Some of you may get your wish; D Brown to BC?

Submitted by LB on December 1st, 2019 at 10:33 PM

Sources at BC say that Ohio State LB coach Al Washington is the leading candidate -with Michigan DC Don Brown part of package as asst hc and DC

— Mark Blaudschun (@blauds) December 1, 2019

evenyoubrutus

December 1st, 2019 at 10:35 PM ^

This is the stupidest "sources" report I've ever seen. They're going to hire a linebacker coach to be head coach and the "package" deal will include a defensive coordinator from a different school in a step down from his current position? Riiiiight

snarling wolverine

December 1st, 2019 at 11:37 PM ^

Playing the devil's advocate, it could be that Harbaugh feels it's time to move on, and is thus encouraging this.

I would definitely have mixed feelings if so.  Brown's a great guy and I've loved his interviews.  His defenses are awesome against 80-90% of our opponents.  He did really well his first two OSU games.  But the last two, man... 

clarkiefromcanada

December 2nd, 2019 at 12:40 AM ^

Addazio had Ryan Day at Temple (where I was enjoying the graduate school) also [and at that time Ryan Day was legit bad]

This leads me down a road that wonders a) is Ryan Day legit or is he just rolling with UFM talent (and potentially UFM input on matters given that UFM remains a t[tm]OSU employee] or b) did Addazio just stunt this guy's development on not one but two coaching stops or c) some middle ground of these two situations?

scfanblue

December 1st, 2019 at 10:44 PM ^

This would be a massive early Christmas present for Michigan BUT how can Washington hire Brown as a DC when he personally witnessed him giving up 1100 yards to Ohio State in TWO games? Brown did try to leave last year though. If this is true then Charlie Strong needs to be hired immediately in Ann Arbor. 

bronxblue

December 2nd, 2019 at 12:02 AM ^

If you think Charlie Strong is the answer at DC...you apparently stopped watching college football in 2012.

In Charlie Strong's last two HC stops (Texas and South Florida), his best defenses have by far been his first year's, typically when he inherits something resembling a competent unit.  Afterwards his defenses always crater, to the point that he fields the 50th and 60th-ranked defenses at Texas and 80th and 51st defenses at USF.  If you think Don Brown can't stop OSU, get ready for a new level of ass-whooping with a Charlie Strong defense.

1VaBlue1

December 2nd, 2019 at 8:07 AM ^

Actually, I think the gap closed a bit this year.  Offensively, Michigan was much better prepared and far more capable than the last two seasons of Pep's passing game.  But once they got behind in a shootout, the pressure ratcheted up and they started looking for a little more.  That's when it got away from the offense with the drops and Shea's untimely fumble.

Defensively, the lack of DT's and a deep secondary killed us, again.  Same story last year - no DL pass rush and weak against the run without viable DT's.  The pass coverage was pretty good for the most part, but you can't give any QB that long to throw - they'll always find something.

Brown did a fantastic job of glossing over the fact that Michigan had zero DT's worth putting on the field save for certain spots.  And he did a great job of adding a variety of coverages to the secondary in response to last year.  But the continued lack of DT and CB recruiting is going to continue to kill UM against teams like OSU.

Rafiki

December 2nd, 2019 at 9:00 AM ^

Other than Gray the secondary wasn’t really outmatches. Mettelus and Hudson just made way to many mistakes that had nothing to do with talent. The long completion on Mettelus was a bust by him. The 40 yard crossing route Hudson didn’t lock levels. And while Gray did get beat deep it was the play after Hudson jumped the punt snap. Gray isn’t in that position if UM gets the ball back.
 

I’ve looked at some of the older osu games (yea I’m a masochist) and Hudson and Mettelus often made mistakes. Some players are just more mistake prone or worse at the mental part than others regardless of athleticism. It’s possible that their back ups are less mistake prone. And that’s a fair criticism of Brown - his rotations are often confusing and he seems to loyal to upperclassmen who while good make mistakes.  
 

DTs were a problem. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that in 16 & 17 UM had at least 1 NFL/AA DT and they kept it close. Mazi and Hinton were both highly ranked so there’s hope they make a jump next year. 

Carpetbagger

December 2nd, 2019 at 12:32 PM ^

 It shouldn’t surprise anyone that in 16 & 17 UM had at least 1 NFL/AA DT and they kept it close. 

Seriously, this can't be said too many times. I don't consider it a good omen Mazi Smith never even made it on the field this year. Hinton looked like he belonged on Saturday, but he isn't a 300+ guy like Smith. We need to recruit 2 big NT types every year, given their washout rates are so high. You can get 3T guys from SDE, you rarely get NT types that way.

Indy Pete - Go Blue

December 1st, 2019 at 10:45 PM ^

Sounds ridiculous, hopefully that means it is fallacious.

Don is an outstanding coordinator. Osu is the ultimate 16-sided Rubix cube for Michigan. I am not sure we can find someone better to solve it. Venables ain’t walking through that door...

scfanblue

December 1st, 2019 at 10:57 PM ^

What the hell have you been watching the last 3 years? I agree with you though because he has been outstanding against Illinois, Rutgers, Middle Tennessee State. I guess that Florida offense in last years bowl was also a Rubix cube as well as South Carolina's the year before. Don Brown needs to retire or head back to the cape. He deserves everything he gets the next month from the media. 1100 yards in TWO games!!! Ask yourself genius how in the hell PSU held OSU to 28 points in the Horsehoe!! AND PSU does not have superior athletes to Michigan. ITS CALLED COACHING

B-Nut-GoBlue

December 1st, 2019 at 11:05 PM ^

It's called a lack of big enough inside Dline presence.  It's 2 years now and hopefully that is the full length of that burden but that is the reason.  Other teams had a couple DTs to negate the way we got exploited.  The defense was decent enough elsewhere...other teams were poor where we were good.  It doesn't take a genius to figure all of this out but you come across as, not that, so you keep on with the poor takes from your couch/desk.

bronxblue

December 2nd, 2019 at 12:11 AM ^

Michigan signed the #4 and #11 DTs in the country last year.  Two years before that they signed the #2 and #13 DTs.  Some of them have missed and that's been a problem, but the idea Don Brown is ignoring some gaping hole is delusional.  And sometimes, frankly, you just miss out on a class.  Alabama, mightiest program in the land, failed to sign and develop a full battalion of DTs the past couple of years and have struggled this year, relatively speaking, against the run and were noticeably unable to consistently move the pocket against teams like LSU and Auburn in their losses.

Michigan as a team has made mistakes and not recruited perfectly, but if your complaint is that Don Brown is somehow asleep at the wheel in that regard I think you're just looking to complain for the sake of it.

MichiganStan

December 1st, 2019 at 11:00 PM ^

If James Franklin can solve it then theres no reason a Michigan defensive coordinator cant. PSU does not have a talent advantage over Michigan. If Michigans defense could hold OSU to 20 some points, shit even in the 30s, like PSU does then we'd be winning some of these OSU games

If the best we can ever hope for is to allow OSU to score 50-60 per game then we might as well shut the program down because that's pathetic