Coaching Hello: Al Washington
Washington background
This isn't quite official yet but Sam Webb says Cincinnati DL coach Al Washington is telling Cincinnati recruits that he's leaving, Brandon Justice tweeted about it, and Chris Vannini is confirming Justice's report, so it seems good enough for bloggin' work.
So: Washington was a three-year starter on the DL at Boston College from 2004 to 2006 and then went into coaching. He's been a DL coach for the duration of his career with the exception of one year as a LB coach at Elon and a stint from 2013 to 2015 when he was BC's running backs coach; BC RB Andre Williams won the Doak Walker and was a fourth-round pick in 2013. FWIW, he also gained "special teams coordinator" titles at his last two stops.
There's conflicting information about where Washington will end up; Justice reports that he'll be the RB spot but there's other chatter that he'll slot in at linebackers as Partridge moves to safeties. If it is RB that's a bit odd since this is more of a Don Brown hookup than a Harbaugh one. OTOH, RB is a spot that's generally regarded as a recruiting-heavy one. Washington's young, has a good reputation...
Tough loss for Luke Fickell and Cincinnati if it comes to fruition, very good recruiter for the Bearcats. https://t.co/dSA29qQebK
— Jeremy Birmingham (@Birm) January 4, 2018
...and is well-known to Brown, so that seems like a good bet to work out. BC folks weren't happy at his departure:
This is... pretty bad. Al Washington is one of BC football’s most important coaches, in particular with his ability to sell the school and bring in some of the Eagles’ best recruits. And as @BearcatJournal pointed out, Washington was the DL coach for Harold Landry, who tallied 15 sacks and may be an NFL first round pick this season.
We'll see how the rest of the coaching staff changes shake out. Michigan has at least one more guy to add since a tenth coach has just become official, and probably a few more since there are rumors of a wholesale overhaul on the offensive side of the ball.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:16 PM ^
If he's on defense with Patridge moving to Safeties, then I guess that means Bush is leaving? Or at least not promoted?
January 4th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
Maybe a 'just in case' move too, with Partridge having a decision to make...according to some rumors.
Regardless there's an opening for a good coach and recruiter, thats for sure.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:33 PM ^
What exactly is the decision that Partridge has to make?
I keep hearing this, but no details.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:36 PM ^
SEC offers, notably, from Alabama.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^
There was a comment in a thread to the effect that Saban was trying to poach him. Which I don't quite follow. Alabama recruits itself. Would that just be a "D move" on Saban's part?
January 4th, 2018 at 2:43 PM ^
at least, not any more than any other top program from an institutional standpoint. They recruit better than any program not named OSU because they have elite coaching and elite recruiters working really, really hard to make sure they continue to have great talent. And that's why they would want Partridge. Have to stay ahead in the arms race.
January 4th, 2018 at 7:35 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 2:00 PM ^
UMBig posted that he had a 'difficult decision to make'. I can't remember now if he referenced Alabama, but thats how I read it. Lots of money and Alabama could make it difficult to turn down for some.
Thx NightKing and Pam.
January 4th, 2018 at 7:28 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 7:35 PM ^
Yes! Sure hope so.
Partridge, IMO, would be a legitimate candidate to be Michigan's Head Coach some day. Hope he stays for his coaching career. 35yo?
January 4th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
this gets us recruiting Ohio well again, but looks like his history is in the NE which is a bit redundant with DB's recruiting footprint. Hoping he made enough inroads with Ohio schools while at Cinci.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:24 PM ^
I believe he is from Columbus, would imagine that he can recruit Ohio at least reasonably well. Either way, I love bringing in a young coach who has a reputation as a recruiter.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:17 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 1:22 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 2:27 PM ^
Finally got back in town and was catching up with some colleagues last night. Here is what they said:
Looks like Pep is taking an NFL gig
Coach Mattison has told JH he has max 2 years left (actually a long/funny story)
Enos is IN - but not confirmed and he not in AA yet..
CP wants to stay, also wants to grow and continue to move up the coaching ranks. Has multiple overtures to leave from big schools
Sounds like something is going on with Drevno but maybe not leaving. Frey thing was going to be left up to Frey. Willie got JH blessing, Frey is welcome back if he decides to stay ($$)
1-2 more coaches still getting figured out
Apparently the strength coach is an animal
Chase was always coming back, told coaches, Falk, teamates at banquet.
Bush Sr. is going to be a coach next year in some capacity.
I'm sure all or most of this has been covered in the past 5 days. Just thought I would share what has been told to me, last time I wrote anything it was that KW was in AA, and JBB was awol. Again I apoligize for the vocabulary.
