Michigan football expected to hire Stephen Adegoke as defensive backs coach
Michigan Wolverines football lost co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Steve Clinkscale to the Los Angeles Chargers Saturday (Feb. 10), but new head coach Sherrone Moore already has an expected replacement for defensive backs coach in Stephen Adegoke, according to multiple reports. The coach is expected to be in charge of both cornerbacks and safeties.
Adegoke is slated to rejoin the Michigan staff after serving as a graduate assistant for the Wolverines in 2021, where he coached on defense under then-coordinator Mike Macdonald. Adegoke left U-M to become a quality control coach for the San Francisco 49ers in 2022. He then went with Houston head coach DeMeco Ryans, who was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator, to the Texans as their safeties coach last season.
Prior to those stops, Adegoke was a graduate assistant at Florida for two seasons from 2019-20. He played safety at Mississippi State from 2016-18, after transferring in from San Diego Mesa College. In 2017, his position coach with the Bulldogs was Ron English, Michigan’s former defensive coordinator from 2006-07.
Adegoke was an asset for Michigan on the recruiting trail during his one-year stint in Ann Arbor, according to TheWolverine.com recruiting insider EJ Holland.
“Stephen Adegoke coming back to Michigan is big-time if finalized,” Holland wrote on social media. “Rose up the ranks quickly in the NFL and did some quality behind-the-scenes work with recruiting when he was previously at U-M.”
Moore is rebuilding Michigan’s defensive staff, after losing all of its assistant coaches from last season. Moore has already tabbed longtime NFL defensive coordinator Don ‘Wink’ Martindale as the leader of the defense. Wisconsin defensive line coach Greg Scruggs is also expected to join the staff.
Former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, the new head man of the Los Angeles Chargers, brought with him defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Clinkscale and defensive line coach Mike Elston, along with defensive graduate assistant Dylan Roney and strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert. Safeties coach and special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh has landed with Macdonald in Seattle, with the latter recently being named the Seahawks’ head coach.
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said Wednesday that U-M has increased its assistant coach salary pool.
“Prior to Jim leaving, I invested more in our assistant pool,” Manuel explained. “It really brought it up by a couple of million dollars to invest in our assistant coaches. That was done prior to Jim deciding to leave to go to the Chargers and that remains with Sherrone, in terms of that investment.”
Stay tuned for more news on Michigan’s coaching staff.
