Inside Jesse Minter's game week and how he'll handle head coaching duties vs. ECU

Michigan Wolverines defensive coordinator Jesse Minter will be tasked with leading the team in Saturday’s season opener vs. East Carolina while head coach Jim Harbaugh serves the first of this three-game suspension.

Harbaugh’s unorthodox decision to use the first three weeks of the season as an audition for his assistants has drawn plenty of reactions, but is being embraced inside Schembechler Hall. Minter has experience in the NFL and calling defenses at the college level. But a gameday head coach is a new monster, and one he is looking forward to.

“There’s a lot of resources in our building,” Minter told the media on Monday. “Certainly my dad [defensive analyst Rick Minter has] 10 years experience as a head coach and a lot of other coaches that I’ve had a chance to be around. The cool thing is that [Harbaugh] is here all week. Maybe the scenario is different if he’s out of the building or if he’s not around and there are so many more things to keep your pulse on.

“[I] certainly want to be a resource for our offense, for our special teams and want to be able to manage the game in a way Coach Harbaugh would and make him proud, and really just prove him right. So certainly leaning on all the resources I have available and look forward to the challenge.”

Harbaugh will be able to coach the team during the week, but will not be allowed on the premises on game day. For preparation purposes, it is mostly business as usual at Michigan over the next five days.

“I’d say practice is a pretty normal deal,” Minter said. “I’ve certainly tried to just have a little bit more sense of what’s going on on both sides, what’s going on on special teams, how to really try to manage the game, the strategy to manage the game and the way that we want to play as a team.

“I think we do a really good job already playing complimentary football. It’s a staple of this place and kind of how both sides operate, how both sides attack. So really just trying to keep that rolling and being prepared to help them out and be ready to make the decisions when they come on game day.”

Michigan will miss Harbaugh’s guiding hand on game day, but feels like he will still be there with them in spirit with the culture that has been instilled and how they prepare.”

“It’s just a presence,” Minter said about Harbaugh’s influence. “One thing about Coach Harbaugh that is he just breeds confidence into our players. He has such a strong belief in our guys. He certainly recruited all of them and been in their homes and I think his level of confidence in our players is something that I see every day, and I see the power that that has.

“I also think he empowers our coaches. And I think we’re set up to handle this well because of his ability to empower us as assistant coaches, whether it be our position on our side of the ball. Gives us time to speak in front of the team at different times, so I think there’s a level of respect that all the players have for everybody on the staff. I think it’s all of us just trying to carry our weight and make sure we do our job come Saturday.”

Minter wants to be ‘guardian of victory’ for Michigan

Minter’s previous experience working under a Harbaugh – brother John with the Baltimore Ravens – is something that he believes will prepare him for his Michigan experience. There are a lot of finer details with managing game days, but he feels up for the task.

“I’ve learned a lot going there working for [John] Harbaugh there and sort of seeing all the numbers and analytics and how all these things go into every important decision,” Minter said. “I’ve learned so much about that over the years and took a big interest in that, just trying to study that in each off-season. I’m confident in my abilities to be able to make those decisions and manage the game, but also have tremendous resources here to help in any of those situations.”

Minter will not put too much pressure on himself in his head coaching debut and simply hopes he can uphold the standard that has already been set.

“Just being a guardian of victory. And that’s really the responsibility that I feel. Within my own personality, within my own leadership style to hopefully have the team function at the level that I feel like we’re capable of functioning. That’s gonna be the biggest goal come Saturday.”

Michigan does not play a tough non-conference schedule with games against ECU, UNLV and Bowling Green on tap. Safeties coach/special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh and running backs coach Mike Hart will split duties in Week 2, while offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Sherrone Moore will handle responsibilities against Bowling Green. With Moore suspended in Week 1, quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell will call plays for Minter and the Michigan offense.

All of the change has added some juice to a non-conference slate that has been criticized for being light. Minter thinks it will light a fire under the program.

“It puts a little bit of a chip on our shoulder for Coach Harbaugh,” Minter said. “We certainly want to play well for him and want to do well for him. So that’s really the message is that coach has us so well trained and ready to play in this opener that let’s prove him right. Let’s play the way that he’s trained us to be ready to play.

“On a personal note, yeah, the guys were excited and happy for me to get the opportunity, and are happy for the other coaches that are gonna get the opportunity.”

Michigan’s opener against ECU on Saturday kicks off at 12 p.m. ET and will be broadcast exclusively on the Peacock streaming app.