Source Report Sources: Durkin to Maryland
[Bryan Fuller]
In seemingly done but not official news that would have been way more disappointing last week:
Source: D.J. Durkin will be the next coach at Maryland.
— Pete Thamel (@SIPeteThamel) December 2, 2015
I think we all assumed that Durkin would be a head coach sooner or later, but not after one year, and not in Michigan's division. At least Durkin gets away from Ohio State's offense, though. Yeah.
Unless there's an 11th-hour switch here, Michigan needs a new DC and/or a LB/DL coach. Mattison can handle either unit in the front seven and could get bumped back up to the main job; Greg Jackson might be a DC possibility as well—the job he and Zordich did with Michigan's DBs was terrific.
Steve Lorenz has three DC names to watch that includes a familiar name: former Michigan DC and Syracuse HC Scott Shafer. Shafer did get a really raw deal here the first time around.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:00 PM ^
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December 2nd, 2015 at 2:03 PM ^
I'm not happy either...
but at least we won't have to see that dumb fucking grey adidas hat anymore.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:26 PM ^
So he never wore a UM hat? If one of the OSU coaches went around wearing just a nike hat, I'd raise eyebrows at that.
I don't know why it would honestly be important, but it really seems odd.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:38 PM ^
Could it be he wore that hat, rather than a UofM hat, to stick out a little from the rest of the coaches on the sideline.
Easier to spot for his players to get signals.
December 2nd, 2015 at 3:16 PM ^
December 2nd, 2015 at 3:32 PM ^
December 2nd, 2015 at 3:42 PM ^
Coordinators typically will do that. Greg Robinson usually wore bright yellow for the same reason.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:48 PM ^
Meh. I'd rather get someone that actually wants to be here and isn't looking for his next job, oh I dunno, the week of the most important game of the season.
This year's defense had way more to do with our personnel than on his coaching, IMO. Once he didn't have the horses anymore, we got trounced 2 games out of 3 and PSU would have been worse if they actually kept running what was working for everyone else. Wormley, Hurst, Henry, Taco is still a DL that most teams would kill for and he couldn't make the necessary adjustments to let them succeed. In fact he didn't make any adjustments that I could see in either of those games even when the opponent was running the same play over and over. Not to mention his positional unit (LBs) sucked all year and made zero improvement.
Whatever, onward.
December 2nd, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^
December 2nd, 2015 at 5:53 PM ^
December 3rd, 2015 at 8:35 AM ^
December 2nd, 2015 at 5:58 PM ^
Jim Harbaugh was hired as the head coach of the Stanford Cardinal in December 2006. As part of his coaching staff, he hired Shafer as the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. Harbaugh was quoted as saying Shafer being "one of the most creative and innovative defensive minds in college football."[9]
Now...unless Shafer burned a bridge by leaving Stanford after one year to go to Michigan, or he and Harbaugh didn't get along, then I think this may be a viable candidate.
December 2nd, 2015 at 10:55 PM ^
Syracuse finished the season ranked #99 in total defense. Is that a sign of his abilities as a coach? Perhaps. To be fair though, when Shafer was ONLY the DC, Cuse had a top 10 D.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:00 PM ^
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December 2nd, 2015 at 2:07 PM ^
I mean, I expected coaches to move on with regularity--but moving on after less than one season?
And, yeah--who is the main recruiter for Gary?
(Think you want "affect," not "effect" here.)
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^
I doubt he left for $20,000 raise. Will be interesting to see the contract details.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^
I doubt he left for $20,000 raise. Will be interesting to see the contract details.
December 2nd, 2015 at 3:37 PM ^
last year.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:24 PM ^
Which are, at the very least, far more rational things on which to judge people.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:45 PM ^
I would imagine that Gary isn't going to look at Jim Harbaugh and Greg Mattison and think, "Nope, the loss of DJ Durkin from that coaching staff leaves them with not enough coaching talent to help me reach my potential, I shall take my talents elsewhere."
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:18 PM ^
Party's over.
This will have an effect on recruiting. Impossble to say how much.
Anyone we get will be a downgrade.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:34 PM ^
Personally I don't feel it's inevitable we have a "downgrade" - didn't SOME teams bottle up Jordan Howard & Zeke eliott this year? At least a little bit?
I'm looking into someone who accomplished that!
December 2nd, 2015 at 3:07 PM ^
So, how did the very best D-Coord in all of CFB do on his final exam this year?
LoL ... methinks our 2016 DL roster alone will attract a number of HIGHLY qualified candidates for his seat. All of that back plus Mone and maybe plus Rashan Gary. Is there a 'licking chops' emoticon around here?
December 2nd, 2015 at 6:57 PM ^
December 2nd, 2015 at 5:09 PM ^
December 2nd, 2015 at 7:15 PM ^
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:54 PM ^
Mattison and Jay Harbaugh are the main recruiters for Gary.
Durkin appears to be the main recruiter for Tx, Fla and the South.
Of course, having a dynamic, aggressive DC is also a benefit for defensive recruits.
December 2nd, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
Michigan up and running under the Harbaugh regime, and then, wham, your primary Sunbelt recruiter is gone. It's not necessarily a nice day to start again. But start again, the new regime must. Harbaugh may go NFL network to get his next DC, somebody with college in his background but with pro experience.
Any guys on his current staff coud ably fill in.
But the loss of Durkin in the recruiting field is just such a hardship at this point.
December 2nd, 2015 at 6:00 PM ^
The main recruiter of the Area where many of our top targets like Jackson, Bush, Nauta, Hardman and Delance are from? That can't be a good sign...
