Michigan football special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs isn’t going anywhere.
Coombs was on the court along with the rest of the football staff at Crisler Center on Friday, Jan. 2, for Michigan basketball‘s game against USC when new coach Kyle Whittingham made his first appearance in Ann Arbor and shared a message with the home fans.
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Coombs will be retained as special teams coordinator, a program spokesman confirmed.
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Coombs was hired by former Michigan coach Sherrone Moore less than a week before his own firing. He coached the Wolverines in their Cheez-It Citrus Bowl loss to Texas on Dec. 31, and his unit looked exceptional. True freshman Andrew Marsh had 155 total return yards, more than U-M had in any two games combined this past season.
Whittingham said he anticipated keeping “two or three” staffers on board from the previous regime and those three appear to be set now, with the addition of running backs coach Tony Alford and defensive line coach Lou Esposito.
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It doesn’t come as a total surprise that Coombs is sticking around, given that, like Whittingham, he has ties to former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer.
Coombs, 64, had multiple stints with the Buckeyes, beginning in 2012 as cornerbacks coach. The next season, he added special teams duties, serving as coordinator for five seasons (2013-17) that included OSU’s 2014 national title season. He returned to OSU for two years as defensive coordinator (2020-21) under coach Ryan Day after a brief stint as defensive backs coach with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans (2018-19).
Coombs was Rivals’ 2017 National Recruiter of the Year and also was named Big Ten Recruiter of the Year on three separate occasions.
Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham speaks as he is being introduced on the floor during the first half between Michigan and USC at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026.
After his Ohio State run, Coombs returned to Cincinnati from 2022-24 and served as interim coach for the final month of 2022 after Luke Fickell left for Wisconsin. Coombs, a Colerain, Ohio, native, graduated from Dayton in 1983, winning a Division III title with the Flyers in 1980.
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The Wolverines are now just missing a defensive backs coach and linebackers coach – positions which are expected to be filled in short order.
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kerry Coombs, Michigan football special teams coordinator, returning
