Jean-Mary to Tennessee, Ravens RB Coach Matt Weiss to Coach Quarterbacks
Call me baffled. As first reported by Rivals’s Chris Balas, Michigan LBs coach Brian Jean-Mary abruptly departed for the same job at tire fire Tennessee on Friday, and according to NFL beat writer Ian Rapoport, Harbaugh is replacing the defensive assistant with an offensive guy, Ravens RB coach Matt (no relation to Charlie) Weiss.
Another #Ravens-to-#Michigan coaching move: Baltimore RBs coach Matt Weiss is leaving to become the Wolverines QBs coach, source said. Weiss has led the NFL’s No. 1 rushing attack under John Harbaugh, now will coach QBs under Jim Harbaugh. The two were together at Stanford.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 21, 2021
Neither move is totally out of the blue. Michigan was courting Florida LBs coach Christian Robinson for Jean-Mary’s job this offseason, and Weiss is a longtime scion of the Harbaugh Brothers coaching fraternity. Weiss isn’t new to coaching quarterbacks either; he coached the Ravens quaterbacks in 2016 and 2017, and has been primarily an offensive analyst, or the guy in charge of analyzing opponents’ offenses.
Weiss, 37, great up in Connecticut but didn’t start playing football until he was in high school. He was a walk-on third string punter at Vanderbilt, and got his coaching start at Smyrna, a suburb of Nashville. He became a graduate assistant at Stanford in 2005, assisting with defensive backs, linebackers, and defensive line, respectively, over the next three seasons. The last of those was under new head coach Jim Harbaugh, who promoted Weiss to his staff as a general defensive assistant and special teams coach.
The following year Jim recommended Weiss for the position of head coach’s assistant on John Harbaugh’s Ravens staff. He settled in as a defensive quality control assistant, though his job was mostly as an analyst. This Ray Lewis anecdote sheds some light into Weiss’s job:
Weiss puts together a PowerPoint presentation on the different audible positions for opposing teams. After the last team meeting the players take them to study. For the final presentation, on slide No. 69, Weiss typed "I will give $100 to the first person who sees this and texts me."
In 12 years with the Ravens Weiss was moved around as staff needs dictated. He was QB coach in 2016-‘17 (the depth chart was Joe Flacco and Ryan Mallett both years), took over wide receivers in 2018, and spent the last two seasons as running backs coach.
How you see Weiss depends a lot on how much QB coaching he was doing in 2016-‘17, when only an idiot could call Joe Flacco elite, versus how much his job remained analyzing and preparing for their opponents, at which the Ravens have consistently been among the best in the league. It also depends on what Weiss’s role will be at Michigan, and how that integrates with Josh Gattis’s offense.
It’s odd that they’re using the open position on offense—Michigan now has four defensive assistants and six on offense plus Harbaugh himself—but with spring practice starting this week it doesn’t appear they had a lot of options when Jean-Mary bailed. [UPDATE: Bellamy to safeties, Helow to linebackers] If anything, with the addition of Ron Bellamy this offseason, Harbaugh’s staff now just seems more prepared if Josh Gattis moves up to a head coaching job next year.
While QB coach was open following the departure of Ben McDaniels, another Harbaugh protégé, I suspect Harbaugh hired Weiss primarily to improve preparation after a season when Fee Fi Foe Film sometimes seemed to know more about their opponents than the team. I extremely doubt I ever saw something the staff didn’t, but Weiss seems to be skilled at translating that to the players. He’s certainly a Harbaugh guy.
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February 21st, 2021 at 10:54 AM ^
Wasn’t Harbaugh officially announced as the QB coach? Now this? I simply don’t understand.
February 21st, 2021 at 11:07 AM ^
I read that perhaps MacDonald wants to coach LBs. sometimes a new boss comes in and people have to figure out if they still have jobs. Sometimes it takes awhile to realize that you’re the odd man out and you have to grab a job somewhere.
February 21st, 2021 at 11:11 AM ^
The writing may have been on the wall for BJM when he interviewed with Urbs.
February 21st, 2021 at 11:17 AM ^
Or when Michigan tried to hire a LB coach away from Florida.
February 21st, 2021 at 11:46 AM ^
Right. Not sure which event preceded the other.
February 22nd, 2021 at 11:40 AM ^
It certainly was for me!
February 21st, 2021 at 11:16 AM ^
RB coach, and successful NFL one at that, is coaching QBs? Seems like a stretch but WTF do I know?
February 21st, 2021 at 11:17 AM ^
Did you not just read the write up about him coaching QB's? Don't get it twisted, Lamar Jackson led the Ravens in rushing, not a RB.
