Jim Harbaugh Hires Experienced Duo To Fill Staff Voids
With two holes to fill on his coaching staff following the departures of Chris Partridge (to Ole Miss) and Anthony Campanile (to the Miami Dolphins), Jim Harbaugh has hired a pair of coaching veterans, naming Brian Jean-Mary the Wolverines' new linebackers coach and Bob Shoop its safeties coach.
Additionally, running backs coach Jay Harbaugh has been given the responsibility of coaching special teams, a post previously held by Partridge.
Jean-Mary has spent roughly half of his assistant coaching career (10 of 21 years) working for Charlie Strong, first at Louisville, then Texas and most recently at South Florida.
Though USF struggled on the recruiting trail and on the field, ultimately leading to Strong's dismissal, Jean-Mary was known to be an asset at the University of Texas where, according to 247Sports.com, he was the lead recruiter for four-star defensive tackle Poona Ford (Class of 2014), five-star linebacker Malik Jefferson (2015), four-star defensive end Anthony Wheeler (2015), four-star linebacker Cameron Townsend (2015), and four-star defensive end Erick Fowler (2016), and a secondary recruiter for four-star linebacker Jeffrey McCulloch (2016) and four-star quarterback Shane Buechele.
Those three seasons in Texas helped him cultivate relationships in the Lone Star State that could help Michigan increase their recruiting there - U-M has landed four Texans during the Harbaugh era, including four-star OL Chuck Filiaga and four-star tight end Mustapha Muhammad.
Jean-Mary also has extensive experience working with linebackers, holding that job title in some capacity since a six-year stint with Georgia Tech from 2004-09. He also coached LBs at Louisville (2010-13), Texas (2014-16) and South Florida (2017-19).
Shoop is not regarded as an excellent recruiter, but he is known across college football as a great coach, previously serving as the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State (2018-19) for Joe Moorehead.
He's been a defensive coordinator since 2007, getting his first chance to run an entire unit at William & Mary. Since leaving there in 2010, he has been the DC at Vanderbilt (2011-13), Penn State (2014-15) and Tennessee (2016-17).
WolverineDigest.com will have more on these coaching hires in the next few days.
