed for the class of 2012, but both are pro-style kids and I would guess that neither one will end up signing with Arizona in February.

Much like when Rodriguez came to Michigan, he will either be starting a true freshman “athlete” at quarterback (recruited out of Florida, most likely) or a pro-style kid who’s ill suited to the spread option but willing to give it a go.  Furthermore, every receiver on the roster is 6’0″ or taller – although there’s a 5’10” kid named Jarrell Bennett (with dreadlocks, no less) who might be the Martavious Odoms of the Arizona Wildcats; the first highlight on Bennett’s Rivals.com film is of him blocking a cornerback into the ground.

As Rodriguez mentioned in Three and Out, when a coach builds a program, there are several steps: first you lose big, then you lose close, then you win close, and then you win big.  I’ll be rooting for the Wildcats to skip a couple of those steps . . . but if they don’t, I’ll be rooting for Rodriguez to be given enough time to hit that fourth stage.

Good luck, Coach.

Where did Rich Rodriguez’s staff go?

Running backs coach Fred Jackson was the only coach to survive the Rich Rodriguez tenure. (Ann Arbor.com)

Adam Braithwaite (Safeties coach, 2010)
Braithwaite was fired along with the rest of the defensive staff in January.  He was recently hired by Christopher Newport University to be the team’s defensive coordinator.

Tony Dews (Wide receivers coach, 2008-2010)

Dews was hired by new coach Todd Graham at Pitt shortly after the staff was fired from Michigan.  He will be the Panthers tight ends coach.

Greg Frey (Offensive line coach, 2008-2010)
Frey was hired by new coach Kevin Wilson at Indiana shortly after the staff was fired from Michigan.  He will be the Hoosiers offensive line coach.

Tony Gibson (Defensive backs coach, 2008-2010)
Gibson was hired by new coach Todd Graham at Pitt shortly after the staff was fired from Michigan.  He will be the Panthers cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator.

Jay Hopson (Linebackers coach, 2008-2009)
Hopson was hired by Memphis prior to the 2010 season to be the defensive coordinator and safeties coach.  The Tigers were #116 in total defense and #110 in scoring defense prior to Hopson’s arrival.  Memphis finished 2010 with the #115 squad in total defense (460.67 yards/game) and the #117 scoring defense (39.83 points/game).

Calvin Magee (Offensive coordinator/tight ends coach, 2008-2010)
Magee was hired by new coach Todd Graham at Pitt shortly after the staff was fired from Michigan.  He will be the Panthers co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach.

Greg Robinson (Defensive coordinator, 2009-2010)
Robinson’s current whereabouts are unknown.  Rumor has it that he’s been auditioning for Just for Men commercials.

Scott Shafer (Defensive coordinator/cornerbacks coach, 2008)
Shafer was fired after the 2008 season.  He was then hired by Syracuse to be its defensive coordinator.  Syracuse had been #101 in both total defense and scoring defense prior to Shafer’s arrival, but they improved to #37 in total defense and #81 in scoring defense by 2009.  Syracuse finished 2010 at #7 in total defense (301.46 yards/game) and #17 in scoring defense (19.31 points/game).

Rod Smith (Quarterbacks coach, 2008-2010)
Smith was hired by new coach Kevin Wilson at Indiana shortly after the staff was fired from Michigan.  He will be the Hoosiers quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator.

Bruce Tall (Defensive line coach, 2008-2010)
Tall was hired by Charlotte to be the program’s first defensive coordinator.