Michigan has fired linebackers coach Chris Partridge, effective immediately.
Rick Minter will serve as interim linebackers coach.
The move is the first domino to fall as part of the program's ongoing scouting scandal. On Thursday, Michigan announced it would accept the Big Ten's 3-game suspension of Jim Harbaugh. The announcement came one day before Michigan was scheduled to fight the suspension in court, on the heels of Michigan releasing a 10-page letter fighting tooth-and-nail the conference's allegations against the Wolverines.
The sudden about-face indicated Michigan became aware of material facts over the course of the week, to where now a 3-game suspension of Harbaugh seemed an acceptable outcome for the program, rather than the violation of due process that Michigan argued it was the week prior.
In previously-uncovered texts, Stalions boasted to a contemporary about being "close with CP and Jay Harbs."
Yahoo reported Friday that the NCAA presented Michigan with new evidence this week and that an unnamed assistant "allegedly participated in the destruction of evidence on a computer after the scandal broke." The report says Partridge did not have advance knowledge of Stalions' activities, but covered up evidence after the fact.
A successful high school coach in New Jersey, Partridge originally joined the Michigan program as director of personnel on Harbaugh's first Michigan staff in 2015. He rose to special teams coordinator and a defensive position coach before taking a co-coordinator position on Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss staff in 2020, but he returned this season as linebackers coach.
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Minter is the father of current Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who joined the staff as a defensive assistant when his son came aboard in 2022. Rick Minter is best known for his 1994-03 run as Cincinnati's head coach. He previously served as defensive coordinator at Ball State, Notre Dame, Marshall, Kentucky, Florida Tech, and with the Alliance of American Football's Birmingham Iron.
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