Michigan Wolverines Football: Clinkscale ‘Was Born To Coach Here'
Much was made of Michigan Wolverines football coach Jim Harbaugh’s offseason hirings, with many focusing on ‘Michigan men’ Ron Bellamy and Mike Hart along with new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.
When coach Maurice Linguist left for Buffalo, though, Harbaugh needed to add a coach who not only fit what he wanted to do, but also recruited at a high level. Enter Kentucky assistant Steve Clinkscale, a coach Harbaugh had been following for a while. It wasn’t his first attempt, but it proved to be the right man at the right time.
“I’m not going to dwell on the past, but Coach Harbaugh – I think in the past, God just put us into situations where we just crossed paths,” Clinkscale said. “Whether it was a job opportunity or not … we’ve been in that situation before, but it just wasn’t the right time.
“When this time came along, we both instantly knew. When he picked up the phone and called me, I was like, ‘Coach, I’m there! What are we doing? Let’s go! Are we ready to go? I’m ready to go prove everybody wrong, work together and prove everybody wrong. Let’s go get these guys in a right frame of mind.’ And he was like, ‘Let’s go!’”
Things that are meant to be are going to happen, he noted, and Harbaugh was the kind of guy he wanted in his circle.
“It’s all about the right timing, and in the past, it just wasn’t the right timing, for whatever reason,” Clinkscale said. “It wasn’t right timing for us to be together, but I feel like it is now."
He’s made a huge impression early. “It’s like he was born to coach here,” one player we ran into on State Street said recently, in the mold of a Hart or Bellamy in how much it means to him.
While he’s an outstanding teacher of the game, he’s just as adept on the recruiting trail, one of the reasons Harbaugh noticed him. They often crossed paths in Detroit when Clinkscale was recruiting the area for Mike Stoops’ Wildcats, and Harbaugh was always impressed.
“My approach is just keep it real and do what’s right,” Clinkscale said. “I don’t lie; I don’t cheat. I don’t sell a pipe dream. I tell the kids the truth, their families the truth … what I really like about the program, what I like about the administration, the environment, what can be suitable for a young man. I’ve been at places where guys were in that recruiting battle and it may have been a couple programs that were maybe more elite than where I was at, but I had a relationship with the player and I told the guy, ‘Hey listen … if ou come here, you’re going to have a great career. But you go to that school or the other option, those are life changing. Those are destinations. Those are schools where people dream of going to.’ And I wasn’t at that caliber of a school, but I gave my blessing to change his mind. He was committed to me at the time.
“I have four sons and I believe in treating these young men and their families just like I want my young sons to be recruited and treated, and that’s the only way I try to do it. I just try to keep it real with them and build really good relationships. That’s really what it involves, too.”
He didn’t shy away from going head-to-head with Michigan and others in Detroit, and he pulled his share. But he always saw U-M as an ‘elite’ program, and now that he’s got the power of the block ‘M’ behind him, he’s living the dream.
“Things are coming together well. I really, really enjoy being here, but I’m really excited about continuing to work, helping the young players … helping everybody that’s involved in this program,” he said. “This is a great program. They’ve done a great job of changing men’s lives, and I feel that we can affect more people and do things the right way and do things the Michigan way.
“It’s about the team. I am an Ohio guy, but the way I was raised, the systems and then my family, it’s always been about family, which is just like ‘The Team, The Team, The Team.’ And when Coach Harbaugh and I had that conversation, we just bonded.”
He’s ready to join him in getting Michigan back where he feels the program should be.
“I really admire him, and I think he’s a very smart, very intelligent, very wise coach,” Clinkscale said. “He does a great job ,and he’s a very, very, very good leader.
“I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves, so we’re going to go out there and prove people wrong.”
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