8 — Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Aide job draws 408 applicants

Head coach’s 

communications 
director becomes 
popular position

By MAX COHEN

Managing Sports Editor

For most Michigan fans, 

opportunities 
to 
see 
Jim 

Harbaugh in person had been 
fleeting before his first game 
coaching in Michigan Stadium 
on 
Saturday. 
Throughout 

the eight months before his 
coaching debut, Harbaugh spent 
much of his time hunkered 
down in Schembechler Hall 
preparing for the upcoming 
season or traveling the country 
and the world.

So 
when 
the 
University 

posted a job opening on June 
16 to be the director of internal 
communications and operations 
for the head football coach, 
people jumped at the chance to 
apply and work with Harbaugh. 
According to a Freedom of 
Information Act request filed by 
the Daily, 408 people applied for 
the position in the week the job 
was posted.

The selected applicant was 

Zach 
Eisendrath, 
who 
had 

previously been an assistant 
director of public and media 
relations 
in 
the 
Athletic 

Department, working with the 
football and men’s tennis teams. 
Eisendrath declined comment 
for this story through an Athletic 
Department spokesman.

The job posting summarized 

Eisendrath’s 
role 
as: 

“The 
Director 
of 
Internal 

Communications 
assists 

the 
football 
coach 
in 
all 

areas, 
including 
day-to-day 

operations, 
communications, 

office 
management 
and 

administration. 
He/she 

works directly with the U-M 
administrators, coaches and 
student-athletes 
to 
promote 

and maintain a positive brand 
image 
for 
the 
Michigan 

football 
program. 
This 

individual is also responsible 
for working with all related 
departments to ensure that the 
football program is providing 
a collaborative message that 
integrates with the athletic 
department initiatives.”

According to the original job 

posting, the role is 80 percent 
operations 
and 
20 
percent 

communications. The operations 

part of the job involves tasks 
such as maintaining the coach’s 
personal 
and 
professional 

contacts and assisting the head 
coach with personal appearances 
and off-season engagement.

And yes, the communications 

portion of the job description 
does mention helping out with 
the coach’s personal Twitter 
account, though Harbaugh has 
said that his famous Twitter 
account contains only his own 
thoughts.

So 
what 
does 
Harbaugh 

think about Eisendrath? On 
Eisendrath’s 
birthday, 
four 

days before the job was posted, 
Harbaugh 
tweeted: 
“Happy 

Birthday to Zach Eisendrath! 
He’s a quick study! Moved 
swiftly 
from 
obscurity 
to 

Known 
Friend 
& 
Trusted 

Agent!”

ProKick and worked with O’Neill. 
Utah, Oregon State, Rutgers, 
Penn State and Ohio State all have 
Australian punters who O’Neill is 
familiar with.

“We’re all good mates,” he said.
The 
exception 
among 

Australian 
college 
football 

special teamers, O’Neill noted, is 
Maryland kicker Brad Craddock, 
last year’s Lou Groza Award 
winner for college football’s top 
kicker. Craddock did not train 
at ProKick, and O’Neill and 
Craddock have never met.

The 
bond 
between 
the 

Australian punters has been 
apparent on the field during the 
first two games of Michigan’s 
season. O’Neill was the last 
Wolverine on the field after the 
season opener at Utah, delayed 
as he greeted Hackett after the 
game. This week, O’Neill said 
he felt for his friend and Oregon 
State punter Nick Porebski as 

he took the roughing the kicker 
penalty that Michigan coach Jim 
Harbaugh vehemently argued. 
(O’Neill agreed with Harbaugh 
that the penalty should not have 
been called and that Porebski was 
out of the pocket.)

For now, O’Neill is enjoying his 

final year of his college football 
career. 
Sure, 
his 
teammates 

occasionally have pictures of his 
modeling career in the locker 
room, but he doesn’t seem to 
mind. O’Neill has punted six 
times in Michigan’s first two 
games for an average of 42.8 
yards. Two of his punts have 
pinned the Wolverines’ opponent 
inside its own 20-yard line.

O’Neill is working toward 

his master’s degree in sport 
management, and said he would 
love to punt in the NFL, though 
he acknowledges there are just 
32 jobs. If worst comes to worst, 
he can always take a page out of 
Zoolander’s book.

“The Blake O’Neill School for 

Kids Who Can’t Punt Good” has a 
certain ring to it.

O’NEILL
From Page 7A

FOOTBALL

