The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/137378
said. "I have never in my life recruited like this. You're doing something every single day. When you have time off, you don't. And that's why we're having some success. "He's relentless, and what makes you as an assistant coach go harder is that you see him doing it. He's not asking us to do something he's not. He's out there busting his butt every day, always putting in the extra effort, so how could you not be doing the same? "Assistant coaches are just like players — they follow true leadership, and with Brady that's what you get." — Michael Spath Dan Ferrigno, Tight Ends And Special Teams Michigan tight ends and special teams coach Dan Ferrigno spent the first four years of his collegiate coaching career toiling away as a graduate assistant, trying to chase a dream. After two seasons as a graduate assistant for Cal (1980-81), Ferrigno received a boost that set in motion the chain of events that would eventually lead him to Ann Arbor. When the Golden Bears wrapped up the 1981 season with a 2-9 record, head coach Roger Theder was fired and his coaching staff — including Ferrigno — was suddenly scrambling for work. Theder made a call to a friend, Jack Harbaugh, who had just been hired as the head coach at Western Michigan, to recommend Ferrigno. Harbaugh took that recommendation, giving Ferrigno his first full-time coaching job (offensive line). He also hired Greg Mattison to coach the defensive line. Two years later, when Mattison was promoted to defensive coordinator, Harbaugh hired a young Brady Hoke from Grand Valley State to coach the defensive line. "Brady was a great guy, and I could tell he was a great coach right off the bat," Ferringon said. "And we have been great friends ever since then." The three coaches — then ranging in age from late 20s to early 40s — quickly became fast friends. "We were young," Ferrigno said. "We hung out all the time and became very close. Our three families did pretty much everything together. We all had young kids, so we would do everything together and watch our kids grow up together." Raising their children in Kalamazoo, the three coaches were content. But in 1986, after a third straight losing season, Harbaugh was fired from Western Michigan. And, once again, Ferrigno was looking for work. Ferrigno and Hoke worked together at Western Michigan, and then again at Oregon State, before joining up at San Diego State and then U-M. photo by per kjeldsen "When we all got fired from Western, I got a job at Oregon State and Brady got a job at Toledo," Ferrigno said. After two years as Western Michigan's defensive coordinator, Mattison accepted the defensive line coach position at Navy for the next season. All three parted ways, but it wasn't long until Ferrigno and Hoke would be together again. "Two years after I had taken the Oregon State job, a linebacker position on our staff opened up," Ferrigno recalled. Ferrigno went to then-Oregon State head coach Dave Kragthorpe with a recommendation. "Then I called Brady and asked if he would be interested," Ferrigno said. "He said he was, and he came out, interviewed and got the job right away. That's how he came out." After a season as the Beavers' linebackers coach, Hoke took over the defensive line — the position group he still coaches to this day. The two coaches stayed in Corvallis through a coaching change — Kragthorpe was replaced by Jerry Pettibone in 1991 — and eventually moved on to accept new challenges. Hoke was hired as Michigan's defensive line coach before the 1995 season, and Ferrigno left shortly thereafter to coach tight ends and wide receivers at Cal (1996-98). Over the next decade, Ferrigno hopped around the Pac-10, coaching wide receivers 48 ■ The Wolverine 2013 Football Preview at USC (2000), Oregon (2001-05) and another stint at Cal (2006-07), before briefly leaving the world of college coaching. In 2008, he was the head coach at St. Mary's High School in Stockton, Calif., leading the Rams to a 12-2 record and losing in the third round of the state playoffs. That's when Hoke — whose career took off when Ferrigno's recommendation propelled him from the Mid-American Conference to the Pac-10 — returned the favor. Hoke, who had just been hired as head coach at San Diego State after leading Ball State to a 12-2 record in his final season in Muncie, Ind., called Ferrigno and offered him the opportunity to coach tight ends and special teams for the Aztecs. "It was a great opportunity for me and my family," Ferrigno said. "I was excited to work for him and work with him again. I knew it was going to be a great staff." Two years later, Ferrigno followed Hoke to Ann Arbor. Mattison also joined the fold, leaving the Baltimore Ravens to become Michigan's defensive coordinator. "I have been coaching for 38 years, and we have known each other and been very close friends for 30 years," Ferrigno said. "We worked together for six years at Oregon State, and then another two at San Diego State before moving here. I have known him all my life. Even when we weren't working together, we stayed in close contact. Our families would meet up in the summertime." — Andy Reid Darrell Funk Offensive Line Almost all coaching jobs are secured through networking or past ties — one coach recommending another, or perhaps a friend who advances quickly in the coaching ranks and brings a former colleague along with him. That's how it worked for offensive line coach Darrell Funk, who was enjoying working as offensive line coach at his alma mater, Colorado State (2004-07), when head coach Sonny Lubick retired after a long and successful career. "We had a nice run there," Funk recalled. "When Sonny retired after that season, though, we were all looking for jobs. That happens in this profession, unfortunately." Funk quickly put out feelers, including a call to Ball State coach Jeff Hecklinski, a member of Brady Hoke's staff at the school. It didn't take long to get a response. "Jeff and I had known each other a long time," Funk recalled. "I had worked with his father-in-law, Mike Deal, at Illinois — he was the line coach back in 1989. Heck's future wife was the 12- or 13-year-old girl