Report: BC DC DB TO MI
SI's Thayer Evans is reporting that Michigan will hire Boston College defensive coordinator Don Brown in the same capacity at Michigan:
Boston College DC Don Brown will be Michigan's new DC per source.
— Thayer Evans (@ThayerEvansSI) December 20, 2015
Sam Webb has an unconfirmed report that Brown told BC's players he would depart today.
This is the first that Brown's name has come up in connection with the Michigan job, which goes to show how much this was on lockdown. I was momentarily disappointed and then I remembered spending much of the year mad at BC for having the audacity to be above Michigan in the rankings.
This is not because they beat up on Howard and Maine. S&P ignores that stuff. Meanwhile let's play spot the outlier in Dalvin Cook's season:
15 for 54 is BC. everyone else got nuked except Georgia Tech, which managed the 17 for 82 above.
BC's defense finished the year third in S&P+ behind only FSU and Michigan despite having nowhere near the talent either of those two teams had *and* having the kind of crippling dysfunction on the other side of the ball that usually leads to late landslide victories. You know, the kind of offense that can do this:
Wake Forest 3, Boston College 0: It's okay to hate something you love sometimes
Football Study Hall's Ian Boyd wrote a feature on Brown's defense not five days ago. Read the whole thing but here's the nutshell version:
With a quick LB corps, safeties that can play multiple roles, and effective DL anchored by highly skilled tackles all of the schematics and skill sets on the Eagles' defense were able to pull together to form a dominant unit. They were hard to move the ball against on normal downs and then pure murder on 3rd and long. Too bad about that offense.
Brown doesn't fit Harbaugh's profile in that he's 60 and presumably not looking to move up, but as far as results go he's a very impressive hire. And he's a college guy, so thumbs up for that.
December 21st, 2015 at 11:58 AM ^
No. When Mattison retires Partridge will coach lbs. Bank it! (Or should that be, "book it"?)
December 20th, 2015 at 4:50 PM ^
Sounds like a VIP
December 20th, 2015 at 4:51 PM ^
Here's hoping he's got answers for Urban's power spread.
December 20th, 2015 at 4:52 PM ^
I guess our fear of losing coordinators remains valid. Except in Brown's situation it's more likely he retires than moves up.
Will be fun to see him and Mattison on the sidelines together.
December 20th, 2015 at 4:53 PM ^
December 20th, 2015 at 4:54 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 20th, 2015 at 4:56 PM ^
December 20th, 2015 at 5:12 PM ^
You're nuts. Harbaugh got this one right. You'll love his schemes.
Twitter is exploding right now from other ACC writers who are glad he's out of the conference.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:52 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 20th, 2015 at 4:58 PM ^
If only this year matters its a nice hire - but his span of DC term doesnt inspire at BC, 2 of 3 years bad to mediocre, 1 great year.
- BC FEI D in 2012 (pre Brown): 81
- 2013 (Brown year 1): 98
- 2014 (Brown year 2): 68
So no improvement in year 1 and very modest improvement in year 2, Year 3 was excellent but 2 out of 3 years a real struggle.
He did good work at UConn after he took over Todd Orlando's defense.
UConn Defense 2011: 23
UConn Defense 2012: 22
Franky I'd have made the run at Todd Orlando if we were going to go for an East coast guy. Had 2 very good Uconn defenses like Brown did, then went to Utah state had 2 elite defenses, etc.
Oh well we'll see. Feels like a 3rd or 4th choice IMO. I'd have rather gotten Schiano if this is the type of guy we went for.
December 21st, 2015 at 1:04 AM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 12:03 AM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 12:10 AM ^
Alum--certainly appreciate your perspective, but it feels awfully slanted. I'm not saying we just got Nick Saban as our DC, but we did not just get GERG either. Not sure why you are so sour on this one. He obviously was not an expected name, but has also done more with less than most coaches. Let's go point-by-point:
- First of all, jumping 30 spots in FEI D is a vast improvement
- Second, you are looking at the worst possible stats you can find...his S&P rating was 80 in '13 (same as it was in '12), then jumped to 36 in '14, then 3 in '15. That is marked improvement every year, and, considering BC's talent level, pretty impressive.
- How about some more numbers? BC was #102 in total defense in '12 (year before DB arrived). Up to #93 in '13, then #11 in '14. Of course, #1 in '15 thus far.
- Agree, he outdid Orlando when he took over at UConn.
- Yes, it feels like YOUR third or fourth choice. Not sure that's true for Harbaugh.
Here's where I will agree with you: this is not a hire that has me dancing in the streets. He seems like a sound, accomplished coach. And while there are some up-and-comers that might have made bigger splashes, they also might have left after a year or two. Some continuity could do wonders.
My take is that this is a very, very good hire, but not a dream hire.
Lastly, a point you've made many times is that Mattison turned around our defense right away, and to that I would say two things:
- Mattison inherited a vast amount of talent when he arrived--Brown has never had that luxury.
- Mattison took over a defense that had not had competent coaching prior to his arrival. As you have noted, DB has followed some decent or even good coaches.
All that said, I appreciate a balanced approach and that someone has some counterpoints...but man, it sure feels like you went searching for data to support your bias rather than searching for data to find your conclusion.
December 20th, 2015 at 4:56 PM ^
Meyer gets Schiano, we get Don Brown. OK.....tell me why I should not be worried other than it is Harbaugh making the selection.
Sam Webb had a tweet wondering if Ohio State is a growing threat with Gary's recruitment. I sure hope this doesn't make a difference.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:03 PM ^
Harbaugh also had 3 mediocre defenses at Stanford in years 1 thru 3 (yes with far poorer talent than UM). It not until he got Vic Fangio that his defense was very good in year 4, and at San Fran. So he needs a top end DC to go with him as he is not a defensive coach. This guy is not Vic Fangio in my mind.
