Pete Thamel: Michigan is expected to hire Vanderbilt’s Jesse Minter as the school’s new defensive coordinator.
February 8th, 2022 at 3:38 PM ^
Is there an expert on the board today? Somebody tell me how I should feel about this.
February 8th, 2022 at 3:45 PM ^
FYI Vandy was 118th/130 in total defense last year
February 8th, 2022 at 3:47 PM ^
Our defense wasn't lights out against the one SEC we faced.
February 8th, 2022 at 3:48 PM ^
Don't forget he coaches for the only SEC team that doesn't get to count on playing Vanderbilt to bump their stats every year
February 8th, 2022 at 4:41 PM ^
This was funny! +1
February 8th, 2022 at 3:47 PM ^
Can someone else drop a stat line I can get excited about??
February 8th, 2022 at 3:49 PM ^
He was a former assistant on the Ravens. That's worked out well for us.
February 8th, 2022 at 4:51 PM ^
Not even was a former assistant. He is a former Ravens assistant. Today. Right now. Woooo!
February 8th, 2022 at 8:46 PM ^
Apparently hiring a “Baltimore Man” is the new requirement here at Michigan.
February 8th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
Were you excited when Macdonald was hired?
February 8th, 2022 at 5:53 PM ^
I was since Don Brown was finally gone.
February 8th, 2022 at 6:29 PM ^
Be careful, all the Don Brown fans will be upset and remind you of all the great statistics his defenses had.
February 8th, 2022 at 7:59 PM ^
bUt HiS dEfEnSe!
February 8th, 2022 at 4:20 PM ^
Took over a 3 year old Georgia State program and progressed every year (culminated in a top 50 unit his final year there)
February 8th, 2022 at 5:14 PM ^
I live in Atlanta; GSU gave D1 programs some fits a few years back.
Hope he does well. I’m sure the Harbaugh bros commiserated on this hire (maybe around the time McDonald left).
February 8th, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
I think it's hard to read too much into Vandy's defense for the 1 year he was there. They returned very little production from the year before and had a new coach, so there were likely transition costs regardless.
Assuming this means a bump up for Clinkscale to co-DC I think this will pay off well.
February 8th, 2022 at 3:53 PM ^
So, better than msu?
February 8th, 2022 at 4:25 PM ^
Vanderbilt was in Year Zero of a very deep rebuild by Clark Lea. The offense was 128th/130 so they weren’t getting any help ever. They looked disciplined and just wildly outmatched last year
February 8th, 2022 at 5:13 PM ^
Yeah, I thought the defense for Vanderbilt looked well organized and had great effort, they just got badly out-talented.
February 9th, 2022 at 3:50 AM ^
Wait, you two watched Vanderbilt games last year? Close enough and long enough to observe the upside of a unit who isn’t stopping anyone? I need the name of your fiduciary so I can enjoy such leisure time
February 8th, 2022 at 4:32 PM ^
FWIW, Vandy board is saying that Minter wasn't able to run his schemes and that their defense last year had "Lea's fingerprints all over it".
February 8th, 2022 at 4:41 PM ^
There are enough Vandy football fans to have a message board? God bless those poor tortured souls
February 8th, 2022 at 6:06 PM ^
I live here. For the most part, they are all rich AF. There are a few locals that despise UT that are just bandwagon, but the majority went there.
February 8th, 2022 at 6:39 PM ^
Yes, and they pine for Frames and his hospitality girls.
February 8th, 2022 at 4:39 PM ^
Vanderbilt was 59th in the team talent composite this year. That is dead last in the SEC and 13 spots behind the closest SEC team. There are only 65 P5 teams.
They were also 102nd in returning defensive production. That is a BAD roster in a loaded conference.
February 8th, 2022 at 4:40 PM ^
These stats mean almost nothing in evaluating his coaching acumen or projecting his success at UM.
February 9th, 2022 at 11:58 AM ^
Wouldn't put too much stock in any stats from Vandy. How would he have done had it been say Kansas, or UConn or Duke instead of Vandy? Probably not going to make a huge impact on a bottom feeder - especially in year one. We will just have to wait and see - he might be great - and then again...but I think at worst we will still be very solid.
February 8th, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
If you liked MacDonald , you should like this guy. But we lost a good deal of talent on defense.
February 8th, 2022 at 4:42 PM ^
Hutch and Ojabo were "generational" and a year off generational talent. Daxton Hill was pretty good too. Defense will take a step back, but if we're half as good as we were against OSU this year we'll be pretty good.
