Minter Learned 'How to Attack' on Defense from Dad, Discusses Doing That Against Alabama in Rose Bowl

Wolverine defensive coordinator got competitive at a young age, growing up around major college teams and getting a 'chip on my shoulder'

Photo Courtesy of University of Michigan Photography

Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter has a keen eye for the game he’s loved for as long as he can remember.

By Steve Kornacki

PASADENA, Calif. – Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter is a football lifer. From as far back as he can remember, Minter, 40, has been on a football field or along its sidelines. His father, Rick Minter, was coaching at Ball State and Notre Dame during most of his growing up years.

And now Dad is on his son’s staff, coaching the linebackers as the No. 1 Wolverines prepare for No. 4 Alabama in Monday’s Rose Bowl.

Jesse has followed in the footsteps of his father, who was the defensive coordinator of the Fighting Irish (1992-93 and 2005-07) and other schools as well as serving as the head coach at the University of Cincinnati.

“As I was coming out of college, my first job was with him [at Notre Dame],” said Jesse Minter. “I was an intern. That's really where -- I knew I wanted to coach probably real young, knew I wanted to coach, but that was where I really learned how his mind worked as a defensive person, defensive play caller, kind of how to try to attack people, learned a lot about tendencies. I think he's always been ahead of the game all the way back to in the '80s of how he was trying to attack people.”

Now, the son is viewed as one of the top defensive minds in college football – someone Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh predicts will soon become a head coach.

I asked Jalen Harrell, the Wolverines’ impactful edge rusher, what sets his D.C. apart from the rest.

“Coach Mint, you know, that’s my guy,” said Harrell, a wide smile crossing his face. “He’s real competitive and I like that about him. We’ll go against the offense [in practice] and he’ll talk the talk a little bit – him and Coach [Sherrone] Moore [the offensive coordinator].

“He really knows what he’s doing and knows how to adjust. He’s been a great addition [in 2022], a great coach.”

Those comments were relayed to Minter. And before reacting to Harrell’s observation, Minter explained the roots of his competitiveness and noted that his mother, Ellen McEwen, was an athlete who coached him.

“You know, both of my parents were in athletics,” he said. “I was a good player as a kid – not like a great player. I’ve always had that chip-on-my-shoulder, [been] doubted mentality.”

He noted that people used to say, “Oh, he’s getting that job because of his dad.” That put an even bigger chip on his shoulder.

“It’s really just fuel,” said Minter. “It’s motivation. And if you want your players to be really competitive, and you want to play really competitive on Saturdays, you have to compete any time the ball is put down. So, that’s really my mentality, and I’m glad that the players see that and feel that.

“They are really competitive as well, and I think that we’re a good match together.”

He explained that his mother and father “split up when I was 5” and he spent time with both parents.

“Of course, my dad was the coach,” said Jesse Minter. “I got all this access to the different football programs he was involved in [and coaches like Lou Holtz at Notre Dame], and my mom was an athlete growing up and then a tennis coach and a basketball coach. She coached me and some of my teams as I was growing up because that was who I was with.

“So, major props to both of them for instilling. I’m dealing with it right now with my son who’s 5. My son [Monte] is one of the most competitive people I know already – which is dangerous at that age because there’s a lot of upset times when you don’t win. My wife [Rachelle] sometimes gets mad, but I’m not upset that he’s that competitive. I think it’ll pay dividends for him in whatever he ends up doing – just having that competitive nature. You’re trying to be the best at what you do. I think it’s a great mindset.”

Minter is in his second season in the position for the Wolverines, and the defense he inherited from current Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald not only didn’t miss a beat…Its beat got louder.

Michigan leads the nation in scoring defense (9.5 points per game), is second in total defense (239.7 yards allowed per game) and passing yards per game (152.6), and fifth in rushing yards per game (87.1).

Last season, as a finalist for the Broyles Award going to the nation’s top assistant coach, the Wolverines allowed 16.1 points, 292.1 yards in total defense, 194.2 passing yards per game and 97.9 rushing yards. Only the total defense figure was in the top five nationally, ranking fifth, and each of those statistics has improved significantly in this 13-0 season.

But will Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe do something similar to what TCU quarterback and Heisman Trophy runner-up Max Duggan did in last year’s 51-45 win over Michigan?

Containing Milroe, who has thrown for 2,718 yards with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions and run for 468 yards and 12 touchdowns, is the top priority for Michigan’s defense in this showdown. Milroe was actually benched for one start earlier in the season, but springboarded upon returning.

“Jalen is a phenomenal athlete,” said Minter. “First and foremost, a great football player. He can do a lot and they’ve really settled into what he does over the course of the season. So, give a lot of credit to [offensive coordinator] Tommy Rees, [head] Coach Nick Saban and their coaching staff.

“He’s an elite athlete, an elite runner, but he’s a really good quarterback. He throws the ball better than most people give him credit for. He’s made a lot of big plays on deep balls this year [like the 34-yard game-winner to shock Auburn on the final play]. You stop the play or you cover the deep route, and then he has the ability to take off. So, we have to play really disciplined and really together as one. We look forward to the great challenge that he is.”

