Michigan Football: Tenarius Wright makes a ton of sense if he’s final hire

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh hinted that the Wolverines have made their final hire and it appears to be Tenarius “Tank” Wright.

It has been a busy week for the Michigan football program but if indications are correct, the Wolverines will have finally completed the hiring of the coaching staff.

It was apparent from before the Citrus Bowl that Chris Partridge was likely headed out of town and that proved to be true as he left to be a co-defensive coordinator at Ole Miss. But for a time, it looked like that would be the only exit.

Anthony Campanile got interest from both Boston College and Rutgers about their defensive coordinator positions, but nothing came of it. He seemed headed back to Michigan football for another season.

Then, you know the rest.

Campanile ended up taking a job with the Miami Dolphins and soon after the Wolverines hired former Penn State and Mississippi State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop. That was announced Thursday and confirmed by Harbaugh.

Harbaugh also spoke at a coaches clinic Thursday evening and told reporters that Michigan football would have an announcement on its final hire soon. And it appears that the announcement will be the promotion of Tenarius “Tank” Wright from strength and conditioning to an assistant coach.

This information comes from Anthony Broome of Maize and Brew who has helped connect some dots. Sam Webb of The Michigan Insider ($) has talked about him as a candidate and was the first to report it was likely going to happen. Then, Wright updated his Twitter account to say football coach instead of strength and conditioning coach, giving us the final piece to the puzzle.

Wright seems like he would coach linebackers but the bigger deal is what kind of impact he can make in recruiting. Many have said Michigan should hire someone with a proven track record recruiting, yet, we all know recruiting is more about being able to connect with players.

Michigan has some really solid recruiters on its staff, but it’s not a coincidence that Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke also notched strong recruiting rankings. The Wolverines have a strong brand, average 9-10 wins a year, play a ton on TV, send a bunch of guys to the NFL and have a lot of other things to offer. The recruits will come.

It’s the big-time recruits Michigan needs to land as well as expand its territory. Wright could help do that in the Memphis area and he seems to be liked by players, so who is to say he won’t be able to connect with those top-tier guys?

Harbaugh has generally succeeded in these kinds of hires in the past, so he deserves the benefit of the doubt and when it comes to Wright, it seems like another good hire.