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Brady Hoke's Coaching Staff At Michigan Taking Shape

In the next few days, it is expected that new Michigan head coach Brady Hoke will announce who is on his coaching staff. Some hires, as you will see below, have been made, but other vacancies aren't expected to be filled until sometime this weekend or early next week at the latest.

On the offensive side of the ball, we already know that San Diego State offensive coordinator Al Borges is coming to Michigan with Hoke to fill the same position. We also know that Michigan running backs coach Fred Jackson has been retained by Hoke and will be entering his 20th season with the Wolverines in 2011.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that SDSU running backs coach/recruiting coordinator Jeff Hecklinski has confirmed he is following Hoke to Michigan, though it's unknown what his job will be. Offensive line coach Darrell Funk is also expected to join the Wolverines, as he also followed Hoke to SDSU when he left Ball State. It is expected that SDSU quarterbacks coach Brian Sipe, wide receivers coach LeCharls McDaniel and tight ends/special teams coach Dan Ferrigno are going to remain with the Aztecs.

Defensively, only San Diego State linebackers coach Mark Smith is expected to join Hoke in Ann Arbor. SDSU defensive coordinator Rocky Long, who also coached safeties for the Aztecs, has been promoted to head coach to replace Hoke, so he obviously isn't coming to Michigan. The Aztecs' cornerbacks coach, Tony White, is staying at SDSU with Long. Hoke coached the defensive line at San Diego State, but it is unclear if he will continue doing that at Michigan.

Based on what we know so far, this is what Michigan's current coaching staff looks like:

Head Coach: Brady Hoke
Offense

Offensive Coordinator: Al Borges

Quarterbacks:

Running Backs: Fred Jackson

Wide Receivers:

Tight Ends:

Offensive Line: Darrell Funk

(Jeff Hecklinski is expected to be on the offensive staff in some capacity. He coached running backs and was the recruiting coordinator at San Diego State. At Ball State he coached wide receivers, and at Arizona and other colleges he coached quarterbacks.)

Defense

Defensive Coordinator:

Defensive Line:

Linebackers: Mark Smith

Cornerbacks:

Safeties:

Special Teams:

Colleges are allowed to hire a maximum of nine assistant football coaches. This means that some coaches will be responsible for more than one position. At SDSU, for example, Hoke was the head coach and defensive line coach and Long was the defensive coordinator and safeties coach. It's possible that Michigan's defensive coordinator will be responsible for a position group. Also, one of the position coaches will likely be the special teams coach as well, as it's rare that coaches are hired solely to coach special teams.

As you can see, the defensive staff has a lot of vacancies right now. Priority No. 1 will be to find a defensive coordinator and then fill out the rest of the staff after. One of the names that has been thrown out there as a potential DC for Michigan is Vance Bedford, who currently holds that job at Louisville. Bedford coached the defensive backs at Michigan from 1995-98 and in 2007. If he were hired by Hoke, it's possible he could be the defensive coordinator and DBs coach, freeing up other positions to have position coaches. This is all speculation right now, of course, but he does have connections to Michigan and Hoke (they were on the Michigan coaching staff together during Bedford's first stint in Ann Arbor), so it wouldn't be surprising if he ends up at Michigan.

SB Nation Detroit will have much more on Brady Hoke's coaching staff as the positions are filled.