I asked about the transfers, and attrition. Sounds like there is news coming on both fronts.
cheers
January 4th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^
If Partridge wants to stay we should give him a bump. Unless someone is offering him a DC role we can match it. He is currently the best recruiter on the staff and did an amazing job with a young LB core.
Nooooooooo to Drevno staying. Dude provides nothing on the recruiting front, saw almost no progress on the oline outside of on run plays where the coaching is hit the guy in front of you hard and just overall has zero track record to indicate he is actually a good coach and not just riding coattails.
January 4th, 2018 at 4:14 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^
I'm okay with giving Partridge a raise. I don't want to lose him to a bigger salary. But if he goes to be a DC or because he thinks coaching at Bama will advance his career, then he's going to go.
January 4th, 2018 at 5:55 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 6:30 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 7:16 PM ^
You're just giving him the title to keep him happy? Either that or you are demoting Brown. If money alone isn't enough to keep Partridge, then why assume it's enough to keep Brown around? It's hard for me to see him happy about that. That Texas A&M offer would seem a lot more appealing.
I really don't think that's how things are done in the coaching world.
If you want to keep Partridge, give him a pay bump and maybe responsibilty for a different position group. That will help his career. Demote your best coach and see how it affects your relationship with other assistants and even prospective hires.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^
guy is a good future replacement for Mattison. Sounds like he'd move to the DL when Mattison leaves.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:54 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 4:37 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 5:17 PM ^
On paper it might make sense but it's just not a good idea. Having Hoke as a coach would be like being friends with your ex-, or trying to move back to your hometown where you grew up. Thomas Wolfe was right.
Also, there's the whole Morris/player safety thing which is also a disqualifer.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:00 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 4:36 PM ^
"Sounds like something may be going on with Drevno but maybe not leaving." I don't like that the door may still be open for a return. I expected JH to realize that Drevno sucked at his job and to follow etiquette and tell him to look elsewhere so that the press releae would say that Drevno decided to leave rather than say he was fired.
January 4th, 2018 at 4:51 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 8:44 PM ^
I would prefer to have Coach Mattison stay forever.
January 5th, 2018 at 1:05 AM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 1:17 PM ^
First tremor in what looks like could be an earthquake in the staff room.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:18 PM ^
I like it! In Don Brown I trust
January 4th, 2018 at 2:06 PM ^
Smith was one of his guys and the safeties were a weak spot and he wasn't a very good recruiter.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:08 PM ^
This year I thought the safeties were decent to good when you consider there were only 2 non-true freshmen and only Kinnel had any real game experience.
The fact that the new guy is a good recruiter is a big plus though.
January 4th, 2018 at 7:35 PM ^
I don't really think the safety issues were necessarily a coaching issue rather than a player issue. Sometimes you don't have future NFL guys and sometimes guys are young and this years safeties probably had some of both of those issues going on.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
Not like I have much knowledge on the matter. Seems like BC didn't like losing him a year ago from the looks of it - hopefully this means we're getting better with this addition.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:19 PM ^
hire in my opinion. Much more inspiring than Enos...
January 4th, 2018 at 2:16 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^
Just want a 'B' offense in a year that can score points and NOT COUGH UP THE BALL.
with our D it will be enough.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
With Partridge coaching the Viper, he's a natural fit with safeties.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:29 PM ^
Wouldn't really be that weird for Don Brown to have said to Harbaugh "this is a really good RB guy I saw work while I was at BC," would it?
January 4th, 2018 at 1:36 PM ^
That's how McCaffrey will be the starter next year.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:00 PM ^
Is that an avatar of David Wallace's boots?
EDIT: Yes, "Hard to Fill," a work by his wife.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^
Confirmed :)
January 4th, 2018 at 1:31 PM ^
BC folks weren't happy at his departure:
That's how you know if you made a good coaching hire . . . how upset the school is that you hired him away from.
Alabama was not all that upset about the loss of Nuss. That should have told us something.
BC was upset about losing Don Brown. For good reason.
Of course, WVU was upset about losing Rich Rod and SDSU was upset about losing Brady Hoke, so the system probably needs some fine tuning.
For the record, we're not upset about losing Pep and Drevno. If we lose Partridge, we'll be apoplectic.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:51 PM ^
Your theory works with coordinators: Washington and Don Brown.
not head coaches though, since unless they were terrible most fans would be upset they just lost their head coach.
A little tweaking and the M-Dog Incoming Coach Expectation Theory works.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^
Actually SDSU mostly shrugged, they correctly predicted that Rocky Long would take over the program with little to no dropoff.
January 4th, 2018 at 4:01 PM ^
I recall Kyle Turley going straight ape-shit over Hoke leaving. I bet he feels silly about that now.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:32 PM ^
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