Michigan football: Jim Harbaugh spells out offensive coaching duties
Michigan will have a number of cooks in the kitchen on offense again this year, including a pair of offensive coordinators and a run game coordinator. Head coach Jim Harbaugh, of course, will have his fingerprints all over it, as well.
Sherrone Moore, last year’s offensive line coach and co-coordinator, will be heavily involved in the Michigan offense game planning.
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“We’ll have two offensive coordinators, co-coordinators, and we’re going to split the play calling duties,” Harbaugh said. “Sherrone is going to be really dedicated still to coaching the offensive line, which is a huge undertaking. But I think he’s a very gifted coach that will be able to coach the o-line, game plan, [handle] the run game along with Mike Hart and Grant Newsome.”
In the passing game, quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss — also a first-time co-coordinator after a promotion — will join Harbaugh in building a better mousetrap in that area. Michigan receivers coach Ronald Bellamy will have a say, as well, but Weiss will call those plays, Harbaugh added.
“We’ll be game planning the passing game, and Matt will call it. All off these things will be … there’s a call sheet we all go through with a fine-toothed comb,” Harbaugh added. “We practice it, meet on it, practice it again. And by the time we come to the game, it’s listed what we’re going to call.
“Both Sherrone Moore and Matt Weiss are going to be first-year play callers. Both have the demeanor for it. Talk about steady. They are maniacal in terms of preparation and game planning. They have the demeanor during the game to be calm, cool collected and rip off those play calls.”
He was surprised to see Broyles Award winner and former Michigan O.C. Josh Gattis leave, he admitted. At the same time, he’s excited to see what the new blood can do in the position.
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“I didn’t see that coming,” the Michigan coach said. “But the fortunate thing is we’ve got Sherrone Moore, Matt Weiss, Mike Hart, Ron Bellamy and we’re adding Grant Newsome. The continuity is as good as the continuity could be.”
Harbaugh was likely to take Newsome with him to Minnesota, so his promotion from graduate assistant up the ladder at Michigan wasn’t a surprise.
“I’m thrilled to add Grant to the full-time staff,” he said. “There are times when I’m here at Schembechler Hall at one, two in the morning, and the parking lot is empty. I’ll go walk the halls, and there’s always one guy still here. That’s Grant Newsome.
“He got a degree from the [Michigan] Ford School of Public Policy. I could spend the whole podcast talking about Grant Newsome. I’m thrilled he accepted that position … but he’s the kind of guy we eventually won’t be able to give him enough promotions or pay him enough money to be here at Michigan. But it’s going to be a fun ride while he’s here.”
The same could be said for a lot of the other Michigan assistants, too, on what appears to be an outstanding young staff.
