Harbaugh certainly knew how to pick them.
Last week we ran through a list of where all of the former Michigan football assistants under Jim Harbaugh are at in their careers now . The list was impressive to say the least as the Harbaugh coaching tree is vast given the amount of time he spent in Ann Arbor.
This week we’re going to attempt to subjectively rank the top 10 assistant coaches under Harbaugh at Michigan. Here goes nothing:
Honorable Mentions: Jay Harbaugh, Biff Poggi, Mike Hart
The son of Jim himself, Jay Harbaugh played a variety of roles in Ann Arbor, excelling at just about all of them. Poggi was the associate head coach under Harbaugh for just two years, but helped establish a pipeline from St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, the home of Blake Corum, Derrick Moore, Jaishawn Barham, and others. Hart was already a legend prior to coaching at Michigan due to his playing career. As a coach, he shepherded one of the most fearsome running back rooms in college football history.
10. Chris Partridge
My first selection might be the most controversial of all. Partridge was let go because of his conduct during the NCAA investigation this past season. However, it can’t go understated how lethal of a recruiter he was during his first stint at Michigan.
Chris was named Recruiter of the Year by Scout.com (remember them?) in 2016 and then subsequently by 247Sports in 2017. He was a big part of creating the Paramus Catholic pipeline that brought Rashan Gary and Jabrill Peppers to Michigan. Despite his off-field drama, Partridge was arguably the best recruiter Harbaugh ever had work for him.
9. Greg Mattison
Prior to defecting to Ohio State, Mattison was an exquisite defensive line coach under Harbaugh. Mattison was retained by Harbaugh after Brady Hoke was fired, and for good reason. While his lasting impact will be his side-switch in the rivalry, he continually pumped out excellent defensive lines in the early Harbaugh years. Additionally, he was one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the country.
8. Don Brown
Pessimists may choose to remember Brown for how bad his 2020 defense was; optimists like myself choose to look at how good Michigan’s defense was in the four years prior. Don Brown’s defenses were ranked nationally No. 2 in 2016, No. 6 in 2017, No. 8 in 2018, and No. 10 in 2019. That’s four consecutive top-10 finishes as a coordinator. Pretty impressive.
Brown’s undoing would end up being too blitz happy and his inability to slow down Ohio State. However, he laid the ground work for a few more defensive coordinators who you’ll find later in this list.
7. Steve Clinkscale
Partridge’s main competition for the greatest recruiter under Harbaugh is Steve Clinkscale. Clink was hired in 2021 to coach the defensive backs and coincidentally never lost to Ohio State. He also played a huge role in Michigan’s recruiting efforts in the state of Ohio, a skill that had been lost in the prior decade.
On the field, he can be credited with a large portion of the development of Will Johnson, Rod Moore, and Mike Sainristil. His departure to the Chargers was one of the most painful of the bunch.
6. Mike Elston
Of the top 10 list, Elston was at Michigan for the shortest tenure at just two years. However, when you coach one of the most dominant defensive lines in program history you can earn the distinction of a top-10 coach. Elston seamlessly navigated a nine-man rotation on the defensive line in which he kept them all happy, healthy, and motivated on the way to a National Championship. He was also an underrated recruiter who would have thrived at Michigan had he stayed longer.
5. Jedd Fisch
Like Elston, Fisch was only around for two seasons before departing. As the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator, he was able to get All-Big Ten nods for both Jake Rudock and Wilton Speight in back-to-back years.
Fisch left to get a promotion at offensive coordinator for UCLA at the time. He has since progressed to being the head coach at Washington. He is one of the most noteworthy names on the Harbaugh coaching tree.
4. Ben Herbert
The fact that a strength-and-conditioning coach is all the way up to No. 4 on this list tells you all you need to know about Herbert. It’s no coincidence that his hire came shortly before the resurrection of the program. Herbert was a culture setter and helped send a program record amount of players to the NFL. He will be sorely missed in Ann Arbor.
3. Jesse Minter
Following Mike Macdonald’s quick departure back to John Harbaugh and the Ravens, many Michigan fans were panicked as to where the defense would go. Minter’s resume was significantly less impressive than Macdonald’s had been as he came from a moribund Vanderbilt program.
At Michigan, Minter proved to be a legend. He shut down a loaded Ohio State team in the Horseshoe, slowed down Marvin Harrison Jr. the next year, won the Rose Bowl , and won a National Championship. The Michigan defense not only didn’t regress, but progressed into one of the best units in college football history.
2. Mike Macdonald
I had a hard time ranking Macdonald over Minter because of Minter’s National Championship. However, I had to pull the trigger because of the culture change that Macdonald caused. The 2021 victory over Ohio State changed the course of the Michigan program and is in large part due to Mike Macdonald.
He turned Aidan Hutchinson into a Heisman candidate and No. 2 overall NFL Draft pick. He turned David Ojabo into a fearsome edge rusher. Most importantly, he instilled a confidence in the Michigan defense that they could and would break Ohio State’s streak of victories.
1. Sherrone Moore
Who else but Sherrone Moore could be No. 1? The current head coach at the University of Michigan is there for a reason. He built a National Championship-winning offensive line from scratch while winning two Joe Moore Awards along the way. He led the 2023 team to four wins in the absence of a head coach and throughout all the drama.
Most importantly, he beat Ryan Day as an interim coach. What more could you want from an assistant coach? Moore was a star as an assistant — time will tell if he will be a star as a head coach as well.