A former Michigan football player joins Houston Cougars staff as on-field coach

While Michigan football was on its way to securing a national championship through a successful College Football Playoff run, a former standout player for the Wolverines, James Ross III, was making significant career strides.

Having served as a defensive analyst for the Tulane Green Wave in the previous season, Ross decided to follow head coach Willie Fritz to his new position with the Houston Cougars in the restructured Big 12 conference. Despite Ross hinting at his affiliation with the Cougars by sharing news about their signings during the early signing period a few weeks ago, his official announcement as the team’s new linebackers coach took place on Friday.

Ross had previously worked as a graduate assistant at Michigan from 2018 to 2020, where he focused on coaching linebackers, including his younger brother, Josh Ross. Following this, he assumed the role of linebackers coach at Hope College before joining the Cincinnati Bearcats in 2021, a year when UC reached the College Football Playoff semifinal against Alabama, serving as the team’s outside linebackers coach. Subsequently, he joined Coach Fritz’s staff at Tulane as a senior defensive analyst.