Mike Zordich moving on?
Per Sam Webb, it appears that Mike Zordich will be elsewhere going forward.
An excellent replacement could do wonders for the recruitment of Domani Jackson and Will Johnson, and at least it won't seem so open-ended with uncertainty anymore.
Thoughts on who his replacement will be? Does Mike Macdonald bring someone from Baltimore? Do we hit a home run and Charles Woodson decides to get involved(doubtful)?
January 13th, 2021 at 10:39 AM ^
Hmmm. Well if the team struggles and Harbaugh is out in 2021. Wouldn't it be even more important to get a top notch recruiter instead of a good schematic coach so that the new coach in 2021 will have a strong class to start with?
January 13th, 2021 at 8:33 AM ^
If he moves on I wouldn't be surprised if he winds up at Arizona which is beginning to look like the Michigan of the desert southwest.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:40 AM ^
Next guy needs to be an excellent recruiter ... it will not be Charles Woodson I’m sorry
January 13th, 2021 at 8:50 AM ^
Woodson would probably be a great recruiter, but no way to know how he’d be actually coaching & teaching the players...Would be cool to see, but may not have the best outcome...
January 13th, 2021 at 8:59 AM ^
Maybe we could bring Woodson in as a special teams coach (he could help coach the kick returners) and both parties could see how he likes coaching and how good he is at recruiting.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:42 AM ^
He's gone. Waiting on Macdonald to finish up his staff. Other side of the ball, Jay to ST has picked up steam and makes more sense now. That should come to a close soon.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:51 AM ^
Blink twice if Jay's replacement rhymes with Bike Tart
January 13th, 2021 at 8:58 AM ^
BLINK BLINK
January 13th, 2021 at 9:13 AM ^
If this is true, im estatic. I think Hart would be as great an ambassador of Michigan football as a coach as he was a player. He would recruit the hell out of RB's nation wide.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:20 AM ^
So that means no experienced CO-OC? No spot for Moorhead if we are hiring Hart.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:36 AM ^
There never was a viable Moorhead option.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:42 AM ^
Another coach that hates OSU and MSU is always a good thing.
January 13th, 2021 at 5:37 PM ^
January 13th, 2021 at 10:13 AM ^
So John Harbaugh wanted a new LB coach but didn’t want to fire the current guy because John really likes him and doesn’t want to do that to the dude. Therefore, John pitches the idea to Jim that he has a young guy on his staff who would make a great college DC. Here we are, UM got an unproven NFL coach who knows nothing about recruiting John got to protect his guy by insidiously dumping him on UM and Jim fell for it. Not cool, John.
January 13th, 2021 at 11:16 AM ^
Where did you get the idea that he wants a new LB coach?
John isn’t going to recommend to his brother a poor coach.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:42 AM ^
How many times does Charles Woodson have to repeat himself? He's said he doesn't want to coach on multiple occasions. He's running a winery and bourbon business on top of his day job at Fox. Why on earth would he want to throw those things away to be a DB coach under Harbaugh?
January 13th, 2021 at 9:11 AM ^
Yes, my point was more tongue and cheek....It is the same as saying Peyton Manning to Tennessee as their OC would be great.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:44 AM ^
My inside source sent me a text saying Hart was offered RB job
January 13th, 2021 at 8:48 AM ^
That would be accurate.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:51 AM ^
look at you two, rocking the inside scoops. thank you to both.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:54 AM ^
I figured I would get myself some up votes before mentioning that by "inside source" I mean he pays for a premium subscription so my cheap ass mooches info off of him.
January 13th, 2021 at 11:56 AM ^
You've got to go with what works.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:56 AM ^
What’re the chances he takes it?
January 13th, 2021 at 8:50 AM ^
My Avatar supports that direction. I hope your source is accurate.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:51 AM ^
Seems like he could probably aim higher at this point (though I would love to get him on staff).
January 13th, 2021 at 5:15 PM ^
Based on this chain of replies, UMBig11 must be your source.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:44 AM ^
Very disappointed in this decision. He was one of the best teachers on the staff.
Maybe, Michigan's reputation of grabbing receivers may be the reason why. Maybe, Zordich's direct nature is pissing off the players (like he did with Lavert Hill). Who knows. ?♂️
I don't know what the details are "behind the scenes", but (on the surface) it seems like a bad move, given the cornerbacks being the most consistent (except for this year, when he didn't have the normal time to teach them) position group. They were always a strength. That was nice, after what his predecessors did. ?♂️
January 13th, 2021 at 8:48 AM ^
The CBs were not a strength this year.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:49 AM ^
He wasn't exactly dealt a good hand.
