It’s no secret around Baltimore that Ravens head coach John Harbaugh is somewhat on the hot seat going into his 10th season after two successive lackluster campaigns behind him. I’m not saying Harbaugh would be fired if the Ravens went 10-6 in 2017 and didn’t make the playoffs— but anything short of making the playoffs will definitely cause a crossroads decision to be made by owner Steve Bisciotti.
Harbaugh for his part is not panicking—he has simply circled the wagons with the retention of most of the key coaching personnel he finished the 2016 season with—and added a few new faces to replace the defections.
The feeling seems to be that Harbaugh will sink or swim with loyalty to his trusted officers. The funny part is, if John Harbaugh were to be fired on a Monday, he would have a new head coaching job from a rival team or a major college offered to him by Tuesday.
Anyway, just to keep up, here is a breakdown from Ryan Mink of the Ravens Media Department on the most recent coaching changes:
Baltimore has officially moved Chris Hewitt into the role of secondary coach after Leslie Frazier left to be the Buffalo Bills’ defensive coordinator.
Hewitt was the team’s secondary coach in 2015 before Frazier took the role last season. Hewitt, a former defensive back for the New Orleans Saints (1997-99), got his coaching start in Rutgers before joining the Ravens in 2012. He was a special teams assistant his first two years.
Mike Macdonald, who served as a defensive assistant last year, has been promoted to defensive backs coach. He previously worked with the secondary in 2014 and inside linebackers in 2015.
Drew Wilkins was also promoted from defensive coaching assistant to assistant defensive line coach, where he will help second-year Defensive Line Coach Joe Cullen.
The Ravens also made a change in the weight room, as Juney Barnett has been elevated to the team’s strength and conditioning coach, replacing Bob Rogucki. Barnett was with the Ravens from 2003-05 and rejoined the team in 2012.
The Ravens did not make an announcement regarding a quarterbacks coach, which was the other potential vacancy after Marty Mornhinweg was promoted from that position to offensive coordinator midway through last season. Mornhinweg will continue to coach the team’s quarterbacks.
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