According to reports, Michigan has hired its next defensive tackles coach from outside the program.
In accordance with a Saturday morning report from ESPN, Kyle Whittingham’s squad in Ann Arbor has selected Larry Black, who has played the previous four seasons at Vanderbilt, to complete its roster.
Before being elevated to co-defensive coordinator, Black, 36, had coached the defensive line at Vanderbilt from 2022 to 2025.
He takes the place of Lou Esposito, who just left Michigan to take the position of defensive line coach with the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL.
Black worked as a graduate assistant coach at Toledo and Notre Dame before joining Vanderbilt, where he spent three years—2019 through 2021—coaching the defensive line at Toledo.
With each passing year, Vanderbilt’s run defense got better. From 96th his first year to 18th in 2025, when the Commodores gave up only 108 rushing yards per game, Black was on staff.
With 31 sacks, they were in the top half of the SEC. Furthermore, they accomplished it without a defensive lineman from the entire conference.
Black is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, and has connections to the Midwest. He played four seasons for the Hoosiers at Indiana, where he recorded a career total of 127 tackles in 48 games between 2008 and 2012.
He was not selected in the 2013 NFL Draft, but he still played two seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Black will be responsible for guiding the Wolverines’ defensive tackles, which are headed up by veteran starter Trey Pierce and standout backup Enow Etta. Recently, Utah’s Jonah Lea’ea joined Michigan.
Lewis Powell, who had been a longtime aide at Utah, joined Whittingham in Michigan to train the edge rushers.
