Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Michigan Tuesday: Brian Jean-Mary

Michigan fans did not like that BJM was here for one bad year (2020) and then bolted to another gig at Tennessee.  Brian was known as a very good LB coach and an elite recruiter.   Things the Wolverine staff needed at the time.   It seems BJM really didn't want to leave either:


"Even when I left, I told the guys I felt like the 2020 season was an incomplete part of my coaching career just because of COVID and the way things went," Jean-Mary said. "Even though leaving and going to another program, still felt a little bit of an attachment to the University of Michigan and was an admirer from afar. Watching the success that they had, there was not a happier person than myself and my family.

"When the opportunity came up when Coach Moore called me, felt like it was too good of an opportunity to pass up just because -- like I said, there's a lot of attachment, a lot of good things that happened here, even though the year didn't go as we wanted in 2020. Felt like it was where I needed to be."

"I'll say this: there's no bigger fan than Coach Moore than myself. I've known him for years and was so happy when he got this opportunity," Jean-Mary said. "Was cheering him on and we would always still communicate even when I wasn't here. I think he's a dynamite -- not just coach, but a dynamite person. He's got a chance to be a great football coach.

"Even in the time when we were apart, when I left and went to the other place, we kept in touch and I knew what kind of future he had. I knew he was gonna be a head coach and I always said anything I can do to support him, whether it was on the same staff or I was somewhere else, he will always be a guy I wanted to make sure I stayed close to because -- like I said, I admire him and think he's made of the right stuff to be a very, very successful head coach.

This last paragraph hits the mark for me.  The Bold is mine:

"Love the fact that the players kind of know when they enter the building what the expectations are. They're all striving for the same goals and, like I said, they reached the mountaintop, but you can still see the hunger that they have to keep up the success that they have. I think the culture here, and I'll say it, I think it's the best in college football. Not being, obviously, at every program. Like I said, I'm a college football junkie when I'm not worrying about the teams that I've had the opportunity to coach on, I watch college football. Obviously, in recruiting, you hear things about different places and I think the Michigan brand and the Michigan culture is the best in college football."


1 comment:

Chowman said...

yeah hindsight is 20/20 but probably been further ahead keeping BJM than bring Partridge back. That was a funny deal where it seemed like on the surface that BJM was pushed out so Patridge could comeback and be the LBs coach. Both are very good recruiters, not sure Partridge was as good of LB coach as BJM and in the end he had to resign after the sign stealing scandal.