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Phone call leads Zordich to Ann Arbor
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Two weeks ago, as the Baltimore Ravens were preparing for their wild-card playoff game against the Steelers, Youngstown State safeties coach Mike Zordich called Ravens coach John Harbaugh to wish him good luck.
“John and I are good friends and we communicate quite a bit,” said Zordich, a Chaney High graduate. “John was my special teams coach in Philadelphia [in 1998, his last year in the NFL] and we’ve kept in contact.”
The call ended up changing his life.
At the time, John’s brother, Jim, had just been hired at Michigan and was in the early stages of assembling a staff. Zordich had just finished his first year at YSU and wasn’t looking to move on, but John mentioned Zordich’s name to Jim. Next thing Zordich knew, he got a call from Jim asking him to drive to Ann Arbor for an interview.
“I was very content and happy with what I was doing,” Zordich said. “I didn’t initiate anything.”
Zordich interviewed last Thursday and got a job offer to coach Michigan’s cornerbacks on Monday.
“That was that,” Zordich said. “But believe me, it wasn’t easy. I was working with [new YSU coach] Bo [Pelini] and [assistant] Ron Stoops the last couple weeks and it’s been a blast. They have things in the right order and the right direction.”
Zordich said he was open with Pelini throughout the process and that Pelini was very encouraging.
“I met with Bo on Monday morning and we talked a long while about things,” Zordich said. “He was great, as I would expect him to be. He’s a good man. They got the right guy there [at YSU].”
Zordich earned All-America honors at Penn State and played for the Jets, Cardinals and Eagles from 1987-1998. He spent five years as a defensive assistant at Cardinal Mooney before joining the Eagles in 2009, first as a defensive quality control coach and later as the safeties coach. Former 49ers coach Greg Jackson will coach safeties at Michigan.
“Greg Jackson and I played together in Philadelphia and we’re both very comfortable with each other,” Zordich said.
Zordich never played against Michigan in college — Penn State was not yet in the Big Ten — but he’s looking forward to helping the Wolverines return to prominence.
“That’s just it — it’s a challenge and they’ve got a guy there who knows how to win,” Zordich said. “Wherever Jim has been, he has won. It’s a really good staff. Not only good coaches, but good people, which is the same thing Wolf had at Youngstown.”
That staff includes defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, a Boardman High graduate who coached with Harbaugh at Stanford.
“Another Youngstown boy — hell, yeah,” Zordich said. “I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Zordich is already on the road recruiting — he was in Georgia on Wednesday night — and he’s already got a taste of college football’s biggest rivalry.
“Yeah, I was wearing my Michigan gear at the airport and I heard someone yell, ‘O-H!’” Zordich said, chuckling. “I said, ‘Hey, congrats man.’ I mean, what the hell are you gonna do? They had a hell of a year and it was really good for the Big Ten.”