Diving into the nuances of the new coaching staff based on what Sherrone Moore's regime looked like. Moore's assistants had a mixture of experience and potential, but they never seemed to put it all together. Whittingham's choices have felt successful, just not from a level of Michigan's standpoint. Let's take a closer look at how they compare and contrast.
Comparing Moore's staff to Whittingham's
For starters, Jason Beck is similar to Chip Lindsey in some ways. They both were at power four jobs before they moved up the ladder to Michigan football. Lindsey developed Drake Maye into a top-three pick, while Beck gets the astute honor of trying to do the same for Bryce Underwood. Both love to run the football at will.
Perhaps the best thing that Sherrone Moore did was hire Tony Alford away from Ohio State. He is the best running backs coach bar none. Whittingham did the same when he scooped up Jim Harding. Grant Newsome was recruiting at a high level for Moore, but he wasn't producing talent like Harding did at Utah. To have Alford and Harding on the same staff is a tremendous coup for Whittingham to flaunt.
Defensively, Jay Hill doesn't have the NFL background like Wink Martindale, Mike MacDonald, and Jesse Minter did, but he's regarded as one of the emerging up-and-coming young coordinators in the industry. He won at Weber State and coached BYU's defense into a buzzsaw. He had his bad moments against Texas Tech, but so did MacDonald and Minter with Georgia and TCU.
Losing Lou Esposito to the Ravens was a bummer. He is on a path for stardom in the coaching ranks. Alex Whittingham has to change the perception of the linebacker room. It's considered as the weakest link on the defense. His resume that he compiled in Kansas City is impressive, but will it translate?
LaMar Morgan was another guy who started to recruit at an elite level. He'll return to Michigan as the cornerbacks coach for Oklahoma in September. In his absence Jernaro Gilford has a lot to work with. Gilford will be judged off the field if he can reel in some five star prospects whom Michigan is entertaining.
Kerry Coombs was brought on by Moore and retained by Whittingham. Maybe he can provide some insight to when he spent time coaching with Ryan Day in Columbus. What remains to be seen is weather or not Whittingham's staff will fair better than Moore's in those Oklahoma, Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State type of games. Also can they show that they learned from their in-games blunders and make the necessary adjustments.
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