Chris Partridge discusses recruiting philosophy, joining Ole Miss football
Ole Miss co-defensive coordinator Chris Partridge was nearly with Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic University.
At the time, Partridge was coaching special teams and linebackers at the University of Michigan, preparing to making the move to safeties. It wasn't the time then to make the leap to defensive coordinator, but he liked Kiffin's pitch.
Now two years later, he's joining Kiffin in Oxford, working as the co-defensive coordinator, alongside D.J. Durkin, and still coaching safeties. How'd Kiffin lure Partridge away from Ann Arbor? It doesn't seem like he had to sell much of anything.
“When I saw that (Kiffin) took this job, I was the one that really, really got excited about it," Partridge said on Reb Talk. "Just being able to coach in the SEC, it was something I was looking at. I wanted to take that step and be in this conference. When he took this job, I immediately got in touch with him and talked to him about his vision.”
That vision was simple. What appealed most to Partridge was Kiffin and athletic director Keith Carter's vision to take the program to the top and win a national championship. So Partridge wanted to be with Kiffin, but why did Kiffin want Partridge?
That part seems simple.
Chris Partridge is a two-time National Recruiter of the Year, winning the award from Scout in 2016 and 247Sports in 2017. Michigan's recruiting class in 2015 ranked No. 37 in the nation by 247Sports ranking. Partridge joined the staff that season. Their recruiting class in 2016 jumped all the way to No. 8 nationally and in 2017 the Wolverines signed a top-5 class.
What's Chris Partridge's philosophy on recruiting? It's not as much a philosophy as a way of living life.
“You’ve got to love people," Partridge explained. "If you don’t enjoy different types of people coming from different backgrounds with different beliefs and philosophies, I don’t think you can be a successful coach and I don’t think you can be a successful recruiter. I enjoy people. I enjoy getting to know these kids and these parents.”
He sees recruitment as an education process, educating on football at the next level and kind of just on life. That's something that carries over regardless of where a recruit lands at the next level. The majority of the kids you talk to simply won't end up in your program, that's simple math. But Partridge takes joy in leaving an impact on the kids that didn't end up at Michigan, and now the kids that won't end up in Oxford.
Partridge's key policy in recruiting is honesty. Just like you're honest with the kids in the locker room currently and your family away from football, you have to explain where a kid will fit in and do so with reality. As simple as it is to transfer nowadays, kids will quickly see through lies and just leave if what you pitched them was a falsity.
Boiled down to the most basic level, it's a part of the job that Partridge loves that many don't. Maybe he's just a great recruiter because he loves recruiting.
“I really, really enjoy (recruiting). And a lot of coaches don’t. A lot of coaches feel like it’s a burden. It’s football and that’s what they want to do, then recruiting is a burden," Partridge said. "I just think that’s wrong. Recruiting and people is what you do. You coach and you’re with your program. I really want to know the guys that are going to be brought in and play for me.”
Now, he gets to recruit kids to play football in the Southeastern Conference. It's easy to pitch that when Partridge says himself it's where he always wanted to coach. At just 39-years-old, he made it to the top level fast.
Partridge was coaching high school football in New Jersey, his home state, as recently as 2014. He went straight from Paramus Catholic High School to Michigan in 2015 as a Director of Player Personnel. He then spent two years coaching linebackers and two more coaching safeties before landing at Ole Miss as a co-defensive coordinator.
Now, it's time to turn the Ole Miss defense around.
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