Warde Manuel addresses Jim Harbaugh poaching Michigan assistants, future salary pool

When coaches leave for a new job, they tend to take some of their assistants with them. Jim Harbaugh is no different, even as he leaves Michigan, his alma mater, for the NFL, taking several assistants with him, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

Athletic director Warde Manuel recently addressed the poaching that Jim Harbaugh has done to this point, spinning the positive side of things for new head coach Sherrone Moore.

“It gives Sherrone an opportunity to rebuild the staff particularly on the defensive side in the way that he wants,” Warde Manuel said. “I feel good about the people that he is bringing on.”

Last season, Michigan had one of the best defenses in the country, which was a big reason why the Wolverines were able to win a national championship. That defense was so good that it finished the season with the best total defense in the country and the top scoring defense in the country, allowing just 247 yards per game and 10.4 points per game respectively.

To this point, Jim Harbaugh has brought secondary coach Steve Clinkscale, defensive line coach Mike Elston, and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter with him to Los Angeles. Special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh also left for the NFL, with Sherrone Moore bringing in Wink Martindale to be Michigan’s next defensive coordinator.

All that turnover has led to some concern about the salary pool for assistants. However, Warde Manuel pushed back on that idea.

“It’s not really a savings rate … prior to Jim leaving I invested more in our system pool. And it really brought it up by a couple of million dollars to invest in our in our assistant coaches. And so that was done prior to Jim deciding to leave to go to the chargers and that remains with Sherrone, in terms of that investment.”

Sherrone Moore describes how Michigan is approaching ongoing NCAA investigation

One challenge that Sherrone Moore inherited is the ongoing NCAA investigation, which he recently shared his approach to moving forward.

“That’s something that’s out there,” Moore said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen with it. And we’re just going to take it day by day. You know, obviously, I think the President made a great statement and talked about how, you know, our players and we won it fair and square. Just like coach said, I think we’re innocent, and we’ll just keep trucking along and attacking every day. And that’s what we’re gonna do.”