Hopefully his replacement is someone who can recruit.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:02 AM ^
If he would have upped his recruiting effort he would have gotten better cards.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:53 AM ^
The grabbiness thing is a great point though -- we've had so many DPI calls because of our reputation on that score. We need a DB coach that can teach more fundamental defense.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:02 AM ^
The change in coach could also be a sign that we will start implementing less press man coverage with Macdonald. You might see them hire a coach with a pedigree in zone coverages.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:50 AM ^
Damn. Just damn. I know he didn't recruit well but from what I've read the guy was a lights out coach. Recruiting is only half the deal.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:30 AM ^
Recruiting is the game if a program's goal is to be nationally relevant. Sorry to say but recruiting has to come first in the modern era. If you cant recruit at a high level, the ability to coach doesnt matter. The greatest coach isnt going to be able to build championship caliber corners consistently from players lacking raw athleticism and speed. That being said, you have to be a solid coach to be an elite recruiter...they are not independent of each other.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:08 AM ^
I get what you're saying, but I just don't see Michigan ever being to the point where they can recruit the type of talent that you are talking about. If you are consistently pulling in 5-star DBs and Safeties like OSU or Bama then coaching might be less important. But if not, or if there is a down year or two in recruiting those positions, then you better have a damn good coach to help players develop.
Even a player like Dax, with all of the natural talent in the world, looked to take a step back this year. I'm not sure if that was due to the absence of coaching (Shoop), the difficulty of Brown's defensive schemes, or something else.
January 13th, 2021 at 7:24 PM ^
Maybe it was because he was playing nickel cb not safety
January 13th, 2021 at 9:04 AM ^
Initially I didn't like this one bit. Zordich has been a great coach, but we need to get to the next level. New ideas, new voices, and new motivation.
If Zordich is gone, please tell me Nua is gone.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:04 AM ^
Always really liked Z. He got a lot of guys a lot better. Wonder if things would be different if he had Ambry* for the season - I think at the least that would have likely flipped MSU to a win we all hate to talk about.
We will always have the Great, Unwarranted Spring 2017 Cornerback Panic.
*Ambry made the absolute right decision for his health and future
January 13th, 2021 at 9:17 AM ^
Can we move off the Woodson train? It's not gonna happen. He's too involved with his spirits business as well as working as a college tv analyst.
He hasn't shown any interest in coaching
January 13th, 2021 at 9:21 AM ^
Here we go...how about Woodson to coach defensive backs, Brandon Graham to coach the DL, Desmond Howard—WR, Tom Brady—QB, and this next one is a little outside the box, but Michael Onwenu to coach the OL. I know he’s just a rookie, but he’s having a good year and could relate to the players. All of those guys wouldn’t hesitate to take massive pay cuts for 100x more work and responsibility.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:01 AM ^
You gotta think Brady is itching to come back to his alma mater to either be QB coach or HC.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:30 AM ^
Woodson would not be a home run hire as a coach. How many great players become great coaches? Not a lot. Great coaches are usually former players that were not as physically gifted.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:36 AM ^
Does Mike Hart fit into former player that wasn't necessarily physically gifted? Tough guy to take down but not necessarily Saquon Barkley's measurables.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:15 AM ^
Surely you jest: Mike Hart Career Stats
January 13th, 2021 at 10:45 AM ^
Exactly. He was a tactician as a RB. Knew how to play the position better than anyone. But his combine stats show that he was not an elite athlete.
40 yd - 4.77 (7.7 percentile)
20 yd - 2.74 (21.1 percentile)
10 yd - 1.58 (71.5 percentile)
Bench - 23 reps (83.1 percentile)
Vertical - 28" (1.8 percentile)
Broad jump - 110" (11.3 percentile)
Which bodes even better for him if the theory is that players that relied on their athletic prowess don't turn out to be good coaches but players that relied on savvy, instinct, and skill turn out to be good coaches.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:42 AM ^
Best of luck and thank you for your work at UM coach Z. Will miss his candor.
Now please tell me Warinner is staying. Can't afford to let the OL take a dip into mediocrity again.
January 13th, 2021 at 9:48 AM ^
So Zordich is a mediocre recruiter but he has some ties to high quality 2022 DB recruits. And now we let him go? lol
January 13th, 2021 at 1:30 PM ^
I have spent about two hours in social settings around Zordich. I'd suggest his personality really won't ever lead to being a good recruiter. An occasional parent might resonate with his "earthiness" but that will be rare, I'd suspect. Recruits? They might find him knowledgeable and quirky but won't be a needle mover.
If he is making ground with the two DBs, the next person with a better personality will be able to do as well or better, I'd suggest.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:27 AM ^
Woodson has commented about DBs needing to look back for the ball, which many DBs don't seem to do.
If he doesn't want to coach, get someone who coaches looking back for the ball more. The team that does that the most is 'Bama, and that's probably mostly due to Saban. But maybe find someone who has worked with him. And yeah, I know how talented the 'Bama DBs are, but they are coached better, too.
January 13th, 2021 at 10:50 AM ^
They all new to move on on the defense. A CO-DC would be a disaster and rarely pans out. Let the new DC (whoever that is) bring in his own staff.