U-M has a ‘new coach smell,’ but will it last?
Young staff brings energy to spring practices in Ann Arbor
The spring cleaning inside Schembechler Hall is underway.
The stench from a losing season has slowly faded. The players are breathing new air. It’s fresh and invigorating, or so they say.
“I have seen some things I have never seen these past three years being on this team,” said Michigan edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson. “Guys are just fired up.”
Safety Brad Hawkins, the graybeard of the secondary, corroborated Hutchinson’s claim, telling reporters Tuesday about a renewed, galvanizing spirit.
“Every single day we come out to practice, it’s just joy, fun,” he said. “Everybody is laughing with each other. Everybody is having a good time.”
The honeymoon phase accompanying Jim Harbaugh’s revamped coaching staff is in full effect. Shortly after signing a contract extension that halved his base salary and slashed the university’s buyout obligation, Harbaugh ushered in a youth movement on his staff. Six new coaches — all under 40 — were hired to set the Wolverines on a new course and resuscitate a team that flatlined in 2020 as it stumbled to a 2-4 record.
The additions of Mike Macdonald, George Helow, Mike Hart, Maurice Linguist, Ron Bellamy and Matt Weiss have changed the complexion of an organization.
“High energy — that’s what we’ve asked our players to do, our coaches to do,” Harbaugh said last week.
It all sounds good, and a new approach was needed for a team that didn’t play with much enthusiasm during a season delayed, shortened and then disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last fall, snapshots of defenders slowly chasing the ball were routine. Pictures of stoic Michigan players standing on the sideline were common. Even Harbaugh looked worn down by the losing.
“Last year wasn’t good all around,” Hawkins conceded. “You know?”
Michigan fans are aware.
But some fans remain skeptical that Harbaugh can put the Wolverines on the right track. Hope has been sold to them in the past. This is the year!
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In the first few months of 2021, the optimism developing in Ann Arbor is tied to the Wolverines’ young brigade of assistants.
“Since I’ve been at Michigan, this is probably the smartest staff I’ve been around,” Hutchinson said.
“Just in these few weeks I’ve had with this staff, I have learned so much more about the game of football, so much about defenses, all that different stuff, just because of the coaches we brought in.”
Whether he meant to do so, Hutchinson delivered a tacit indictment of the assistants who left the program in the last two months.
Listening to him and others Tuesday, it was easy to get the impression the expendables from the 2020 staff weren’t nearly as clever or dynamic as the crew of new hires.
But no one acknowledged the common denominator among all these coaches is Harbaugh, who picked each of them.
The question is whether he made the right choices this time as Michigan begins its rebuild.
To believe as much requires a leap of faith, which can be taken at this time of year when hope is in the air as spring approaches and practice has already started.
“It’s just something you feel,” running back Hassan Haskins said. “As soon as you walk into the building, you’re happy to be here. You’re happy to be around each other. The energy is up. … It’s definitely a different vibe.”
The deep clean of Michigan football is underway. But it will only matter if it still smells good this fall and no one really knows if it will.