Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from Jim Harbaugh’s new hires

Shoop adds valuable experience

Chris Partridge did a great job with the Wolverines and he deserves a chance to be a defensive coordinator. At Ole Miss, he will be a co-DC and that could be, in part, because of a lack of experience.

Partridge was tremendous as a recruiter and he did a fine job as the special teams coordinator. But as a defensive assistant, Shoop could be an upgrade, just based on what he’s been able to accomplish, both as the defensive coordinator at Penn State but also Mississippi State,

Here’s a look at what he will bring according to Michigan’s release:

"Recently, Shoop has coordinated units to top-25 total defense rankings six times in the last nine seasons. He was named 2018 FootballScoop Defensive Coordinator of the Year and 2014 247Sports’ Defensive Coordinator of the Year. He was FootballScoop’s FCS Defensive Coordinator of the Year in 2009 while at William and Mary and was also a finalist for the Broyles Award that season."

Shoop also worked as a secondary coach for Don Brown previously, so there should be a good relationship there. He also has experience taking on teams like LSU and Alabama. In fact, his defense played as well as any against Joe Burrow this past season.

In terms of recruiting, it’s not a home run, but on some level, Michigan recruits itself and having another guy with DC experience isn’t a bad thing at all.