February 21st, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
Did you read the write up? He never coached Jackson as a QB coach
February 21st, 2021 at 12:19 PM ^
Never said he did, but that rushing attack was Lamar Jackson. No RB had over 900 yds.
February 21st, 2021 at 11:26 AM ^
Keep reading
February 21st, 2021 at 11:26 AM ^
After having an hour to ponder it, perhaps these are some reasons why we went this route.
1a. I know MM wanted to focus on big picture stuff, but DB also juggled LBs and DC duties. With the switch to the amoeba style, maybe we only have one mike on the field most times, with the rest of the guys on the field of the secondary (Linguist/Helow) and DL(nua) variety with your Apache/Velazquez types mixed in.
2. I'm sort of reminded of JH needing to inject his run concepts in the middle of 2019 due to Gattis seemingly lacking a feel for that facet of the offense. Maybe despite the qb label this will bring more creativity to the ground game. We also might finally get some true zone read and lose those frustrating forced gives that we saw with Milton and shea, among others.
3. My man Weiss has experience literally everywhere. Maybe he will do a little coaching on both sides of the ball or at least sit in different meetings since those are all on zoom in these covid times anyway.
February 21st, 2021 at 11:36 AM ^
So, can we get away with offering $100 after team meetings? Asking for a friend.
February 21st, 2021 at 12:25 PM ^
Uh, helmet stickers.
February 21st, 2021 at 11:40 AM ^
This is going to be the most fascinating Michigan football season since 1969.
February 21st, 2021 at 12:50 PM ^
We can only hope it turns out as well as 1969 turned out.
February 21st, 2021 at 1:47 PM ^
And 1969 wasn't exactly a complete success, either. They got blown out by Missouri 40-17, which turned out to be Bo's second biggest margin of defeat and the most points ever given up by a Schembechler team at Michigan. Then they lost to a shitty MSU team 23-12.
Still, I'd take it if we beat Ohio State next year.
February 21st, 2021 at 11:42 AM ^
I mean who knows? Sounds like the film detail Weiss brought was more important than coaching QBs... they still have Harbaugh to do that, so in theory that should be fine.
Slight imbalance to the staff, which may or may not be an issue (time wise, recruiting is usually a concern, but with guys under 40 and Linguist recruiting like 3 guys...this should be ok for a year).
Lots of moves - which is necessary after last year's implosion - nothing to do but wait and see what the results on the field are.
February 21st, 2021 at 11:47 AM ^
Fingers crossed that we the public can wet our tongues with some sort of televised spring scrimmage some weeks from now.
February 21st, 2021 at 12:58 PM ^
Your first sentence is the perfect summary of this whole upcoming season. Who knows? If nothing else, I'm encouraged that real changes were made. Will it work? Who knows?
February 21st, 2021 at 11:45 AM ^
Well it’s obvious we needed a younger coach than BJM who was ancient at 45!!!
February 21st, 2021 at 11:48 AM ^
I came here to say this is THE most interesting hire that Harbaugh has made during his time here. May write more about it if I have time. But I was told Weiss is the most influential guy in John's ear. He started as focused only on analytics/in-game decision making but was so valued they moved him to coach. He's going to bring a whole new level to our game prep, which has been severely lacking the last two years.
This to me signals Harbaugh is about to go full into analytics, which I think is an awesome move.
February 21st, 2021 at 11:49 AM ^
Josh Gattis moves up to a head coaching job next year.
I enjoy all of the reviews of game film, scheme, and whatnot, but I honestly don't know how you could theorize this being a legitimate outcome in the next year after watching his offenses as closely as you do. His recruiting has been very, very good. Almost everything else has been unremarkable, if not unconscionable. Even accounting for injuries and early departures, what has the offense done that makes you think "yeah, this guy could get a HC gig in the next year and that program would be excited about it?" Outside of being young and having a good recruiting record, I just don't get how he's HC material at this point.
Is he terrible? No. Is he anything remarkable? Not yet.
February 21st, 2021 at 12:28 PM ^
I agree that we were hoping for more, but I also know Gattis is going to get offered HC jobs if he hasn't already. If he wanted one he probably could have gotten a MAC job this offseason.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:23 PM ^
His age and recruiting abilities are definitely attractive to mid-majors who can win with slightly better talent than those around them, but if it came down to a coaching battle I haven't seen anything sustained that would tell me he would be a good hire.
Those 2nd half PSU, ND, and Bama schemes/play calling are seeming more and more random or not of his doing the more we watch his offenses.
February 21st, 2021 at 12:53 PM ^
This deserves about 10 thumbs up. This board's infatuation with Gattis is idiotic--like if Gattis had free rein, Michigan would be beating Ohio State, Alabama, and the Chiefs as well as solve the world's problems. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever based on what we've seen on the field the last two seasons. None.
