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.”

