Jim Harbaugh brought over a bunch of his top assistants with him to the Los Angeles Chargers, leaving Michigan’s new head coach Sherrone Moore with a lot of holes on the staff to fill. But Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel isn’t concerned.
In a recent interview, Manuel said that the plus side to losing assistants like defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, defensive line coach Mike Elston and defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale is that their departure will allow Moore to remake his staff in the way that he wants.
“I knew it was a possibility that Jim would want to talk to some staff about going there. And obviously he did and they made a decision,” Manuel said, via Wolverines Wire . “And, as I have with Jim, I’ve never gotten mad if people have an opportunity in making a decision. I know some of them were already being talked to even before Jim was selected for the head coach at the Chargers. And so these are decisions that people make and it happens over time, and it gives Sherrone an opportunity to rebuild the staff, particularly the defensive side in the way that he wants. And we feel good about the people that he is bringing on.
Manuel said that he anticipated coaches leaving and prepared to invest money in their assistants pool even before Harbaugh left the team.
“Prior to Jim leaving, I invested more in our assistant pool. And it really brought it up by a couple of million dollars to invest in our assistant coaches. And so that was done prior to Jim deciding to leave to go to the Chargers and that remains with Sherrone, in terms of that investment.”
So it certainly sounds like Manuel and the Michigan athletic department were prepared for the eventuality of Harbaugh leaving them.
Like they say: Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.