Report: BC DC DB TO MI Comment Count

Brian

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SI's Thayer Evans is reporting that Michigan will hire Boston College defensive coordinator Don Brown in the same capacity at Michigan:

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:

image

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.

Comments

maize-blue

December 20th, 2015 at 5:07 PM ^

It looks like they did very well against the run vs. Clemson, ND and FSU. Clemson and ND threw pretty well on them, however. Clemson had over 400 yards in the air and ND had a little over 350. They pretty much shut FSU down in the air and on the ground.

stephenrjking

December 20th, 2015 at 5:14 PM ^

The BC offense passed for less than 100 yards against Clemson, and the Tigers had a manageable 17 points at halftime (one TD was the result of a drive in which BC roughed the punter) at home. Watson did hit a couple of big pass plays. I have no idea if the problem was schematic or personnel related, but this bears repeating:

BC's offense averaged 270 yards per game last year. They were baaaaaaaad. And they managed to not get embarrassed regardless. 

Contrast this with quality Michigan defenses the last two years that got worn down late in certain games.

Wolverine Abroad

December 21st, 2015 at 3:00 AM ^

Has the coaching carousel stopped?  I am not so sure we keep Zordich.  If we didn't offer the DC position to him, I am not sure that someone else doesn't.

Call me cur-AZY, but I feel like Jim knows stuff we don't all the time - that dude is on top of his game.  I feel like he is anticipating losing another coach someplace.  Don't know who it is, but the numbers don't necessarily add up.  Right now, with the addition of DC RB, we have 10 coaches (including recently promoted Partridge) and we have to get to 9.  Also, none of these coaches appears to specialise in LB's...  I am not sure about RB, but Matti and RB seem to focus on the DL, which is cool - one can do DE's and the other can do DT's, BUT I don't see a LB guy, with the exception of Partridge (only b/c he's there right now).

Harbonzie is on top of his game and he know's this well before we even knew he hired a DC.  He has a plan to address this, and I don't feel like it is the Hoke approach of asking someone to "cover" this, though it's not their specialty.  Harbonovich, always plays to strengths - there is something afoot.

My guess is, Partridge keeps his job - but someone else is moving on to make the maths add up.  Who are the people we have 2 of...  DB Coaches and Offensive Co-Ordinators (Fisch and Drev).  How do you balance D-Fense?

 

 

 

massblue

December 20th, 2015 at 6:51 PM ^

I saw every home game and multiple away games of UMass when he was the HC and basically  ran the defense as well.  I saw all of BC's home games during the last 3 years.  Going back to his days at UMass, his teams almost always hold the opponents below their season average on stats.  I think in 2008 UMass did not allow any team to score more than 24 or 28 and most of the teams scored in teens. His defenses are fundamentally sound; he asks his DB to win the one on one battles and if the team does not have good DBs, his defense suffers. Whenever he has had above average DBs, his defenses have been great.  His defenses try to put you in 3rd and long and then come after you.  If DBs cannot hold their own, then his defense is in trouble.  I watched the game against PSU and if you go back watch it, you'll notice that a few big pass plays were responsble for the score.  BC's DBs could not keep up with PSUs WRs.  By the way, our DBs had a tough time against them as well. 

Clarence Boddicker

December 20th, 2015 at 8:25 PM ^

You do realize that he was the DC at Boston College right? BC pulls in a 75th ranked recruiting class every year, has the worst offense of any Power 5 team--which means that defense is constantly on the field--yet his defense was better than a Michigan team coached by our formerly beloved Durkin, a defense with far better talent. Fine he didn't shut down USC. I'll raise you a "He shut down FSU." This was a home run that you're skeptical about because it took you by surprise is all.

VauntedD

December 20th, 2015 at 4:47 PM ^

He had the number one ranked defense so that is at least equal to Durkin and he won't be leaving after one year for a head coaching job presumably. Go Blue!

M-Dog

December 20th, 2015 at 5:02 PM ^

Here were the BC regular season results:

Sat, Sep 5
vs
Maine
W 3 - 24
Final
 
 
Sat, Sep 12
vs
Howard
W 0 - 76
Final
 
 
Fri, Sep 18
vs
Florida State
L 14 - 0
Final
 
 
Sat, Sep 26
vs
Northern Illinois
W 14 - 17
Final
 
 
Sat, Oct 3
@
Duke
L 7 - 9
Final
 
 
Sat, Oct 10
vs
Wake Forest
L 3 - 0
Final
 
 
Sat, Oct 17
@
Clemson
L 17 - 34
Final
 
 
Sat, Oct 24
@
Louisville
L 14 - 17
Final
 
 
Sat, Oct 31
vs
Virginia Tech
L 26 - 10
Final
 
 
Sat, Nov 7 vs North Carolina State L 24 - 8 Final
 
 
Sat, Nov 21 @ Notre Dame L 16 - 19 Final
 
 
Sat, Nov 28 @ Syracuse L 17 - 20 Final

Clemson rocked them (but not more than they rocked everybody else).  Everybody else BC played was held to 20's or less.

alum96

December 20th, 2015 at 5:17 PM ^

Defense was quite good this year no matter how you try to decipher it.  It's the 2014 and 2013 defenses that worry.

