Michigan football expected to hire Ohio native for OL coach

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Staff hires are coming in hot and heavy for new Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham.

On Thursday, Whittingham confirmed that Jason Beck would be the team’s new offensive coordinator, while reports indicated that the Wolverines are expected to hire BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill, and Utah staffers Micah Simon, Freddie Whittingham, and Koy Detmer Jr. Tony Alford is confirmed to be retained while it’s expected that Kerry Coombs will be as well.

One of the bigger names on the board has long been Utah offensive line coach Jim Harding, who hails from Maumee, Ohio. The Utes weee working diligently to retain him but it appears that Whittingham won out as CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reports that he will be following him to Ann Arbor.

Harding spent 12 years as the Utes’ offensive line coach and was also the assistant head coach in Salt Lake City. He had seven players drafted from Utah. Here are some accomplishments via his Utah bio:

Harding has coached nine first-team All-Pac-12 or All-Big-12 selections to date and has had six offensive linemen selected in the NFL Draft, including four members of the 2016 offensive line.

With his hire, the offensive staff should be complete. The questions now lie on the defense, where there are no confirmed coaches beyond Hill.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan Wolverines expected to hire OL coach Jim Harding

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