Michigan lured DL coach Lou Esposito with lucrative contract, signing bonus

New Michigan defensive line coach Lou Esposito signed a two-year contract that will pay him more than $1.7 million, MLive has learned.

Esposito, who jumped from Memphis to Michigan on March 29, will earn a base salary of $500,000 in 2024 and 2025, according to a signed memorandum of understanding obtained via a public records request with the school.

He replaces Greg Scruggs, who was hired by first-year head coach Sherrone Moore in February and resigned a month later following his arrest in Ann Arbor for allegedly operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Additionally, Esposito’s employment agreement includes a lucrative $786,000 signing bonus and $25,000 relocation stipend to be paid within 30 days.

He spent less than three months on the staff at Memphis, his alma mater, where he was hired as co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. Contract terms of his deal with UM were not immediately available.

“It’s kind of been a whirlwind,” Esposito told reporters last week. “I was there for a couple of months and then coach (Moore) gave me a call and I had the opportunity to come back. I jumped at it. It’s been awesome for me.”

Before the flurry of activity, Esposito served as defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Western Michigan, where he coached seven seasons from 2017 to ‘23. His pay reached $224,000 in his final year in Kalamazoo.

Before WMU, Esposito was named the first head coach of the upstart Davenport University football program in Grand Rapids from 2014 to ‘16, and as defensive coordinator at Division II Ferris State in 2013.

A former offensive lineman, Esposito played at Memphis from 1997 to 2000 and two seasons for the Memphis Xplorers of the now-defunct AF2, the former developmental system for the Arena Football League.

Esposito’s base salary makes him the third-lowest paid assistant on the Michigan coaching staff this year, ahead of tight ends coach Steve Casula ($400,000) and special teams coordinator J.B. Brown ($350K), though his signing bonus helps make up the difference.