Sherrone Moore dished out contract extensions to six Michigan football assistant coaches ahead of the 2025 season, MLive reports, and elevated tight ends coach Steve Casula to a co-offensive coordinator role. Casula joins first-year Wolverines assistant Chip Lindsey atop the offense, though it is unclear what his duties will entail given that Lindsey joined the staff to become the program’s play-caller.
Casula’s new deal runs for two years and pays him $500,000 annually, which includes a 25% pay raise from his original contract, according to the report. The tight ends coach is in his second season at Michigan and made his debut as part of Moore’s inaugural staff last fall. He served as the Wolverines’ interim offensive coordinator in last year’s ReliaQuest Bowl victory over Alabama after Michigan fired Kirk Campbell.
While Casula carries seven years of offensive coordinator experience, the upcoming campaign will be his first at the Power Four level. He previously served as the first offensive coordinator in Davenport history as he helped build the NAIA program from the ground up, and he also held the title at Division II Ferris State and, most recently, UMass.
Casula pairs with an experienced coordinator in Lindsey, who most recently produced a premier NFL prospect in Drake Maye during his stint at North Carolina. Lindsey holds extensive FBS experience with previous offensive coordinator stops at UNC, UCF, Auburn, Arizona State and Southern Miss.
Michigan’s co-offensive coordinators are in for a potentially exciting 2025 campaign as top overall recruit Bryce Underwood arrived earlier this offseason as a potential Week 1 starting quarterback. The five-star prospect participated in spring practices and has a clear path to the starting lineup given that incoming transfer Mikey Keene missed camp with an injury. Underwood, even as an inexperienced true freshman, could deliver a spark to an offense that ranked just 14th in the Big Ten with 22.0 points per game and 17th with 286.2 yards per contest.
Among the other assistants to secure contract extensions, running backs coach Tony Alford and defensive line coach Lou Esposito also landed pay raises. Alford will make $900,000 annually over his three-year deal (up from $850,000) and Esposito is set to earn $600,000 per year on a two-year agreement (an increase from $500,000).
Wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy, defensive backs coach LaMar Morgan and offensive line coach Grant Newsome all received extensions through the 2026 season but did not secure pay raises.
Moore remains on his initial five-year contract as the Michigan head coach and enters his second season at the helm on the heels of an 8-5 campaign. Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, special teams coordinator J.B. Brown and linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary did not receive contract extensions, either. Brown’s deal expires at the end of the 2025 season while the others’ run through 2026.
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