The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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40 THE WOLVERINE APRIL 2017 It took an elite opportunity to pull him away from his alma mater, Ma- gee admitted. He was a letterman as an offensive lineman at the Naval Academy, part of an attack that led the nation in rushing during the 2003 season. He helped the Midshipmen regain the Commander in Chief 's Trophy for the first time since 1981 with a win over Army and was a member of the program's first bowl team since the 1996 season. Magee graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2004 with a Bach- elor of Science in economics and later earned a master's degree in business administration from the College of William & Mary's Mason School of Business. "I am unbelievably excited to join the University of Michigan family," Magee said. "The opportunity to work with such a phenomenal staff, led by Coach Harbaugh, at one of the world's premier institutions is cer- tainly a responsibility that I do not take lightly. I look forward to doing everything I can to help Michigan football shape a national champion- ship roster." Those familiar with his work be- lieve he'll be a huge asset in that re- spect. Magee led the planning process for recruiting prospective student- athletes in his role as director of player personnel for the past five sea- sons at Navy, oversaw geographical assignments of assistant coaches and coordinated the execution of on-cam- pus visits. He was also the program's liaison to admissions, academics and compliance within the academy and worked externally with NFL organi- zations. That's as impressive as it sounds, TheMidReport.com's Mike James noted. Much of what Magee accom- plished was groundbreaking stuff, he said, and the staffer used a lot of what he learned in his post-collegiate experience recruiting for the Navy. After graduation, Magee was com- missioned as a surface warfare of- ficer, reporting to the USS Juneau in Sasebo, Japan, where he deployed to the Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Following that tour of duty, Magee served as a manpower/personnel analyst on the Commander Naval Surface Forces staff in Coronado, Calif. He transferred to the Navy's hu- man resources community in 2007, assuming a role as enlisted programs officer for Navy Recruiting District Ohio. Magee was the department head for the nation's largest recruit- ing district, responsible for all en- listed and NROTC recruiting efforts in the states of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. He later served as the Naval Acad- emy's deputy chairman of officer accessions and career information from 2010 until 2012, responsible for managing the academy's service as- signment program, before accepting his job with head coach Ken Niuma- talolo's team. "He's really meant a lot to the pro- gram," James said. "When he got to the Naval Academy, he kind of defined the job of director of player personnel. When he came back to An- napolis, current defensive coordina- tor Dale Pehrson was defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at the same time, so think about what he's juggling there. He's got his own coaching responsibilities and his own area of the country to recruit. "When Sean came in, he really brought the Naval Academy out of the stone age … and it came at a cru- cial time. A few years after that, Navy joined the AAC [American Athletic Conference] and wouldn't have been able to compete doing things the old way. "Sean was a Navy recruiter before he came back to the football team, and a lot of things he learned in Navy HR applied to his role with the foot- ball program … a lot of use of analyt- ics." His program included recruiting men of character as well as great foot- ball players. While the Midshipmen had been competing with elite FCS programs and lower FBS schools for recruits in the past, Magee helped take the recruiting to another level, James noted. They were in on kids who also held offers from schools like Notre Dame, but they didn't have to sacrifice character, thanks to Magee's tireless work. While the other service academies were bringing in 90 or more players a year, Navy was bringing in 60 to 65. "They were able to retain a lot more of their players," James explained. "Sean would compile data on these kids beyond just their football abili- ties. He'd track characteristics, New senior defensive analyst Kevin Lempa (left) should be plenty familiar with Michigan's personnel after serving as the defensive coordinator at Hawai'i, which lost to the Wolverines in 2016. PHOTO COURTESY HAWAI'I