Michigan coaching staff: Sherrone Moore's first group of assistants all but set

The Michigan Wolverines have all but completed the first football coaching staff under head coach Sherrone Moore with a productive week of hires and developments. Now, the build begins in a new era for the program.

Here’s a look at who is currently set to be on Moore’s first coaching staff at Michigan.

Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach: Kirk Campbell

Campbell just wrapped his second season with the Michigan football program and first as the team’s quarterbacks coach before his promotion to offensive coordinator. He called plays in the 2023 season opener against East Carolina with Moore serving a one-game suspension over alleged recruiting violations. In that contest, McCarthy went 26-for-30 for 280 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-3 victory.

Wide receivers coach: Ron Bellamy

The former West Bloomfield HS coach has found a home at his alma mater, coaching safeties in 2021 and wide receivers the last two years. There have been no indications that his status at Michigan has changed, and he is expected to remain on the staff working with the wideouts.

Tight ends coach: Steve Casula

This hire has not been made official yet, but will be shortly. Casula comes over from UMass, where he served as head coach and former Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown’s offensive coordinator. He was an analyst at Michigan from 2019-21 working with the offensive staff, serving in a variety of roles.

Offensive line coach: Grant Newsome

One of Moore’s mentees over the last few years, Newsome now gets to slide into the role vacated by Michigan’s new head coach. The 2024 season will be his 10th in the program after playing offensive tackle from 2015-16. He was a student assistant with the tight ends from 2018-19, then moved onto grad assistant on the offensive line from 2020-21. He coached U-M’s tight ends in 2022-23.

Defensive coordinator: Don “Wink” Martindale

Martindale spent the last two seasons with the Giants as their defensive coordinator under head coach Brian Daboll. Before that, he spent the 2012-21 seasons with John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens and ran the team’s defense from 2018-21, winning a Super Bowl over Jim Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers in 2012. Other NFL stops in Martindale’s career include the Oakland Raiders (2004-08) and Denver Broncos (2009-10). Much of his coaching experience comes with the linebackers, helming that position group at almost every stop along the way.

Martindale has not coached at the college level since he was at Western Kentucky with Jack Harbaugh in 2000-03. There, he was his defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. Other college gigs along the way included Defiance (defensive coordinator, 1986-87), Notre Dame (assistant, 1994-95), Cincinnati (special teams and linebackers, 1996-98) and Western Illinois (defensive coordinator/linebackers, 1999).

Defensive line coach – Greg Scruggs

Scruggs coached one year at Wisconsin after spending four seasons at Cincinnati under Luke Fickell from 2018-21, getting his feet wet as the director of player personnel and then defensive line coach. He also was an assistant defensive line coach with the New York Jets in 2022. Scruggs’ hiring has yet to be made official by Michigan but is expected to go through, as he was spotted with Moore and Martindale over the weekend at Crisler Center.

Linebackers coach – Brian Jean-Mary

Jean-Mary is back with the Wolverines, where he coached the linebackers for one season in 2020 under Jim Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Don Brown. Jean-Mary comes from Tennessee, where he spent the last three seasons with Tennessee.

Defensive backs coach – LaMar Morgan

After losing defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale to the Los Angeles Chargers, Michigan has reportedly poached Morgan, 38, who just finished his second season coordinating the Louisiana defense. His defensive backs have a knack for turning over other teams with the Ragin’ Cajuns grabbing 15 interceptions last year, ranking 14th in the country.

Morgan played safety at Louisiana from 2003-07 and was a grad assistant at Vanderbilt (2012-13), DBs coach at Western Carolina (2014-15), safeties coach at Louisana Monroe (2016-17), safeties coach at Houston (2018) and DBs coach at Louisiana (2019-20). He coached for one season as a defensive backs coach at Vanderbilt in 2021 under Jesse Minter.

Special teams coordinator: J.B. Brown

Michigan promoted Brown to special teams coordinator last week after reports of Jay Harbaugh’s departure to the NFL surfaced. Brown served as a special teams analyst under Harbaugh from 2021-23 and coordinated the special teams at Texas Southern from 2019-20. His prior stops included Kansas in 2015-16 and Houston in 2017-18 as a graduate assistant assisting with special teams in both spots.

Michigan’s remaining question mark

Currently absent is clarity on Michigan’s running backs coach situation. Mike Hart’s contract lapsed at the end of the 2023 season, but there have been no indications as to what his status is or if he is a planned part of Moore’s staff at U-M. His seems like it is a personal matter, and we will have to wait and see what happens moving forward and if there is another spot left to fill on the coaching staff.