December 2nd, 2015 at 5:51 PM ^
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^
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December 2nd, 2015 at 2:03 PM ^
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December 2nd, 2015 at 5:53 PM ^
almost everything else he has done has gone beyond what is normal or expected, I bet not only do we get an upgrayedd, but that the upgrayedd brings along his 5 star son or several other recruits as well.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:24 PM ^
We had a ton of continuity on the coaching staff from 2011-2014
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:32 PM ^
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December 2nd, 2015 at 2:38 PM ^
I think that's over thinking it. They're not going to change things drastically, especially with (presumably) all the same assistants still in place. Harbaugh is slightly smarter than Rodriguez in that regard.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:41 PM ^
Listen, this is the way it's gonna be - Harbaugh's past assistants have had so much success in their subsequent positions that anyone who appears to stand out will be highly sought after. I think we'll be lucky if Durkin is the only coach we lose...
Fisch could be an OC candidate & G. Jackson a DC candidate at the pro or college levels with their experiences, maybe Drevno a HC in the not too distant future. There will be no real "continuity" due to Harbaugh's eye for talent.
December 2nd, 2015 at 3:51 PM ^
in Columbus under Meyer. And he just seems to plug and play. The same with Dantonio who lost Narduzzi and now is on the verge of making the college playoff field. We will almost certainly lose Drevno and Jedd Fisch off this staff. In fact, I figured those guys would be the first to go, not Durkin. But it was the defense that shined this year.
Not sure how schematically Michigan is impacted by this change as well. This change is more than just about recruiting. Curious, if Durkin would leave before the bowl game. Probably.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:42 PM ^
Do you pat yourself on the back for a well-executed diet after you have a salad for lunch and then check the scales before Dinner and conclude: "I guess that didn't work - Pizza time!"
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^
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December 2nd, 2015 at 2:27 PM ^
I like Pruitt. If he is a dick to staff, Harbaugh won't tolerat eit. If he vets that out first, home run. Plus we grab that Georgia five star, Hardmen??
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:02 PM ^
...pre-OSU game. That's a lot of stock to put into one game, but I'm not sure that's inappropriate in the case of a blowout loss to a rival.
We knew he'd get a head coaching job sooner rather than later. And Harbaugh will be able to pull in a top guy as a replacement.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:22 PM ^
and frankly he may have illustrated the danger of having a young D coordinator if indeed he let his next job interfere with producing the best possible scheme for tOSU.
December 2nd, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^
Michigan lost Glasgow, Ojemudia, and (effectively) Godin from the DL. That's 3 starters (Godin was listed at OR with Wormley before getting hurt) leaving Michigan with just 4 playable guys on the DL against one of the best offenses in college football.
In hindsight, yeah it didn't work out great, but that's what happens when you're grasping at straws for personnel. They tried a creative solution to a major problem. It worked for about a half and then fell apart. It's understandable albeit disappointing.
The rest of the year the D coaching was borderline spectacular. That matters a lot more. Michigan had some very obvious personnel deficiencies (no edge rusher, weak at LB, dodgy at 2nd CB) that Durkin papered over for 90% of the year. When the DL depth disappeared things fell apart a bit but Indiana and Ohio State do that to people.
December 2nd, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
Michigan had already surrendered 160+ yards to Barrett and Elliott by halftime, though. And they still had Hurst, Wormley, Henry, Charlton (who I realize was also at BUCK in a sense), Strobel, and Pallante. I'm also not 100% sure Godin was unable to play, because played against Indiana, though I imagine he would have seen a few snaps against OSU if it had been possible.
I know having to rotate in Strobel, Pallante, and a wounded Godin is far from ideal. But the three LB set they were running was far from ideal too - and it was gashed quickly by OSU.
Michigan also didn't use its safeties much to help in run support. Steve Sharik posted a chart the other day showing how Michigan did v. the run when it was down a man in the box (or not), and the difference was enormous.
Anyway, I don't mean to say Durkin is anything less than an excellent - even elite - DC. But I do mean to say that he's not irreplaceable in my eyes and that the OSU game is part of the reason for that.
Here is Steve's chart:
1ST HALF | 2ND HALF | TOTAL | ||||
SHORT #S? | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N |
# SNAPS | 13 | 2 | 18 | 9 | 31 | 11 |
YARDS | 145 | 1 | 158 | 30 | 303 | 31 |
AVG | 11.15 | 0.5 | 8.78 | 3.33 | 9.77 | 2.82 |
MED | 6.00 | 0.5 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 2 |
December 2nd, 2015 at 4:02 PM ^
emptied the playbook defensively trying to compensate for lack of personnel up front. There was nothing that could have solved the man on man issues Michigan faced against OSU whether they brought the safety down from single high support where he was no help in the run game. Michigan played man because that's what they ran all year. They would have been better off running zone but the hat difference was always even or less when the Buckeyes ran their triple option offense, check with me after seeing Michigan's alignment. You either deal with this with athletes or with some exotic alignments. And Michigan didn't have the athletes or the wherewithal to run the alignments that would make the Buckeyes change their gameplan. That wasn't on Durkin, that was just the way it is with what Michigan had and did against them.
December 2nd, 2015 at 4:11 PM ^
But it seems Michigan was able to stop OSU when they had enough men in the box. I'm sure it's not just that easy - that game was going to be tough no matter what. But the Wolverines seemingly had an answer that worked that they chose not to use frequently.
It's probably worth me noting here too that the quesiton of Durkin's culpability in the OSU game is no more less than the difference between him being - in my mind - arguably the best DC in the country or instead "merely" excellent.
December 2nd, 2015 at 5:58 PM ^
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