Jim Harbaugh's best offseason hire, basketball's title aspirations ... TheWolverine.com staff tackles those topics and more in this week's roundtable.
****
What was Jim Harbaugh’s best offseason move, and why?
CHRIS BALAS: Adding some outstanding recruiters to his staff.
Co-DC Maurice Linguist, WR coach Ron Bellamy and running backs coach Mike Hart are outstanding in this area, and we have a feeling young D.C. Mike Macdonald is going to get after it, too. Urban Meyer once said he wouldn’t consider adding someone to his staff that wasn’t a great recruiter, and it appears head coach Jim Harbaugh is following suit.
There’s also something that makes football alums sleep better at night knowing there are a few more guys (Bellamy and Hart) who were with the program under Lloyd Carr and understand what the culture should be, are heavily invested in its success.
AUSTIN FOX: The hiring of Mike Hart as running backs coach, due to the fact he is already a proven commodity and knows what it takes to win at a high level at Michigan. Hart has developed 1,000-yard rushers at Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Indiana, three programs that aren’t exactly known for possessing exceptional talent. The personnel Hart will have to work with in Ann Arbor will be the best he’s seen during his nine years as a position coach. Several of the other moves Harbaugh made look like they could eventually pay dividends as well, but the addition of Hart is by far the safest bet of the bunch.
CLAYTON SAYFIE: Jim Harbaugh's best offseason move was moving on from defensive coordinator Don Brown. It became crystal clear by game two of the season that Brown's tenure in Ann Arbor would be coming to an end soon, with the struggles that were previously happening against only the nation's elite translating over to a game against a lousy Michigan State team (and others throughout the year).
Change was needed, and Harbaugh went with a young riser in the business in Mike Macdonald, who previously worked with the Baltimore Ravens' linebackers. Whether or not Macdonald puts a better product on the field than Brown remains to be seen — though it can't be much worse than last season — but Harbaugh had to do something, and did.
Mike Hart is a great addition as running backs coach — and Harbaugh tapped some other quality coaches — but it doesn't move the needle as much as making a change at the defensive coordinator spot.