February 8th, 2022 at 6:12 PM ^
Ojabo was a gift. I cannot think of anyone who believed that David Ojabo was going to be "all that". He was mentioned as the 4th DE in HTTV. Meaning a backup.
I feel like we under appreciate the talent on the roster, and the development that occurs year to year.
I feel like our DB (Green, Turner, Smith, etc.) and LB's (Colson and Green) will be the strength of the defense. I refuse to sleep on the D Line however.
I feel like the step back may be smaller than we think.
February 8th, 2022 at 6:21 PM ^
I completely believe that opposing teams just thought they'd block Hutchinson a bit and scheme around him the rest of the way. They didn't see Ojabo coming either. 'If the right one don't a-get you, then the left one will'.
February 8th, 2022 at 6:52 PM ^
Well with Mike Elston we’re going to get the most out of the line. So plenty to be excited about with that boost.
February 8th, 2022 at 7:19 PM ^
I remember Alex's hot take of the year was that Ojabo would be a breakout player on defense. Seth and Brian said it would take another year until that happened.
February 8th, 2022 at 6:58 PM ^
I just don’t know how you can say that. We are losing 3 first-round draft picks, two of whom were elite college recruits, and replacing them with guys who may be good one but don’t have the same potential. You’re assuming this year’s defense will be close to last year’s, which was dominant. Good luck with that.
February 8th, 2022 at 9:56 PM ^
Wait a year ago you thought we were going to have an elite defense? Im much more optimistic then i was this time last year.
February 8th, 2022 at 11:30 PM ^
Agreed. Replacing Hutchinson, Ojabo, and to a lesser extent Hinton makes everyone's jobs harder at the other levels. I'd expect to see the DBs regress a bit next year just due to the step back in pass rush, and that's before you factor in losing both Hill and Hawkins within that group. The young LBs are talented and saw a ton of time this year so hopefully there's not much dropoff with that group, but losing Ross is nothing to ignore either.
February 8th, 2022 at 4:09 PM ^
Feel good. This is Jim's best DC hire since he came to Michigan.
February 8th, 2022 at 4:25 PM ^
FIFY: This is Jim's best DC hire since he came back to Michigan from Minnesota.
February 8th, 2022 at 9:05 PM ^
Could you take the time to lay out the case why you say that?
February 8th, 2022 at 4:27 PM ^
What does Ja Rule think?
February 8th, 2022 at 6:18 PM ^
In times of trouble or doubt, I always revert back to Ja.
WWJD =/= What Would Jesus Do
WWJD = What Would Ja Do
February 8th, 2022 at 4:31 PM ^
I don't have the numbers but from what I read he was a really good DC at Georgia Southern and Wiki shows he had their defense ranked 8th in all of FBS in his last season there. His had was Cincinnati's head coach in the early 2000s and is a great defensive mind according to what I read. Currently a defensive analyst at southern miss, but would be interesting if he would do the same at Michigan. With Newsome moving onto a staff role, and minter being hired, I think that's all the staff changes we will have since we have lost 3 and hired 3.
As for his record at Vanderbilt it's definitely something to think about, however, Vanderbilt is one of the toughest jobs in college football. With Texas and Oklahoma coming to the sec soon it's just going to be impossible for them since they are not a blue blood program. They should move to a different conference and would probably do well in the ACC.
February 8th, 2022 at 6:13 PM ^
I'm not an expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
February 8th, 2022 at 7:36 PM ^
I did 2 days worth of research on him last week. Home run hire.
I couldn't get over the "if he is so good...why didn't we just hire him the first time?"
And that obviously remains to be seen.
But when you look at his background, everything he touches gets better in 3-4 years + he recruits better than Mac ever would.
Love this hire.
February 8th, 2022 at 8:43 PM ^
In his 5 seasons as a FBS DC, he has 3 finishes in the bottom 15, and 0 in the top 50 scoring defenses. That’s just data, make of it what you will.
February 9th, 2022 at 1:59 PM ^
He was with Georgia State as they transitioned from FCS to FBS and one year at Vanderbilt. Those stats are meaningless. Instead, look to see if there were year to year improvements.
February 8th, 2022 at 5:46 PM ^
This is a good thing. Continuity for a system that the kids excelled and learned is something to build on.
February 9th, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
I guess “experience” is relative but I was envisioning someone with more time than one season as a DC. Idk he was a position coach for most of his 15 years coaching. He did coach for the Ravens so I’m guessing John is recommending him.