Michigan Football: How revamped coaching staff will impact recruiting

Now that Michigan football’s coaching staff is finalized for the 2022 season, what will it mean for recruiting in the 2023 class and beyond? 

Michigan football has finalized its coaching staff heading into next season and despite the loss of both coordinators, the Wolverines have put together a solid staff directed by head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Josh Gattis might have made things a little more public when he left, but Mike Macdonald left for the NFL and he went to work for Jim Harbaugh’s brother so it wasn’t a big surprise.

Shaun Nua also left earlier in the offseason for USC, so in all, Michigan football hired three new coaches: Jesse Minter (DC), Grant Newsome (Tight ends coach), and Mike Elston (D-line coach/recruiting coordinator).

Minter was the DC at Vanderbilt last season and has experience coordinating multiple defenses in college football. He’s also familiar with Macdonald from their time in Baltimore together, so that should help the transition from Macdonald to Minter.

Recruiting should also be an easy transition too. Macdonald has strong ties to the state of Georgia and Minter does too. He was the DC at Georgia State and was named the Sun Belt Recruiter of the Year by Scout.com back in 2015.

Those ties to the South will help and in terms of the other hires, they should be a net positive when it comes to recruiting, and here’s why.

Michigan football’s new hires should help with recruiting

Newsome is well-liked and the word is that Harbaugh was going to take him to the NFL if he took the Vikings job, so Michigan football is lucky to have him.

Newsome also worked with Sherrone Moore and the offensive line some in the past, and it will be easy for him to eventually grow into the role of offensive line coach. He should also be spectacular on the recruiting trail.

The fact that Michigan football kept Moore and actually promoted him was also essential. He was the top recruiter on the staff and was much more important to the overall operation than Gattis, who basically stepped away from recruiting to focus on play-calling.

If you add Matt Weiss (QB coach) and Ron Bellamy to the mix at wide receiver and the Wolverines coaching staff looks like a clear upgrade to me, at least in terms of offensive recruiting.

On the defensive side of the ball, Jay Harbaugh has proven he can recruit any position. He’s done an exceptional job at running backs and killed it with tight ends in 2022.

So he shouldn’t have any issues and the Wolverines should be aided by the presence of Elston on the recruiting trail, who was also the recruiting coordinator for Notre Dame too.

Add in the fact that Steve Clinkscale is now the co-defensive coordinator and will be on staff for a full recruiting cycle, and it’s easy to see that this staff should be able to put together a solid haul in 2023. Clink should also aid Michigan’s presence in Ohio.

Macdonald also didn’t seem that into recruiting, which is another reason why his move back to the NFL makes sense. The recruiting calendar is brutal if you aren’t used to it.

So while the results on the field remain to be seen, in terms of recruiting, Michigan football’s new staff should be even better than it was previously on the trail.