One of the biggest benefits to naming Sherrone Moore as the next head football coach at Michigan was to hopefully maintain some continuity with the staff that was already in place. That didn’t happen. As of now, former U-M head coach Jim Harbaugh has now lured several assistants away from Michigan to join in him Los Angeles – including defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, defensive line coach Mike Elston, strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert, and now co-DC/defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale.

Clinkscale joined Harbaugh’s staff during the 2021 season as the defensive backs coach, and was eventually promoted to co-DC during the 2022 season. Once it became apparent that Minter was leaving for the NFL to join Harbaugh, the general belief was that Moore would likely elevate Clinkscale to the full-time defensive coordinator position. Instead, Moore went in another direction with the hire, and it’s possible that played a role in Clinkscale’s departure. Interestingly enough, 247Sports reported earlier this week that Clinkscale had informed members of the team he was staying at Michigan, but something apparently prompted him to change his mind later in the week.

In a nutshell, first-year (and first time) head coach Sherrone Moore is having to build his defensive staff from scratch.

While some within the fan base are chalking this as a normal occurrence for teams that win at the highest level, the reality is that what’s happening with the Michigan Football program right now is far from normal. In fact, I’m not sure that anything like this has ever happened to a program fresh off of winning a national championship.

For context, it’s been nearly 30 years since a college football program lost its head coach after winning a national championship. Former Nebraska head football coach Tom Osborne ended up leaving his post following the 1997 national championship season, but he retired after that season – he didn’t leave for the NFL and take half of his staff with him.

While Michigan’s offensive staff will remain largely unchanged (for now), it’s clear that the defensive staff is very much a work in progress for Sherrone Moore as he begins his head coaching tenure at Michigan.