Michigan is planning to add another former NFL offensive coordinator to its coaching staff this offseason.
Michael Johnson will join Jim Harbaugh’s staff in the near future, according to the King’s Academy, a California high school where Johnson served as head coach this past fall.
Michigan is unable to comment on the staff addition until he officially signs with the program because Johnson’s son, Michael Jr., is a dual-threat quarterback prospect heading into his junior season of high school.
The elder Johnson previously spent 10 years coaching in the NFL, including one season as the San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator in 2010. Johnson didn’t work with Harbaugh in San Francisco, but the two did cross paths a decade earlier in San Diego. He was the quarterbacks coach in 2000 when Harbaugh was wrapping up his playing career with the Chargers.
Johnson served one year as an offensive coordinator at UCLA in 2011 after leaving the pro level.
Michigan also hired Pep Hamilton, formerly a Cleveland Browns assistant and Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator, as an assistant last month.
It is unclear what Johnson’s position will be at Michigan, but all on-field coaching position are currently filled. The NCAA will vote in April on a proposal that would allow FBS programs to add an additional assistant coach to their staff.
At the same time, the NCAA will also vote on a proposal that would prohibit schools from hiring anyone in a non-coaching position associated with a recruiting prospect within two years of that prospect enrolling with the school. The rule is meant to keep teams from hiring the parents or high school coaches of a prospect in order to curry favor with him.
Johnson and his son narrowly miss the window of being affected by this potential new rule. Johnson Jr., who some recruiting services consider to be the top dual-threat quarterback in his class, is on track to enroll in college in the fall of 2019.
If Johnson Sr. joins Michigan in a support staff role, he would have to formally become an employee before the fall of 2017 in order for the Wolverines to recruit his son if the new rule is passed in April.
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