Michigan Wolverines football coach Jim Harbaugh made an intriguing hire after safeties/special teams coach Chris Partridge left for Ole Miss, bringing in Mississippi State’s Bob Shoop in mid-January to serve as the Maize and Blue’s new safeties coach.
The reason Shoop’s hiring is so noteworthy is because of what the 53-year old did as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator in 2018, leading the club to the No. 1 defense in the entire country that year (just 263.1 yards allowed per game).
Shoop won’t be calling the shots for U-M’s defense as a whole in 2020 like he did in Starkville each of the past two years, but will be paired with one of the best defensive minds in the game in Don Brown to help return the Wolverines’ defense to a top three unit nationally (a spot they had held during each of Brown’s first three years on the job before slipping to No. 11 in the country in 2019).
“Shoop is very aggressive and likes to bring pressure from all over,” SuperTalk Mississippi’s Brian Hadad said, who covered the coach during his time in Starkville. “He’s very active with the linebackers and safeties from a blitzing standpoint.
"Shoop often had an extra defensive back on the field and wanted that extra DB to be very aggressive. That 2018 defense was incredibly talented, with three first round NFL draft picks on it.
"Just because you have talented players doesn’t mean they’ll always play to that potential though, so I thought Shoop did a really good job that year. His schemes were very solid and he got the most out of his players.
"He also had [current Las Vegas Raiders safety] Jonathan Abram that first year, who wound up being a first round pick. Shoop had [current New York Giants safety] Mark McLaurin as well, who was the returning interception leader in the SEC from 2017.
“Those guys were good, but so were his newcomers in 2018 like [former Wolverine] Brian Cole. Losing Abram and McLaurin was a big blow, as was losing [safety] Marcus Murphy to suspension due to academic proprieties, because he was a difference maker when he played.
“There was a drop off this past year, but the safeties were certainly never a weak spot under Shoop.”
