Skip to main content

Football

Chris Partridge
Chris Partridge
Chris Partridge
Chris Partridge
Chris Partridge
Chris Partridge
Chris Partridge
  • Title:
    Assistant Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties
  • Year at Ole Miss:
    Third
  • Email:
    cpartrid@olemiss.edu
  • Phone:
    662-915-7890
  • Alma Mater:
    Lafayette College (2003)

Chris Partridge, known as one of the nation’s top recruiters, begins his third season in Oxford as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach.

Since arriving in 2020, Partridge has helped turn around a Rebel defense that became a strong suit during Ole Miss’ 2021 campaign. The Rebels ranked as the fourth most-improved defense in the FBS, allowing 13.6 less points this season compared to 2020.

The Ole Miss defense tallied four shutout halves this year (Louisville [first half], Tulane [second half], Liberty [first half] and Texas A&M [first half]). Prior to the season, Ole Miss had only played three shutout halves in the previous five seasons, spanning 58 games. The four shutout halves are the most in a single season since the Rebels tallied five such occurrences in 2014.

In 2021, Partridge’s defense tallied 39 total team sacks, the second-most in program history. Sam Williams tied for fifth in the FBS with 12.5 sacks in 2021, the Ole Miss modern-day school record for sacks in a season. Williams had at least one sack in nine of the Rebels’ 13 games this season.

In his first year as a Rebel, Partridge guided A.J. Finley to a breakout sophomore campaign that included team highs in interceptions (3) and pass breakups (7). Four of the team’s six interceptions in 2020 were by safeties.  

Prior to Ole Miss, Partridge spent five seasons on staff at Michigan. He served as the Wolverines’ special teams coordinator for four seasons, which included two seasons as safeties coach and two seasons as linebackers coach. Partridge also served as the Wolverines’ director of player personnel in 2015.

The Hackensack, New Jersey, native was named National Recruiter of the Year by Scout in 2016 and received the same honor from 247Sports in 2017. He was ranked a top-five recruiter again in 2019 by 247.

Partridge helped lead a defensive unit which has ranked among the nation’s best since he joined the Wolverine staff. U-M has ranked top-five nationally in pass defense in each of the last four seasons, and has been one of the most stout third-down defenses in the country over that span.

The 2019 Michigan defense ranked top 10 in the nation in four different defensive categories: total defense, passing yards allowed, first down defense and team defensive passing efficiency.

During the 2018 season, Partridge was part of a defensive staff which ranked second nationally in total defense and in passing defense, listing in the top 25 nationally for eight major categories. The defense allowed 14 passing touchdowns all season with 11 interceptions, and led the Big Ten in five categories, including pass defense efficiency and third-down conversion rate.

In 2017, Partridge helped lead a defensive unit that ranked top three in the NCAA in five categories. He helped Devin Bush earn third team All-American honors. Bush led U-M with 102 tackles, earning All-Big Ten accolades.

In 2016, the U-M defense ranked first or second in the NCAA in seven categories, including total defense, scoring defense, tackles for loss, first downs allowed and third-down conversion percentage allowed. The Wolverines led the Big Ten in eight defensive categories and all 11 defensive starters earned All-Big Ten honors.

Eight opponents were held to fewer than 85 yards rushing, and the team surrendered just 53 fourth-quarter points all year. U-M finished second in tackles for loss per game (9.3) and ranked fourth in tackles for loss per game (3.54), the only school in the country to average more than nine and three in those two categories. Seven of U-M’s 13 opponents were held to 10 points or fewer.

Partridge helped Peppers to a decorated season in 2016, when he was a consensus All-American at linebacker, won the Big Ten’s Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year, Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year and Rodgers-Dwight Return Specialist of the Year awards, and finished No. 5 in the Heisman Trophy voting. Peppers was a winner or finalist for seven additional national honors.

In Partridge’s first season helping to lead the special teams unit, Michigan’s unit finished second in the NCAA with seven total blocked kicks (four punts, three field goals/points after touchdowns), which led the Big Ten, and that figure does not include three deflected kicks that U-M forced during the season.

U-M also led the Big Ten in punt return average (14.28 yards per return), ranking No. 8 in the NCAA with Peppers finishing fifth nationally in individual punt return average. U-M converted 19-of-24 field goal attempts, including 15 straight to close the season, which stands as the third-longest streak in program history.

Before being elevated to the coaching staff, Partridge had been the Wolverines’ director of player personnel in recruiting since joining the staff in January 2015 until Coach Harbaugh appointed him to coach the team’s linebackers during the bowl season.

Competing against the No. 19-ranked University of Florida in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day, Partridge helped coach the Wolverines to a convincing 41-7 victory. The stout Wolverine defense held the Gator attack to just 28 total yards of offense in the second half, including two yards in the third quarter. The team’s two leading tacklers against Florida were both linebackers (Joe Bolden, 7; Desmond Morgan, 4). 

Partridge came to Ann Arbor after serving as the head coach at New Jersey’s Paramus Catholic High School, a position he held for five seasons (2010-14). While at the helm of the Paladin program, Partridge grew a football program listed 4,250th nationally and 112th in state of New Jersey to the top-ranked team in the state and No. 4 nationally by USA Today. He coached and mentored more than 30 Division I football players during that time, as well as various All-America players.

Prior to his stint at Paramus, Partridge served as the defensive line coach and assistant to the special teams at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina.

Partridge coached at his alma mater, Lafayette College, in Easton, Pennsylvania, as the secondary coach and assistant to the special teams coordinator.

Partridge earned his bachelor’s degree in government and law from Lafayette College in 2003.

COACHING CAREER
Year(s) School Position
2020-Pres. Ole Miss Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties
2018-19 Michigan Special Teams/Safeties
2016-17 Michigan Special Teams/Linebackers
2015 Michigan Director of Player Personnel
2010-14 Paramus Catholic HS Head Coach
2006-07 The Citadel Defensive Line
2005 Lafayette Secondary