Why Is Michigan Wolverines Coach Mike Hart Out Of A Job?

Getty Images Michigan Wolverines running back and coach Mike Hart in 2006 against Indiana

Michigan’s JJ McCarthy is getting all the NFL Draft hype. But the Michigan Wolverines likely have no national championship without Blake Corum. And there is no Blake Corum without Mike Hart. Yet, mysteriously, Mike Hart, Michigan’s running backs coach, is out of a job. And this right after helping the team win its first National Championship since 1997.

Jim Harbaugh, who left the Michigan Wolverines to take the head coaching job for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers, is not taking Hart with him. Nor was Hart retained by incoming Michigan football coach, Sherrone Moore. Given Hart’s proven record as a player and coach and recruiter, this is shocking.

Mike Hart, Michigan Man

Mike Hart is a Michigan legend. Hart spent the past three seasons as running backs coach and run-game coordinator, developing Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards. Both key members of the Michigan Wolverines team that defeated Ohio State three years in a row — and just won a national championship. Hart also coached All-American Hassan Haskins during his time at Michigan. Hart’s coaching resume is outstanding.

When Jim Harbaugh was required to serve a three-game suspension at the start of the 2023 season, Hart filled in as head coach for the second half of the second game — against UNLV. Making Mike Hart the first Black head coach in Michigan Wolverines football history.

But there is far more to Hart than coaching. He was a four-year starter at Michigan, from 2004-2007. He is still Michigan’s all-time leading rusher, with 5,040 yards on 1,050 carries. And Hart etched his ‘Michigan Man’ status into history when he mocked in-state rival, Michigan State, labelling them Michigan’s “little brother.”

In today’s college game, Hart’s rushing credentials makes him uniquely valuable. As running back Donovan Edwards told the Detroit News, “he’s played the game. You have a little bit more respect for a coach that has done the same thing that you have done. It’s those things, like managing me and Blake’s reps, making sure that we’re healthy, making sure we’re OK.” Edwards added “the whole entire staff and program have major respect for him. He’s also involved in other areas, too, like helping out quarterbacks, receivers, offensive line. He’s very engaging with everybody. Everybody has tremendous respect for him around here.”

Hart is also a solid recruiter. If Haskins, Corum, and Edwards aren’t enough, for the upcoming season Hart landed Mr. Ohio, Jordan Marshall, a four-star running back out of Cincinnati Moeller, a perennial football pipeline school.

Yet, Hart is the only offensive coach that Sherrone Moore did not retain.

Coaching Is A Relationship Business

Before joining Jim Harbaugh’s staff back at Michigan, Mike Hart spent four seasons coaching the running backs at Big Ten rival, Indiana. He was Indiana’s associate head coach in 2020, before leaving for the Wolverines. Prior to that, Hart had stops at Syracuse and Western Michigan, serving as running backs coach at both. Hart began his coaching career at Eastern Michigan, where he coached running backs for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. A proven resume, certainly for college football

But as of this date, Hart is not coaching, not in college and not for the NFL. With years of experience as both player and a coach, this is surprising. Hart is only 37.

To be clear, Mike Hart did not leave Michigan for a head coaching job — or any other coaching job. Local radio previously suggested Hart was dealing with a “personal issue,” but no other news has suggested Hart is taking a leave from coaching.

As of this date, Sherrone Moore has not replaced Mike Hart, there is no running backs coach at Michigan, and Mike Hart is still without any coaching position.