February 21st, 2021 at 4:12 PM ^
Nobody is saying that Gattis has done a great job at michigan, i think most would agree he's done a mediocre job at best. But, he still has his resume before michigan and recruiting results that make put him on the shortlist for any MAC or g-5 team looking for a young head coach with potential for growth. You don't have to be a world beater at michigan to get interviews at MAC schools.
February 21st, 2021 at 4:52 PM ^
There are multiple high-quality commenters during last season's meltdown who believed if Harbaugh were immediately fired, Gattis should be elevated to interim HC and be given the job if the team turned it around. And these comments received quite a bit of support.
So yes, there are Michigan fans who believe Gattis could be the answer the program has been waiting for at the HC position despite doing what you said, "a mediocre job at best."
February 21st, 2021 at 12:13 PM ^
BJM leaving doesn't really surprise me at all beyond the fact it came so late and he's going to UT; both sides have seemingly been circling a departure all offseason.
I feel like Weiss was probably hired because it's late in the cycle and he's a known commodity; I wouldn't be remotely shocked if he's more of the analyst type than an on-the-field QB coach. That doesn't mean he wouldn't be involved in development and prep at the spot, but with Harbaugh around this may be a title without the corresponding responsibilities. We'll see.
It's going to be weird to see a staff comprised almost exclusively of Millenials.
February 21st, 2021 at 12:15 PM ^
"Harbaugh’s staff now just seems more prepared if Josh Gattis moves up to a head coaching job next year." This statement is comical, unless we're talking about Gattis "moving up" to an FCS gig.
February 21st, 2021 at 12:18 PM ^
Per Ravens Bio:
2005-08: (with Stanford) Earned a master's in liberal arts from Stanford while also serving as a G.A. under then-head coach Jim Harbaugh...Worked with the defense and special teams.
COLLEGE: Played football at Vanderbilt (2001-04), where he earned a degree in economics...Weiss also earned a master's degree in liberal arts from Stanford (2008).
PERSONAL: *While an assistant coach at Smyrna (TN) HS from 2003-04, established a tutoring program to help student-athletes achieve NCAA eligibility…Played baseball and football at Hopkins School (New Haven, CT), and as QB, led the football team to its first-ever 12-0 record and New England Prep School Class C Championship his senior year
*emphasis mine
This sounds like as much a recruiting hire as anything, maybe he'll be the coach recruiter and spearhead that as well.
February 21st, 2021 at 12:53 PM ^
Didja ever consider that maybe (UM's) Harbaugh is doing all this to keep us entertained between seasons? Looked at from that perspective, it ALL makes sense.
February 21st, 2021 at 12:59 PM ^
Isn't the better question with regards to this hire as to why Weiss would take this job? I wouldn't imagine it's more money and most would call it a demotion.
This has the feel of a coach hiring those he's familiar with and jumbling together a staff that doesn't have very clear roles. Maybe it's more organized behind the scenes but that certainly hasn't been the case in the past.
February 21st, 2021 at 4:15 PM ^
True, but I'm optimistic. If John is helping his brother out I'm all for that. Sometimes you don't need specialists at every role, but a team of people who are all competent and on the same page can be very successful. That said, yes, this could all go haywire as well, but desperate times call for desperate measures
February 21st, 2021 at 4:55 PM ^
" . . .but a team of people who are all competent and on the same page can be very successful."
I agree with this statement 100%. This doesn't look like that to me. I could foresee this scenario: there's an offensive meeting on Monday. Gattis says Michigan will do A and B. On Tuesday, they are going to do C and D because Weiss is in Harbaugh's ear on Monday night.
February 21st, 2021 at 1:41 PM ^
Let's state the obvious: this was not Plan A. Michigan would have preferred to have a top notch LB coach to replace BJM. However, it's clearly more important to Harbaugh to add a quality coach over a LB coach he isn't totally sold on. Probably not a coincidence that Harbaugh has worked with Weiss in the past and that he came from his brother's staff.
I also wonder what this means regarding Harbaugh working with the QB's moving forward. It felt like a good idea for him to be more hands on with the quarterbacks moving forward. Maybe Seth is right that Weiss is coming aboard because he's great at breaking down opponent's film in addition to his on-field responsibilities.
February 21st, 2021 at 1:44 PM ^
wrong thread
February 21st, 2021 at 2:02 PM ^
My theory is this is temporary. Weiss will coach QBs or whatever this spring and transition into something else. An OL coach or defensive coach will be brought in after spring practice when there is more time to find the right fit
February 21st, 2021 at 4:15 PM ^
From what I have heard, he will be heavily involved in defense. MM trusts him.
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