Revamped Michigan coaching staff brings 'different energy' to Wolverines

Michigan’s football assistants are decidedly younger, and the overall makeup of the group is more diverse than any other season under head coach Jim Harbaugh, entering his seventh season.

The coaches’ average age is 35, including first-time defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, 33, who replaced 65-year-old Don Brown after five years at Michigan. There is definitely a youth movement with these 10 assistants all under 40.

“I’m fired up,” veteran defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson said this week. “We’ve got a young staff, and I really love all the coaches that Coach Harbaugh brought in. It’s kind of a different energy around Schembechler (Hall) these days. Everyone’s excited.”

Does young necessarily mean inexperienced, though? Mike Hart, Michigan’s all-time leading rusher, is 34 and has spent the last 10 years working his way up the coaching ranks after three seasons in the NFL. He started as a quality control coach at Eastern Michigan, then coached running backs two years there, moved to Western Michigan, coached a year at Syracuse and then the last four at Indiana, where he was associate head coach in 2020.

Harbaugh 57, earlier this year signed an extension with a lower base salary and buyout but heavy with incentives. He is coming off a dismal season that saw the Wolverines go 2-4 before canceling the final three games of the already abbreviated Big Ten season because of a COVID-19 outbreak. He parted ways with Brown last December, and safeties coach Bob Shoop, who did not do any on-field work with the team last season, also was not retained. Linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary recently left Michigan for Tennessee.

For the Michigan players, who began spring practice Feb. 22, the shift to a younger staff has seemingly brought more energy to the football building and practices. Three seniors who spoke to media this week said the changes have been positive.

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“In terms of staffs I’ve been around since I’ve been at Michigan, this is probably the smartest staff I’ve been around,” Hutchinson said. “Just in these few weeks that I’ve had with this staff, I have learned so much more about the game of football, so much more about defenses, all that different stuff just because of the coaches we brought in.

“Age doesn’t really affect your knowledge of the game to an extent. Obviously, if you’ve been around the game for 40 years, you’re gonna know a lot about football. Although we’ve got these young guys, they know a lot.”

Safety Brad Hawkins said the younger staff is more relatable.

“Every single day we come out to practices, it’s just fun, everybody’s laughing with each other, everybody’s having a good time,” Hawkins said this week. “Bringing a lot of energy to the practices, to the meeting rooms. Everybody’s willing to learn, everybody’s willing to teach. Just learning different things from NFL guys, from guys that came from different programs, just learning different things. They definitely bring a lot of enthusiasm to the program and to practice and things like that.”

Macdonald spent the last seven years with the Baltimore Ravens, and the last three coaching linebackers. He has college experience in his background, early in his career at Georgia, but this is his first time coordinating a defense.

“Coach Mac came in here with a lot of energy,” Hutchinson said. “It’s kind of a different type of focus. You can tell he’s been in the league for the past eight years. He’s kinda got that way about him. I like what we’re doing with the defense, I like the culture he is instilling in us. I think he’s doing a really good job, and I’m really fired up to have him as my coach.”

Hassan Haskins, Michigan’s leading returning rusher, referred to Hart as “a legend” and said he’s learning scheme and Xs and Os from him every day. He also appreciates that Hart played the position and sees it the way they do and can relate from experience.

The “energy is up” as soon as they walk into Schembechler Hall, he said. The offensive staff was tweaked. Josh Gattis returns for his third season as offensive coordinator, but Sherrone Moore, who was tight ends coach, is now coaching offensive line, a position he played in college, and also co-offensive coordinator. Gattis will work with the receivers, Jay Harbaugh, moved to tight ends and will coordinate special teams, and Hart has the running backs.

“It’s definitely a different vibe,” Haskins said. “I feel like this year everybody on the team just amped their game and amped the energy up during practice or anything, really. It’s definitely a different vibe in the building. We can all feel it as a team, as a staff.”

Hutchinson, in the final stages of his recovery from ankle surgery that ended his season last fall and will be full-go toward the end of spring practice, said the changes have been embraced. All of this doesn’t suddenly mean Michigan will contend in the Big Ten East division, only that the players have welcomed the youth movement.

“Every single coach is ecstatic, and you can feel that high energy in practice,” said Hutchinson, who participates in running and individual drills. “In practice, I’ve seen some energy, some things I’ve never seen these past three years being on this team. Just those little things you can tell that guys just want to play ball and guys are fired up, whether that be the new coaches, whether they just love football. You can tell in practice that there’s a different type of energy around Schembechler.”

achengelis@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @chengelis