A short time after losing a defensive assistant to Oklahoma, Michigan has moved quickly, albeit unofficially, to fill the coaching vacancy on that side of the ball.
CoachingSearch.com is reporting that the Wolverines have hired Roy Manning as an assistant on Brady Hoke‘s staff, presumably on the defensive side. Manning, who spent last season as running backs coach at Cincinnati, had listed himself as “OUTSIDE LB’S COACH UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN” on his Twitter account, although that was later changed to read simply “ASSISTANT COACH UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN” after word of his hire spread.
Michigan would neither confirm nor deny the development.
If the move comes to fruition, it would serve as a homecoming as Manning played linebacker at UM from 2000-04. He was also a grad assistant at his alma mater in 2011 before moving on to the Bearcats.
Manning was hired by new NIU head coach Rod Carey in mid-January as his running backs coach.
(Photo credit: Michigan athletics)
UPDATED 4:16 p.m. ET: Michigan has confirmed that Roy Manning has been named as the Wolverines’ outside linebackers coach.
We couldn’t be more excited to have Roy back as part of our staff,” said head coach Brady Hoke in a statement. “As someone who played here and went on to play in the NFL, the passion, energy and integrity he coaches and lives with every day, he will be a great asset to our program.
“Roy was a graduate assistant for us in 2011, and we always knew if there was ever an opportunity to bring him back, we would love to. We think he’s one of the top young coaches in our profession. He knows our expectations. He knows what it means to wear that winged helmet. He knows Michigan.”