Michigan will have a new offensive coordinator in Chip Lindsey for the 2025 season, but how have the Wolverines fared breaking in new coordinators in recent years? Here’s a look back at how things have gone:
Despite its recent run of on-field success, the Michigan football program has been something of a revolving door for offensive and defensive coordinators. This is usually the case for premier programs, as assistants generally follow the same cycle of being promoted from within, serving as a coordinator for a few years and eventually leaving for a head coaching job.
Michigan has been fortunate to have turnover on its coaching staff come for the right reasons. But this year, the Wolverines see themselves on the other side of the equation, as Chip Lindsey was brought in to replace Kirk Campbell after the offense was one of the worst in the country in 2024.
Although it’s a new coach running the offense, programs can sometimes find themselves taking steps backwards with new coordinators taking over. Should there be any concerns with the Wolverines breaking in a new coordinator? To find out, we’ll take a look at how Michigan’s recent first-year offensive and defensive coordinators have fared.
2024 – Kirk Campbell (OC) and Wink Martindale (DC)
Everything was new for Michigan in 2024, including much of the roster and coaching staff. As a result, the Wolverines and Sherrone Moore saw mixed results.
On offense, Kirk Campbell was promoted to offensive coordinator after serving as the quarterbacks coach in 2023. Things didn’t go well for Campbell, as the Wolverines averaged just 22 points and 286.2 yards per game. We can’t pin all the struggles on Campbell, but his play-calling certainly didn’t help.
Defensively, the Wolverines went with Wink Martindale, the architect of the “Ravens-style” system Michigan had employed the previous three years. Martindale took a minute to adjust to the college game, but had the defense playing at its best near the end of the season, even in the absence of Will Johnson. His ability to adjust and deviate from his aggressive play-calling helped stabilize the defense down the stretch, especially in the games against Ohio State and Alabama.
2022 – Sherrone Moore, Matt Weiss (CO-OC) and Jesse Minter (DC)
Although they’d both previously been on the staff, Sherrone Moore and Matt Weiss became co-offensive coordinators ahead of the 2022 season. The offense went to another level, scoring 40.6 points and registering 458.8 total yards per game. The running back duo of Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards was what stood out the most, as Moore and Weiss helped navigate the ground game to 238.9 yards per game.
This was J.J. McCarthy’s first season as the starting quarterback. Under his tutelage, Weiss helped McCarthy improve each week, capping his season with 263 yards and three touchdowns against Ohio State.
On defense, Michigan struck gold with Jesse Minter, who led the defense to 16.1 points against per game in 2022, improving on the number set the previous year.
2021 – Mike Macdonald (DC)
The firing of Don Brown and subsequent hiring of Mike Macdonald marked a big turning point for Jim Harbaugh. Brown had been a stalwart on Michigan’s staff, leading the defense from 2016-20, but his over-aggressive and somewhat predictable tendencies ultimately started to do more harm than good.
Macdonald was hired after serving as the linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens , and he began the new era of defensive dominance at Michigan. By bringing the same scheme that would eventually be used by Minter and Martindale, Michigan went from allowing 34.5 points per game in 2020 to 17.4 in 2021. His arrival also coincided with a breakout season from David Ojabo and a 14-sack season from Aidan Hutchinson, one of the best seasons from a Michigan defensive lineman ever.
2019 – Josh Gattis (OC)
When Josh Gattis was hired in 2019, Michigan was badly in need of an offensive evolution. Gattis had previously served on staffs at Penn State and Alabama, teams that had become known for their high-powered passing games. His arrival brought the promise of more explosiveness in the offense and the mantra of “speed in space,” but the offense didn’t see much improvement his first two seasons in charge.
After Gattis took over, the team actually scored fewer points per game than it had in the years prior. Michigan scored 35.2 points per game the year before Gattis’ arrival, but that number dropped to 31.7 in 2019 and 28.3 in 2020. However, he was eventually able to get things turned around in 2021, as Michigan’s shift in philosophy towards being more run-oriented led the team to an 11-2 season and College Football Playoff berth. He even won the Broyles Award as the nation’s best assistant coach, and then left the program to take the same job at Miami.
2016 – Don Brown (DC)
What a time it was to be alive in 2016 when Michigan brought in Brown to run the defense. The defense had already been one of the nation’s elite in 2015, but with D.J. Durkin leaving that offseason to be the head coach at Maryland, Harbaugh hired Brown from Boston College to take things to another level.
In 2016, Brown led the defense to a mere 14.1 points and 261.8 yards allowed per game. That defense featured a handful of stars like Jabrill Peppers, Jourdan Lewis and Taco Charlton, to name a few.
Brown had become known for his aggressive and blitz-heavy scheme which frustrated even the best of offenses in his early years. However, as he became more predictable, opponents —especially Ohio State — were able to exploit Michigan’s less-talented defensive rosters, ultimately spelling the need for a new voice in the room.
Michigan has given us a good sample size of new coordinators over the last decade, each coming with their own set of challenges to solve when they walk in the door. Overall, the Wolverines have been successful in improving their respective units with new hires.
Last season, Moore hit on one of his two coordinator hires, but Lindsey represents a new type of hire as someone that previously had no affiliation with the program or scheme. Will Lindsey get things back on track for the offense right away? The track record for the program suggests he has a good chance.