Michigan hiring Memphis Co-DC/DL coach Lou Esposito as DL coach
Michigan is expected to hire Memphis’ Lou Esposito as its new defensive line coach, sources tell
. Was previously defensive coordinator at Western Michigan. Led the way for the MAC’s No. 2 ranked scoring defense in 2022 and has developed players like current early-round NFL draft prospect Marshawn Kneeland
Upvote for good first post. On a cursory look it seems like he is a solid developer of talent and also fits into the mold of a guy who could be developed to take over as DC when Wink moves on. Hopefully he will be able to step up and recruit at the level we need him to with the type of resources he will have at Michigan compared with Western.
Since he coached at Western he should have decent Michigan/midwest contacts.
As a WMU fan also, please don't let him run our defense. His defenses gave up tons of huge plays, had many untimely penalties and personal fouls. Let him stick to recruiting and development.
He must have also been the guy who developed Andre Carter as well as Ali Fayed - both good college players and fringe NFL types.
He looks like a 30-something Burt Young (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Young) to me:
Photo checks out he looks like a Line coach
That reminds me I owe my bookie. Don't want Lou to visit.
Can we get him a free chauffeur or Uber credits? Is Mo Hurst still driving for Uber?
#toosoon
Welcome, Coach! Please install the Uber app on your phone.
Played goalie for Chicago, his brother played center for Boston.
EDIT: old time, classic hockey going on here with tony and phil
Tony and Phil > Brett!
Jesus Saves
But Gretsky scores on the rebound.
Esposito was the response back in his day :) (Yeah, I'm old.)
The first guy I thought of was Lou Ferragamo. Good fit for D Line.
I was thinking about Lou Ferrigno.
"Jesus Saves, and Esposito scores on the rebound." A bumper sticker from my Bruins-loving aunt.
Esposito was acquired by the Bruins in what may be one of the worst trades in NHL history.
Phil with Ken Hodge and Freddy Stanfield were traded for Gilles Marotte center Pit Martin and minor league Goaltender Jack Norris.
The Hawks thought Esposito was soft and lacked touch. Not the best player evaluation. Phil had maybe the beat touch in the game and took a lot of punishment to do it.
While Stanfield and Hodge also had productive NHL careers, only Martin had moderate success for the hawks.
I really like that he was a DC and DL. Coaches who can better understand/picture what the entire defense is doing in relation to their own group are where it's at.
Other than that? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Actually has some HC experience too. On paper, seems like a good hire. Hope it translates on the field and the players like him.
Welcome coach ... to The Leaders And Best
Moore is cooking with his hiring!
I like the name, it has a DL coaching ring to it.
For that reason alone I think this is a good hire, also it looks like he has done well.
Hope this works out and that he has the uber or Lyft app on his phone.
Too soon?
Hockey name
Few too late actually ;)
The only real question: is he older or younger than Brian?
I want to be positive.. Urm.. Trust Coach!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I recognize Wink is the DC but putting together a cohort of young guys from smaller programs to scheme against Chip Kelly kind of concerns me.
Except Chip's offenses haven't been good in years at this point.
This isn’t Oregon chip Kelley
It kind of is... but that's kind of the issue. He's trying to run an outdated offense from way back when.
We will be ok.
He coached with Casula at Davenport for a bit. They came and looked at a couple of my kids in 2015.
Lou's great
Well, there you have it.
Finally an Italian on the staff.🤌🏻
Isn't Steve Casula Italian? I assumed he was.
Somebody has to do the screaming
Underwhelming hire IMO. Wonder if guys like Jamison couldn’t be brought over or didn’t want to come.
I looked up Jamison because Brian was so high on him. He played for Bret, this is his second stint coaching for Bret, and he has a co-DC title. Hard to see how we could have pulled him away.
WMU has had some good DLs recently and this guy looks like a solid develop of D linemen. Is going to have two day two DL draft picks this year.( Fisk, Kneeland)
Andre Carter is a fringe draft prospect as well - he was primarily developed at WMU.
FWIW, on yesterday's Dropping Dimes segment, Sam Webb said Jamison was second on Sherrone's list behind Lou.
To be fair….. Sam is pretty much a PR person for the team so take his words with a grain of salt. We also heard that the Jamison was the close 2nd choice at the time of the original hire…so either Esposito was a new name in the ring this time around, or Sam got the word that Jamison was out and Esposito was the potential hire and began laying the groundwork.
Not saying that this is a bad hire at all — just stressing that even though I like Sam, he will always do his best to shine the best light on any Michigan move.
As long as the G-Force (that's the Grahambino and Grantmaster Flash) is happy, I'm happy.
That’s “The Great Grahambino” to you and me.
Western Michigan's opponents scored 31.8 points per game last year (ranked 109th of 133 teams)
21 mins before this post you said he was great. You're spinning me in circles jv02!
Points arent everything...right? right?