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Pete Thamel
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Chris Low
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ESPN Senior Writer- College football reporter
- Joined ESPN.com in 2007
- Graduate of the University of Tennessee
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is set to hire former Vanderbilt defensive coordinator Jesse Minter for the same position with the Wolverines, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.
The two sides are in the process of finalizing the deal that would bring Minter to Michigan after just one season at Vanderbilt. Previously, Minter worked four seasons in the NFL for the Baltimore Ravens under Harbaugh’s brother, John Harbaugh.
Minter, 38, was a defensive assistant for three seasons in Baltimore before coaching the team’s defensive backs in 2020. He then joined Clark Lea’s staff at Vanderbilt as defensive coordinator and safeties coach.
This will be Minter’s fourth different stint as defensive coordinator following stops at Georgia State and Indiana State.
Minter, the son of former Cincinnati head coach Rick Minter, worked at Cincinnati as a graduate assistant under Brian Kelly from 2007 to ’08.
Jim Harbaugh, who interviewed last week for the Minnesota Vikings‘ head-coaching job, was looking for a replacement for Mike Macdonald, who left after one season to be the Ravens’ defensive coordinator.
With his defensive coordinator position filled, Harbaugh now sets his sights on hiring an offensive coordinator after Josh Gattis left earlier this week to take the same position at Miami.