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Jeff Hafley may be a risk worth taking for Michigan Football

By Kyler Kregel

PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 18: Head coach Jeff Hafley of Boston College look son during the game against the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field on September 18, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Cody Glenn/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 18: Head coach Jeff Hafley of Boston College look son during the game against the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field on September 18, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Cody Glenn/Getty Images) /
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CHESTNUT HILL, MASSACHUSETTS – NOVEMBER 20: Head coach Jeff Hafley of the Boston College Eagles looks on during a timeout in the first half against the Florida State Seminoles at Alumni Stadium on November 20, 2021 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images)
CHESTNUT HILL, MASSACHUSETTS – NOVEMBER 20: Head coach Jeff Hafley of the Boston College Eagles looks on during a timeout in the first half against the Florida State Seminoles at Alumni Stadium on November 20, 2021 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images) /

What does Hafley bring to the table

Right off the bat there are three strengths that instantly come to mind when evaluating Hafley as a candidate for Michigan football, namely, his defensive acumen, his stellar recruiting, and his ability to build a strong coaching staff around him.

Starting with the defensive acumen, Hafley’s background is littered with success. In his early years coaching at Pittsburgh, Hafley helped develop Darrelle Revis into a first-round NFL Draft pick and Thorpe Award winner, and did similarly with Detroit Lions cornerback Jeff Okudah in 2019 at Ohio State.

And even beyond the incredibly impressive turnaround at Ohio State in 2019, Hafley’s done another great job getting Boston College’s defense going in the right direction. Prior to his hire, in 2019, Boston College’s defense ranked 104th in the nation in scoring defense, quickly improving to 59th in 2020 and again improving in 2021, coming in at 38th.

What may be more impressive than that, however, is Hafley’s recruiting abilities. At Ohio State, Hafley was the 10th best recruiter in the nation, according to 247Sports. And at Boston College, he’s shown similar improvement like he did with the defense, taking a program that averaged a recruiting class in the upper 60s, and brought them their two highest rated classes in decades these last couple of years, the 37th ranked class in 2021 and the 39th ranked class in 2022.

While those numbers may not be impressive individually, understanding the context of recruiting at Boston College and their historical ineptitude at recruiting prior to Hafley shows a very impressive ability to recruit. And given that Michigan has been continually lagging behind the Buckeyes on the recruiting trail this past decade, having a young, energetic and proven recruiter could certainly help Michigan football catch up to the Buckeyes.

Lastly, many top coordinators struggle to build quality coaching staffs around them, but Hafley has appeared to build a very impressive staff so far in Chestnut Hill. His first offensive coordinator hire, Frank Cignetti, did an excellent job developing the aforementioned Jurkovec into a highly-regarded NFL prospect, and was just recently poached away by a bigger contract with the ACC champion Pittsburgh Panthers.

His defensive coordinator, Tem Lukabu, has also drawn the attention of some bigger programs after the excellent work he’s done helping Hafley build up that defense. Most recently, Notre Dame has been evaluating a move for the 40-year linebacker specialist.

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