Well, Jim Harbaugh can check one thing off his offseason to-do list.
Harbaugh is expected to hire Vanderbilt defensive coordinator Jesse Minter to fill the same position with the Michigan football program, according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Minter will replace Mike Macdonald, who left for the Baltimore Ravens after assembling a remarkable defensive turnaround with the Wolverines last season, his lone year at Michigan.
Minter brings a wealth of experience to his new role with the Wolverines, despite being just 38-years-old. Unlike Macdonald last season, Minter comes to Ann Arbor as an experienced play-caller at the Division I level: Before joining the Commodores’ staff in 2021, he spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator at FCS Indiana State and four seasons with the same role at Georgia State.
Despite being an external hire, Minter also offers some schematic continuity for Michigan in an already chaotic offseason. Before his one-year stint at Vanderbilt, Minter worked alongside Macdonald for four years on the defensive staff at Baltimore — first as a defensive assistant and then as the team’s defensive backs coach. For a program that leapt from 87th to 14th in total defense last season, those similar schemes should go a long way in helping to carry momentum forward.
At the same time, Minter will inherit a defense that loses several of its key starters, including defensive back Daxton Hill, linebacker Josh Ross, defensive tackle Chris Hinton and edge rushers Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo.
With that much attrition on defense, Minter certainly has his work cut out for him.