Michigan Football: 3 Thoughts on Wolverines new defensive staff

After coaching searches that seemed to drag on forever, Michigan football has its defensive staff in place and here are three thoughts on the Wolverines new hires. 

This was kind of a wild offseason in terms of coaching for Michigan football. First, there was the Jim Harbaugh negotiation, the firing of Don Brown and the hiring of new defensive assistants.

But now the dust has settled, Harbaugh has hired three new assistants on defense, including Mike Macdonald and Maurice Linguist as co-defensive coordinators. Michigan football also announced the addition of new safeties coach George Helow, who comes over from Maryland.

Neither Macdonald or Linguist made any of the favorite lists to become defensive coordinator, but this isn’t about winning the offseason. This is about actually winning football games.

Did Jim Harbaugh and company take a step towards doing that with these hires? Only time will tell.

Of course, not every coach is new. Brian Jean-Mary is back as linebackers coach and Shaun Nua is also returning to coach the defensive line. The obvious questions are what kind of scheme will Michigan run and how will this impact recruiting?

We’ll break down here with three thoughts on Harbaugh’s new hires.

A fresh start

If you talk about starting anew with the defense, Michigan couldn’t have done a better job because it really was out with the old and in with the new.

The Wolverines went very young with their hires as all of these guys in there 30s. Macdonald and Linguist come from the NFL but each has a background in college. Linguist has a more extensive one and is more of the expert recruiter but both guys feel like up-and-comers.

What Michigan had going on defense had just gotten stale. It was like teams knew the Don Brown blitz scheme and if you don’t have dominate defensive line play, it makes it tough.

A key task for these coaches will be hitting the recruiting trail and hopefully, the transfer portal, because some personnel upgrades and depth are needed.

Overall though, I like each of these moves. The NFL background will resonate with recruits and Jourdan Lewis has already given his endorsement to Linguist, who was his position coach in Dallas last season.

We’ll see how the play calling on defense and scheme will work but Macdonald comes from the Ravens, who are known for playing outstanding defense. You take that and combine with the recruiting prowess of Linguist and that’s a solid duo.

It’s not the big name defensive coordinator people wanted, but that combo and their strengths should suit each other really well.