7B
TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com
family.”
That’s
an
aspect
of
his
coaching that Partridge, now
the safeties coach and special
teams coordinator, takes pride
in — and it stretches beyond the
players from the Garden State.
Fifth-year
senior
safety
Tyree
Kinnel
watches
film
with Partridge every Sunday.
Another group of players meets
with Partridge at 7:30 a.m.
The conversations are about
football, sure, but Partridge
says he feels he has a bigger
responsibility
than
simply
coaching Xs and Os. He feels he
needs to “guide” his players.
“We either talk about family
or football when it’s me and
him,” Kinnel said. “That’s the
thing I love about him.”
“I remember last week, a
couple weeks ago, I talked to
him, like, three times in one
week and it didn’t matter,” added
Gary. “We were here late night
talking about personal things
going on and how I should feel
about that and what I should do
to make me feel better.”
The
closeness
Partridge
has
with
his
players came in
handy this past
offseason.
Alabama came
calling,
and
rumors suddenly
swirled
about
the
potential
of
Partridge
departing
for
greener pastures.
“I
didn’t
want
that,”
Partridge
said.
“Especially since my intent was
always to stay here. You know,
you don’t want people to say,
‘He’s looking to leave,’ or, ‘He’s
looking
around.’
Obviously
there’s a component to your
career and your path there, but,
you know, I always felt that,
with guys like Rashan, guys that
I’ve recruited, I wanted to stick
it out for that and not just jump.
“Because, in reality, we can
do anything we want to do here.
What’s the reason
to go somewhere
else.”
Gary
heard
the rumors too,
and at first, he
was
concerned.
But
Partridge
assured Gary of
his intentions to
stay.
With
the
trust the two had
built up to that
point, there was no real reason
for Gary to doubt him.
“He loves us, and we love
him,” Gary said. “He feels like
it’s family here, so there’s no
reason to leave family.”
Even prior to that, when
Partridge first got the call from
the Crimson Tide, he felt he
needed to tell one person right
away: Harbaugh.
The coach had taken a chance
on Partridge four years earlier.
As Partridge puts it, he deserved
the
respect
it
took to go to him
before
doing
anything else.
“(He was) like,
‘Hey, great. This
is really good for
you.
It’s
great
for your career,’
”
Partridge
said. “I think I
remember, I said,
‘Hey, do you want
me to stay here?’ And he said
yes, and that was the end of it.
You know, Jim is really good,
because you feel like you can
go talk to him about something
like that, and you feel like he’s
going to guide you in the right
way, whether it’s the best way
for him or not.
“… I think that’s one of the
things I respect the most out of
him.”
Perhaps that’s what made
Partridge and Harbaugh — and
Michigan
by
proxy — a match
made in heaven.
Harbaugh
commands
the
respect
of
his
coaches by being
approachable.
That same style
can be seen in
Partridge.
In
his
recruiting,
coaching
and
relationship-building.
Maybe that’s why all it took
for Partridge to prove a good
enough fit for the program was
a mutual friend and a phone
call.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Junior defensive end Rashan Gary says Chris Partridge has made Michigan easier on him because “(Partridge) loves us, and we love him. He feels like it’s family here, so there’s no reason to leave family.”
PARTRIDGE
From Page 6B
“We either talk
about family or
football when it’s
me and him.”
“I think that’s
one of the things
I respect most
out of him.”