The time for speculation has ended. Pep Hamilton has officially been hired as the Michigan football team’s assistant head coach and passing game coordinator.
“Pep Hamilton is a proven, outstanding football coach, husband and father” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh in a released statement on MGoBlue.com. “His teaching and mentoring skills have produced quality athletes and quality young men, including some of the finest quarterbacks and wide receivers in the country. We are thrilled and excited to have Pep and Nicole and their children — April, Jackson and Elizabeth — as members of our Michigan family.”
Hamilton is joining the Wolverines’ coaching staff after spending the 2016 season as the Cleveland Browns’ assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach.
His move to Ann Arbor has felt probable for roughly a week, after Ian Rapoport of NFL.com first reported Saturday that Hamilton was “weighing a departure” from the Browns to join Michigan, but the report only became offical Thursday.
This isn’t the first time Hamilton has coached with Harbaugh — he was a part of Harbaugh’s staff at Stanford in 2010, where he served as the wide receivers coach.
Hamilton’s arrival helps to fill the staff vacancy created by Jedd Fisch’s departure from the program, as he recently accepted a position as the new offensive coordinator for UCLA.
It appears Hamilton could be a perfect fit to replace Fisch, who served as Michigan’s quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator. Hamilton has significant experience coaching both positions, as he has served as an offensive coordinator at numerous stops throughout his career. Like Fisch, Hamilton brings a unique blend of experience at both the collegiate and professional level.
Hamilton began his career at Howard University, where he served as the quarterbacks coach and later as the offensive coordinator before moving on to the professional level — coaching with the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears. He returned to college football in 2010 to join Harbaugh’s staff at Stanford.
Under Hamilton, Cardinal receivers combined for 129 catches for 2,026 yards and were part of an offense that scored 40.3 points per game that year, making Stanford the ninth-ranked offense in the nation.
After Harbaugh’s departure from the program following the 2010 season, Hamilton took over as the Cardinals’ offensive coordinator for the next two years. With Hamilton in that position, Stanford’s offense averaged 43.2 and 27.9 points per game, respectively, in 2011 and 2012, before he left for the NFL once again.
Before his stint with the Browns, Hamilton was the offensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts, calling plays for former Stanford players Andrew Luck and Coby Fleener. He joined the Browns after being fired by the Colts in 2015.
But now, he has landed with Michigan for the next step in his coaching career.
“It is an honor and privilege to be part of one of the most storied programs in college football history,” Hamilton said in a released statement. “I look forward to working with Coach Harbaugh and members of the staff at Michigan. I am excited to get to work meeting our players so that I can assist with their development on the field and in the university community.”