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