How Jim Harbaugh emphasized rivalries in his defensive coordinator search
Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh had to fill his defensive coordinator role this offseason. It turns out he had a specific emphasis on what he was looking for.
Mike Macdonald did incredible work with the Wolverines and earn a shot back in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens. The process that led to the hiring of Jesse Minter started with an interesting set of criteria.
The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman discussed this in a piece on Friday. He detailed how the Michigan State and Ohio State rivalries may have informed how the decision was made.
Here is a snippet of what Feldman said about Harbaugh:
Almost no one around the Big Ten had heard of 34-year-old Macdonald when Jim Harbaugh hired him off brother John’s staff to replace Don Brown. Macdonald had no experience as a coordinator, but Harbaugh trusted the intel he got from his brother and the feel he got from Macdonald. Replacing him would be as critical as finding him. This time, as Harbaugh set up his search for the Wolverines’ new DC, he had some unique directives he hoped would help sort out the candidates.
In addition to getting to know each coach, Harbaugh wanted the candidates to have a big-picture plan readied for the Wolverines’ defensive personnel in 2022: what they’d keep from Michigan’s 2021 system and why, what they’d change and why; as well as have some early game-plan thoughts, specifically for Michigan State on first and second downs and Ohio State on third downs.
In the past, Harbaugh had hired coordinators without even formally interviewing them. But allowing 6.3 yards per play on first down in a 37-33 loss to archrival Michigan State can change a man.
How an alternative candidate prepared for Michigan interview
Michigan landed on Minter as its Macdonald replacement. Minter came from the same Ravens background that Macdonald did. Michigan expects some continuity to that side of the ball. He coordinated Vanderbilt’s defense last season and was a Broyles Award nominee at Georgia State in 2015.
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There had been plenty of other candidates considered, but Feldman’s piece confirmed one. Michigan had interest in Wisconsin linebackers coach Bobby April III for the job.
“One of this year’s candidates, Wisconsin linebackers coach Bobby April III, was flying down to Orlando, Fla., for a family trip to Disney World when Michigan called him about the vacancy,” Feldman wrote. “That meant pulling an all-nighter, doing a deep dive into Michigan’s returning personnel and what they did under Macdonald to be ready for the Zoom with Harbaugh and the Wolverines defensive staff. Harbaugh’s dad, Jack, a former college coach, would also be on the call the following Monday at 9 a.m.”
On3 Sports recently named Minter a coordinator that is facing pressure immediately at his new job. His focus remains on building trust and continuity.
“I think trust is just built over time,” he said this spring. “I think it’s built on relationships. It’s built on honest feedback. And so I think a strength of mine in my career has been the ability to build relationships with players. It’s not something that happens overnight. So you can’t just walk in the first day and expect them all to trust you. Especially when you’re replacing the guy that did a really good job. But I think he’s just built over time — relationships, and I enjoy that aspect of it.”