The Wolverines go against J.J. McCarthy in practice, but have not faced a quarterback this good and versatile since Duggan and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud last season.

“I don’t think we’ve seen a quarterback like this,” said Minter. “The closest we see is in [the] practice [squad] with some of our guys. I think Alex Orji has done a good job – Davis Warren as well. Taulia Tagovailoa at Maryland was, as a scrambler, kind of a similar type of guy.

“But a guy like this [Milroe] in the run game, his ability to make off-schedule plays…We want to have as many guys as possible with eyes on him. So, hopefully when he does take off, we have enough people that will see him in the open field.’’

Minter noted that there might not be a “spy” defender focusing on Milroe on first-and-10 plays, while adding that “limiting the big plays will be a big factor in the game.”

Alabama’s offensive line also is a big challenge.

“We haven’t played an offensive line this big and physical,” said Minter. “Penn State had a good O-line. Ohio State played well at times on the O-line. But we haven't played an O-line like this.”

Minter noted that past failures such as those national semi-final losses to Georgia (34-11 in 2021) and TCU – two games in which Michigan surrendered an uncharacteristic total of 85 points -- “can lead to that mentality, that chip on your shoulder.”

Getting another chance in the College Football Playoff is what this whole season has been geared toward.

“Now we’re here,” said Minter, “and it’s on us to try and get further than we have, and reach our ultimate destination. It doesn’t guarantee that, but I do think having that mentality of feeling like we’re hungry, feeling like we’re the underdog [despite being 2-point favorites], this is the Alabama invitational. They’ve played in eight out of 10 playoffs and won a bunch of them [six national titles since 2009].

“So, let’s go. Let’s bring on the best and play ‘em. Let’s see where we’re at.”

Minter’s Road to Michigan

Minter has been a winner even back to his humble beginnings as a wide receiver at Division III Mount Saint Joseph University in Delhi, Ohio, where the Lions made the national playoffs in 2004 and 2005. He went directly from there to an internship at Notre Dame, where his father was coordinating. Then he was a graduate assistant at Cincinnati, which won the Big East and went to the Orange Bowl.

He became the linebackers coach at Indiana State for two seasons before being elevated to his first defensive coordinator post there with the Sycamores for 2011 and 2012. Minter was just 28 when he got that post.

He was hired as the coordinator at Georgia State, 2013-2016, and was a nominee for the Broyles Award for the first time.

Then it was onto the Ravens as a defensive assistant and analyst for Coach John Harbaugh, the older brother of Jim Harbaugh. Minter became a defensive backs coach for Baltimore in 2020 before Vanderbilt tabbed him its defensive coordinator in 2021.

The Harbaugh brothers talked after that 2021 season, when Macdonald went to Baltimore as its defensive coordinator, and Minter was hired to replace him in Ann Arbor.

Minter has worked closely with both Harbaughs and explained their formula for success: “It's their ability to cultivate the team, cultivate the locker room, keep the belief high, get the guys to play team football even within their own personality. And I think that's a special trait of both of them is [letting] guys have the ability to be themselves, but everybody buys into the team, as well.

“It's not like that everywhere, and it's special to be a part of [teams] with the Harbaughs.”

The Harbaughs are a product of their father, Jack Harbaugh, who coached at Iowa, Michigan and Stanford before becoming the head coach at Western Michigan and Western Kentucky.

Rick Minter had John Harbaugh on his Cincinnati coaching staff as well as future NFL coaching standouts Mike Tomlin and Rex Ryan. So, he has quite an accomplished coaching tree that now includes his own son.

“I do think my dad had a pretty good knack of picking out good coaches,” said his son. “I think he still does. He's always sort of been able to pinpoint that guy is a rising star or has a really bright future. Yeah, it's definitely been fun to be able to see those guys growing up and then have them as resources now, having the ability to stay in touch with them.”

Jesse Minter’s philosophy is simple. It’s all about his defensive unit being convicted.

“To me,” said Minter, “when the players believe in what you’re doing it doesn’t really matter what you’re doing. If they really believe that it’s going to have them at their best and give an advantage, then it’s a great thing.

“And I think our players have really bought into how we’re doing it right now.”

Saban is impressed with Michigan’s defense: “So, they present a lot of challenges based on formations, motions, movements — those sorts of things. They do a good job on defense. They stunt and you’ve got to be ready for where these guys are going to be coming from all the time. Preparation, I think, is the key, because it’s going to be a little bit different than anybody we’ve played against all year.”

And now the game with ‘Bama is at hand.

“We’ll find out if we’re prepared,” said Minter. “Talking about it is really cheap at this point. So, we’ll find out when the ball is kicked off if we’re prepared. I’m confident in the way our guys have approached it, and the way they’re working, that it will give us an opportunity to hopefully have some success.”