Michigan football’s Kyle Whittingham adds former Air Force assistant to Wolverines staff

Michigan Wolverines continue to round out their 2026 coaching staff under new head coach Kyle Whittingham, with another veteran addition confirmed on Wednesday. Michigan is hiring longtime Air Force assistant Brian Knorr, who is expected to work with special teams alongside coordinator Kerry Coombs, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz.

Knorr arrives in Ann Arbor after working as Air Force’s defensive coordinator for four seasons from 2022 through 2025. In his first year calling the defense in 2022, Air Force ranked No. 1 nationally in total defense, No. 2 in passing defense, and No. 3 in scoring defense. The Falcons followed that season by finishing sixth nationally in total defense in 2023 and 40th in 2024, before slipping to No. 118 in the 2025 season.

Last year might not have been ideal, but Knorr has spent over 30 years coaching in college and stepping up into leadership roles along the way. He spent the last eight seasons at Air Force, returning to his alma mater in 2018 as assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach before earning a promotion to defensive coordinator in 2022. During his third stretch with the Falcons, he dedicated his efforts to coaching both linebackers and the program’s hybrid “Spur” position, a linebacker-safety role.

Knorr’s coaching background extends well beyond Colorado Springs. He served as head coach at Ohio University from 2001 to 2004, compiling an 11–35 record over four seasons. Earlier at Ohio, he coached linebackers from 1995 to 1998 and handled defensive coordinator duties from 1999 to 2000. His Power Five experience includes time at Wake Forest, where he coached wide receivers from 2008 to 2010 and worked on defense from 2011 to 2013, and at Indiana, where he was defensive coordinator from 2014 to 2015 while also coaching defensive ends and outside linebackers.

Knorr has also held special teams-related roles at major programs. He worked as a special teams quality control assistant at Ohio State in 2016 under Urban Meyer, overlapping with Coombs, and followed that with a season at Arizona in 2017 as special teams and tight ends coach. That background aligns with his expected role assisting Coombs, who was hired to oversee the Wolverines special teams shortly before Sherrone Moore’s firing on Dec. 10. Under Coombs, Michigan’s special teams took a step forward, particularly shining in the Citrus Bowl against Texas.

A former Air Force quarterback from 1982 to 1985, Knorr lettered three seasons and won 30 games as a collegiate player. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1986 with a degree in management and began his coaching career there in 1992. At Michigan, he joins a staff led by Whittingham, with Jay Hill already in place as the Wolverines’ new defensive coordinator, adding another experienced voice to a staff built around proven collegiate track records.

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