Mattison showed up here and in 1 year took an awful 2010 defense and made it top 20 right away.  Brown regressed BC's defense in year 1, and then made only modest progress in year 2.  

Again if you ONLY look at 2015 he is a great candidate.  Step back a few years and ...there are questions.  It is what it is, I just hope he doesnt top out at Mattison level as I'd like to see a guy who had 1 more gear.

Not worried about the 2016 D, Brown should do well with it.  He will show his true colors in 2017 with a very young defense where he wont have a ton of seniors on the DL and 2 All Americans in the secondary.

Reader71

December 20th, 2015 at 11:32 PM ^

Right.

Alum seems to be missing an entire variable -- compare those advanced stats to recruiting rankings. He consistently outperforms them.

Look, I don't know that this is a slam-dunk hire, but that has a lot more to do with the nature of the term slam-dunk than Brown. He runs a good defense and he has shown an impressive ability to do it with teams lacking in talent. That's pretty much all you can ask for.

EGD

December 20th, 2015 at 5:42 PM ^

Mattison has won a national championships, BCS bowls, and NFL playoff games as a defensive coordinator. He's also taken teams with serious talent deficiencies and fielded respectable-to-good defenses. Mattison is about as good as they come. If Brown is at "Mattison Level," then we should all be pleased with the hire.

BlueInClearwater

December 20th, 2015 at 9:02 PM ^

But people were expecting all of: already successful/youngish up-and-comer/dynamite recruiter (because Durkin was) and expect said coach to not look for a promotion to be a head coach unless it's a bonafide top 10 job...at least 3-5 years down the line. I'm with you that Mattison is a hell of a coach and dude and the only thing I care about is the results on the field from the coordinators. If they do their job effectively getting recruits will never be a problem with Jim Harbaugh as our football coach. Positional coaches should be the ace recruiters, especially during the season, because the coordinators should be the busiest coaches on the team along with the head coach.

Indonacious

December 20th, 2015 at 6:16 PM ^

"He will show his true colors in 2017 with a very young defense where he wont have a ton of seniors on the DL and 2 All Americans in the secondary."

http://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/boston-co…...



I don't see tons of seniors or all americans on this BC team. In fact there are more sophomores on it.

- 3 Sr total (NT, MLB, FS)

- 4 So total (Both CBs, DE, OLB)



You do realize that he is at BC of all places, they routine have one of the worst recruiting classes in the ACC. The lowest rated player on our defense next year (or event he year after) probably will be higher ranked than nearly every BC defensive starter.

 

lastofthedogmen

December 20th, 2015 at 4:50 PM ^

Since I trust Harbaugh's football intelligence much more than my own. But all the hoopla over one year of great defense is not impressing me. The overall body of work doesn't seem very encouraging. If we were to lose Mattison over this I'd say it was a big step backward.

lastofthedogmen

December 20th, 2015 at 5:08 PM ^

I respect Harbaugh's judgment. I don't doubt Brown's a very good DC. I just remember Mattison coming in as a home run hire, and it seems as though we've forgotten that we already have a great DC on staff. But there could be personal or philosophical differences that keep him from that post with Harbaugh. I'll take anyone Harbaugh hires, but won't necessarily be effusive in my praise until he proves himself. Or herself - that day will come.

M-Dog

December 20th, 2015 at 5:53 PM ^

Another point that is noteworthy is that Harbaugh "gets" football in the modern era.  He is not expecting the defense to entirely carry the day.  He is not expecting to win games 17-14.  

He knows the offense has to score to win games.  His strength is in the offense.  Whatever defense we have will be coupled with an offense that Harbaugh will expect to score 30 points.

LSA Superstar

December 20th, 2015 at 5:22 PM ^

I respond to this hire more in detail below, but this is a great point.  Upvote.

I wasn't scared off by Drevno last year, but I will admit that Fisch's resume and results record gave me the willies.  And although most of Harbaugh's hires were predictably awesome (Jackson, Durkin, Zordich, Partridge as RC) I really wasn't disappointed by any coach's performance.

I'll defer to the master.

alum96

December 20th, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^

Mattison is not going anywhere - he is going to be 67 years old next year and by all accounts would have hung it up if not for Harbaugh and his granddaughter in Ann Arbor.  He will probably have 1-2 more years in him and then go out on his own terms.  We DO need a recruiter to replace Mattison down the road as he is one of our stars in that regard.