Hope to be very wrong.
Can't find too many spread teams BC played in 3 years because everyone is obsessed with stopping OSU but BC gave up to 42 to Rich Rod in 2013 which is probably the closest thing to a spread BC played. Also gave up 30 to PSU last year in a bowl - a pretty impotent offense. Again 2015 he did very well but I get worried about 1 year of burst like that following 2years of meh.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:10 PM ^
Isn't ND a spread offense? Held them to 19 and forced 5 turnovers. I think the most impressive thing about the BC defense is how well they did with an completely inept offense. Only 1 win against a D1 team and offense never scored more than 17 points against a D1 team.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:23 PM ^
I dont consider ND to be a spread - Space Coyote or others can correct me. They have some mobile QBs but that offense that played UM in 2014 was not spread at all. Nor was the one that played MSU In 2013.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:32 PM ^
Brian Kelly definitely runs a spread
December 21st, 2015 at 12:42 AM ^
I have no idea why Alum is so damn salty about this hire.
Jeebus, did Don Brown start dating Alum96's grandmother or something?
December 20th, 2015 at 6:46 PM ^
Yeah... there goes your credibility...
December 20th, 2015 at 9:15 PM ^
Brian stated many times that Fangio has never coached in college and would have been a terrible hire, especially if you wanna stop the spread. Also, are you telling me Brown didn't face many spread teams in the Atlantic 10 conference?
December 20th, 2015 at 6:02 PM ^
Your analysis is normally very good, but in this instance it's bad.
Brown's overall career is really quite good. He has won both as a head coach and coordinator. Oh and he also won as BASEBALL coach.
Dude can flat out coach. That's what his resume tells me.
December 20th, 2015 at 6:37 PM ^
December 20th, 2015 at 5:03 PM ^
When was that tweet? Because even from the OSU side they don't seem optimistic about Gary.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:59 PM ^
Why do you think that is such a great hire? The man could not get any looks for head coaching jobs anywhere despite being available for two years.
December 20th, 2015 at 6:32 PM ^
December 20th, 2015 at 4:58 PM ^
Looks like he's able to stop the run. But, BC got burnt through the air against Clemson and ND. I think our secondary talent level, plus Zordich and Jackson have me not as worried about that aspect.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:03 PM ^
BC forced 5 ND turnovers. I watched that entire game and BC dominated them up front. Was damn impressive.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:11 PM ^
I would't say that BC got "burnt through the air" by Notre Dame. DeShone Kizer had 8.3 yards per attempt agaiinst BC, which is a lower average than he had against teams like USC, Clemson, Stanford and Pitt, all who have more talent on defense than B.C.
December 20th, 2015 at 4:59 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 20th, 2015 at 5:02 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 20th, 2015 at 5:10 PM ^
We hire the DC of the #1 defense in the country (with BOSTON COLLEGE talent) and a portion of our fanbase isn't happy. What did you expect? That we were going to hire Wade Phillips away from the Broncos? Bunch of chicken littles on here...
December 20th, 2015 at 5:10 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 20th, 2015 at 5:12 PM ^
Have fun being miserable..I'm going to enjoy what I believe to be a very good hire.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:23 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 20th, 2015 at 5:26 PM ^
You're entitled to your own opinion, even if it is the result of an incredibly depressing worldview..
December 20th, 2015 at 5:14 PM ^
December 20th, 2015 at 5:16 PM ^
December 20th, 2015 at 5:31 PM ^
Honestly, 60 and not looking to move up is music to my ears. I don't understand the infatuation with getting young DCs who are next in line to take head coaching jobs. Guys like Pruitt will leave in a year, maybe two. It's bad for continuity, risky for recruiting, and carries the potential for a Durkin-vs.-OSU showing.
My best-case scenario is young, recruiter-beast, NFL types as position coaches, accepting that they'll move on sometimes, with born-to-be-a-coordinator, college types as OC and DC. I'd gladly take another John Baxter as our OC & DC.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:21 PM ^
OK.....if your choices were Durkin, Schiano or Brown, how would you rank them based on their respective bodies of work? Remember, the guy we lost was a recruiter with an in to the state of Florida, a high enery guy, and whom, prior to his time at Michigan, was the DC at a top program with so-so results but a very good defense. And you'd be doing somersaults?
December 20th, 2015 at 5:34 PM ^
And what recruits exactly did Durkin get out of Florida? For all the praise of Durkin's recruiting prowess Bush is the only decently rated recruit out of Floriday in the last 2 years and he committed after Durkin left. For a position like DC, scheme and onfield production is considerable more important than recruiting ability, especially with the resources Michigan has alocated to recruiting.
The nice thing about Brown is he looks like a long term hire and as good as the other two listed. Both Schiano and Durkin are great DCs but Brown is too and he will be around as DC for longer than the other two.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:43 PM ^
People seem to forget that we still have Chris Partridge for recruiting and Harbaugh might be hiring Devin Bush's dad (who's a HS coach in Florida) soon.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:56 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 20th, 2015 at 8:01 PM ^
The DE from last year? Johnson? He should be good when he puts on weight.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:05 PM ^
This name came out of nowhere, but I love the hire. Shut down Dalvin Cook AND forced ND into 5 turnovers with BC's talent? I'll take it today, tomorrow and twice on Saturday.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:05 PM ^
This is a fantastic hire. Get ready for a lot of press man coverage and great blitz packages.
Harbaugh gets an A. Well done.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:13 PM ^
Not a sexy hire by any means, but seems like a really good coach defensive nonetheles.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:17 PM ^
and football.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:30 PM ^
Comments