Michigan secondary coach Steve Clinkscale leaving for Los Angeles
Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore will be looking for yet another coach to fill out his staff — secondary coach and co-defensive coordinator Steve Clinkscale is headed to Los Angeles to join Jim Harbaugh‘s staff after all.
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This one is similar to strength coach Ben Herbert, who initially indicated he was staying before Harbaugh made him a big offer. Money was one of the hang-ups there, and while that was initially the case with Clinkscale, too — the buyout, specifically — it appears that’s been worked out.
Harbaugh, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, and defensive line coach Mike Elston are the other coaches to have left in addition to Herbert. Moore just hired Wink Martindale to replace Minter as his defensive coordinator.
As previously reported, Harbaugh had been courting Clinkscale for a while. Minter loved the thought of having him as his secondary coach, and there had been discussions. Harbaugh had said he wanted the Chargers to be “Michigan West,” and it will certainly have a familiar flavor with much of the band back together.
“It’s the number one thing,” Clinkscale said of the U-M staff during the playoff. “I love being around our staff. Jesse does a great job. He is extremely organized. Everybody has ideas. We bring it together, bring it to the table. We like this; we don’t like this. We move forward. We adjust during the game.
“Everybody takes responsibility for their position group, gets them to practice and play the way we want them to play. The chemistry is unbelievable, and it’s the best staff I’ve been on. Extremely enjoyable.”
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For Michigan, though, it was truly a “last dance” scenario. Moore will now have to fill out another spot on his staff and the U-M defenders will have to be convinced it will be with someone good enough to keep them from hitting the transfer portal. The defensive backs loved Clinkscale and his teaching methods.
And “Clink” loved being at U-M …. until he didn’t. In what now appears to be a bit of foreshadowing, he said Michigan would be fine if Harbaugh left.
“You get asked that question quite a bit,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m just honest with them. We don’t know. I believe the way our organization is designed that we’ll be fine, whatever the outcome may be.
“I tell parents all the time, my son is coming to play there. He’s going to be a walk-on. This is a great opportunity for him. But if I wasn’t here tomorrow, I would want my son to be around men at Michigan. The organization, the AD, the president, everybody. Athletically, academically, they do a great job of developing young men and young people.”
Watch for more on this story in the hours to come …
