Michigan football makes DT coach Larry Black hire official – Wolverines Wire

The above-the-line Michigan football coaching staff appears to be finally and fully set.
The Wolverines appeared to be set under new head coach Kyle Whittingham, but with the NFL carousel having continued to move, defensive line coach Lou Esposito — who had agreed to stay in Ann Arbor — ended up following Jesse Minter to the Baltimore Ravens. Despite it being rather late in the game, Whittingham managed to secure a good replacement to oversee the defensive interior.
Reported last weekend, Michigan hired Larry Black, who was most recently at Vanderbilt overseeing the same position group. The hire became official on Wednesday. Here is the team announcement.
University of Michigan J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach Kyle Whittingham announced Wednesday (Feb. 18) the hiring of Larry Black as the program’s defensive tackle coach. Black is in his 12th year working at the collegiate level and his ninth year as a position coach, having worked exclusively with the defensive line during his career.
Prior to joining the Michigan staff, Black spent four seasons (2022-25) at Vanderbilt working with the defensive line. He worked with Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea as a graduate assistant at Notre Dame and reunited with him in Nashville. For the 2025 season, Black was elevated to defensive run game coordinator, and Vanderbilt ranked 18th nationally, with 108.2 yards per game allowed on the ground.
Under Black’s direction, the Commodores improved across the defensive line, especially in stopping the run and generating sacks, while implementing young players. The unit ranked 10th in the SEC in run defense in his first season (2022), but sixth in his final season (2025). The group battled injuries in 2022, but in 2023, veteran Nate Clifton produced 5.5 sacks. The 2024 unit saw three different defensive linemen record 5.0 or more tackles for loss, and in 2025, four different front-line players recorded at least 6.0 TFLs, led by 9.5 from end Miles Capers and 8.5 from lineman Khordae Sydnor.
Outside of his stint in the SEC, Black has spent his entire playing and coaching career in the Midwest. He was also selected to join the Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship in 2021 with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Before working at Vanderbilt, he coached the defensive line for three years at Toledo, his second stint with the Rockets, and helped three players accrue four All-MAC honors, including first-team selection Jamal Hines in 2021. Toledo improved from 10th in the MAC in run defense during Black’s first season to top-four in the league in his latter two years. Toledo was also top-five in the MAC in TFLs twice in Black’s three seasons with the program.
Black spent two years as a graduate assistant at Toledo (2016-17) and one at Notre Dame (2018), working with the defense. At Notre Dame, he helped develop future NFL players in Daelin Hayes, Kurt Hinish, Julian Okwara, Jamir Jones, Khalid Kareem, Jerry Tillery, Ade Ogundeji and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa. At Toledo, he worked with future pros Treyvon Hester and Desjuan Johnson.
A former defensive tackle at Indiana (2019-13), Black spent his playing career in the Big Ten and appeared in 48 games with 127 tackles. He graduated from IU in 2012 with a degree in recreation and leisure and signed as an undrafted free agent with the Cincinnati Bengals. Black began his coaching career at Division III Carthage College in Wisconsin, where he led the defensive line room for one season (2015).
Black and his wife, Kaylin, have three children: Ace, Axel and Amaya.

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