John Harbaugh knew his younger brother needed help. Michigan was sinking under Jim Harbaugh, who was searching for a new defensive coordinator amid an overhaul of his staff. It felt like Harbaugh's last chance in Ann Arbor to get things right.
Michigan went 2-4 in 2020. It finished 95th in the country in scoring defense. It lost to unranked Michigan State, unranked Penn State and it nearly lost to Rutgers. The extension Harbaugh received in January featured a significantly lower salary and a significantly lower buyout. Hardly a show of faith.
So this was it. Rebuild the coaching staff to rebuild the program, this time for real. Defensive coordinator was the top priority. Harbaugh said Thursday he was looking for the "best possible coach available" who would be "the best fit for us."
Mike Macdonald wasn't eminently 'available' in Baltimore. He was a rising coach for the Ravens who had helped engineer an elite defense each of the past three seasons. Who had worked his way up from an intern to linebackers coach in seven years on John Harbaugh's staff. Who wasn't done climbing.
But Macdonald was available to Michigan, because of the bond between brothers. John recommended him to Jim, who hired Macdonald as his defensive coordinator the day after the Ravens' season came to an end.
"John's recommendation was that he really liked Mike, that he was somebody who would probably be their next defensive coordinator. But he cares about Michigan football and me as his brother," said Harbaugh, who shared the sideline with John during a win over Maryland in 2015. "That was one recommendation I knew I could count on, and he did not steer us wrong."
Through his brother, Harbaugh learned that Macdonald was "heavily involved" in the Ravens' defense once "they restructured it a few years ago." In terms of points allowed, it ranked No. 2 in the NFL in 2018, No. 3 in 2019 and No. 2 in 2020. It was basically the head coach, the defensive coordinator and Macdonald calling the shots.
"I respect so many people in football," Harbaugh said. "There's so many coaches and people that I trust and get their advice and take very seriously when they recommend somebody. But no one more than my brother John. He's at the top of that list. So that's the way we went, and glad we did."
Macdonald has his work cut out for him. Michigan's defense was gutted last season. It gave up about 34 points and about 430 yards per game, a precipitous decline for a unit that was among the best in the country in the first five years under Harbaugh and the first four years under former DC Don Brown.
Harbaugh wouldn't get into specifics Thursday, but said Macdonald's defense will feature "different front structures, different coverages, different blitz patterns." He said "it could be" a big departure from what we saw under Brown. Of course, Michigan's just a couple days into spring practices.
"Mike definitely has the philosophy of mastering a front, a coverage before we move to the next layer, so we're still in the process of those beginning layers and what we want our guys to know best," Harbaugh said. "But it's good. I see a lot of coaching, a lot of communication. Definitely like very much what's happened in the first few days of practice."
Macdonald wasn't the only coach Harbaugh plucked from his brother's staff. He also hired longtime Ravens assistant Matt Weiss as Michigan's quarterbacks coach, a role Harbaugh was prepared to take over himself. When an opening was created on his staff by the departure last week of former linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary, Harbaugh pounced on the opportunity to bring in Weiss.
Weiss had been on John's staff in Baltimore for the past 12 seasons, most recently as running backs coach. He also coached under Jim at Stanford from 2005-08.
"I thought that was the best thing for our team," Harbaugh said. "I planned to coach the quarterbacks myself, but that was the way I could configure it and also hire coach Weiss who I know really good. Been with him at Stanford and he's been with my brother at the Ravens. Swung for the fences there and that's how I could make it work."
Once upon a time, Harbaugh was a home run hire for Michigan. His revamped staff, headlined by Macdonald, is likely his last chance to prove it.
