Corwin Brown Snake Oil

Submitted by Raback Omaba on

I'm not sure what the status of our position coaches are, but I think it would be a good idea for RichRod to snake oil Corwin Brown from Notre Dame after Weis is fired. Not that it'll take that much snake oil because Brown probably won't automatically be asked back as part of the ND staff

It would look great on RichRod because he is bringing in a Michigan Man, and would definitely help recruiting because I've heard that Corwin Brown is a damn good recruiter.

Also, it might give us some leverage to snake oil some current ND commits and the ability to gain leverage with ND's current recruiting targets that Corwin is working.

Good idea by me

I'll begin preparing my resume for athletic director

+1!!!!

jtmc33

November 24th, 2009 at 5:52 PM ^

Brown is the D.C. at Notre Dame... he would never come to UM and take a position-coach job. Plus, I always thought his stop in South Bend was temp. until he got a head coaching gig.

If he is let go... I bet he gets hired at a big time program as D.C. or becomes a head coach at a starter school (probably MAC).

If, however, he is true blue (despite his time in SB) then I would love his recruiting in Ann Arbor

blueloosh

November 24th, 2009 at 6:10 PM ^

I can't remember which it was but I actually saw his coaching business card (yeah, they exist) and I believe it either said "politely demoted DC" or "still really special defensive coach." Either way, you better believe he is the one calling the shots. Hence, it makes sense for him to get bent out of shape when someone maybe possibly insinuates the ND defensive gameplan was predictable. Because he is the mastermind and schematic czar of the defense.

rlew

November 24th, 2009 at 6:17 PM ^

I'm not sure about that. Why should we assume without reservation that he's the one calling the shots? Regardless of what his business cards might say, if you're the guy who has the "co-" added to your title, after having the title to yourself, I don't think it's safe to assume you're necessarily still the guy calling the shots. All that said, it makes about zero sense to go off when an opposing coach says they simply assumed they'd line up the same way. This goes to my point below that it's pretty hot-headed to take what was said, jump to that conclusion, and go off about it, especially after an embarrassing loss.

blueloosh

November 24th, 2009 at 6:47 PM ^

My sarcasm should have been more plain. I was not being serious. I think the whole world, probably Brown included, knows that Brown was fired as a brain and retained as a recruiter. Which is what makes his defensive reaction to the Navy comments so goofy. (How DARE you question the game planning I am no longer allowed to do!)

He is the classic case of "how do we fire this guy without losing this year's recruits...or next year's recruits... ... or next year's recruits."

I actually feel bad for him.

Thrillhouse

November 24th, 2009 at 6:02 PM ^

Brown isn't the DC at Notre Dame...he's the Co-DC. Whatever the hell that means...probably something close to Assistant To The Regional Manager. He was pretty much shoved aside when Tenuta came in. He's essentially just a position coach (DBs) with a fancy title who happens to be a monster recruiter.
I'm guessing his title change indicates that Fat Charlie wasn't too happy with his ability to guide a defense, but wanted to keep him on for his recruiting prowess. I always thought of him as ND's version of Ron English.
If we brought him in, it'd pretty much be as a recruiter as there isn't much proof that he has better coaching ability than Jay Hopson or Tony Gibson. I really doubt that would be an attractive move to someone in Corwin Brown's shoes.

Irish

November 24th, 2009 at 11:35 PM ^

Brown is a Co-defensive coordinator with Tenuta but he is also the Associate Head Coach.
-Brown builds the gameplans with Tenuta, and then Tenuta calls the plays on the field. Brown actually requested this change after calling plays last season.
-Being the Associate Head Coach also means that he is the secondary Head Coach and will likely coach the team during the upcoming bowl game
-On top of that he is also the secondary's position coach

Bando Calrissian

November 24th, 2009 at 9:28 PM ^

Not to mention English is an intense coach that gets the respect of his players. Lest we forget the "WIN FOR THIS MAN!" speech at halftime of the Capital One Bowl.

I've met the guy several times, got to be around him quite a bit at one point, and Ron English is a real stand-up guy. The reason he focused on the west coast is because he played at Cal, coached in California and Arizona, and thus has TONS of connections out there.

But I digress. Basically, criticizing English because his "recruits didn't pan out" is a little bit of a stretch.

jmblue

November 24th, 2009 at 10:22 PM ^

My criticism isn't so much that English's recruits didn't pan out (although that's turned out to be true for basically everyone but Warren) as that he just plain didn't land enough of them in the first place. We finished second in a whole bunch of recruiting battles for DBs (and other players out West, his territory). Going from Teryl Austin to English turned out to be a serious downgrade from a recruiting standpoint (not sure about coaching).

Magnum P.I.

November 25th, 2009 at 9:27 PM ^

but recruiting prowess isn't the only factor in determining if M wins recruiting battles for West Coast kids. The cards are already stacked heavily against us before recruiting even begins just based on geography. Any recruiting victories for 4+ stars in California should be regarded as coups for M.

jmblue

November 25th, 2009 at 11:53 PM ^

Well then maybe it was a mistake to hire a guy whose home turf was California. We lost our ace recruiter (Austin) and replaced him with English, who finished second in a lot of recruiting battles.

jmblue

November 24th, 2009 at 10:18 PM ^

English was responsible for recruiting Donovan Warren, Jonas Mouton, and Mike Williams. Not too shabby.

You named three players. English was on our staff for five years. That's really not that great a record for a guy who was hyped as an ace recruiter when we hired him. His predecessor at DB coach, Teryl Austin, brought in more in terms of both quantity and quality. English's tenure on our staff coincided with our general downturn in recruiting (especially in the secondary) in the middle of the decade.

rlew

November 24th, 2009 at 6:00 PM ^

I'm sorry, but I'm not interested. I thought his comments after the Navy loss came off sad and pathetic and hot-headed. We don't need that sort of thing around here. We can find stud position coaches without taking on a guy who's prone to saying something idiotic.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4646241

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2009/11/notre-dame-assistant-corwi…

rlew

November 24th, 2009 at 6:08 PM ^

Ha! I know. And, I'm biased. We've discussed.

Also, I meant to bring up your good or even better point that his comments on recruiting aren't easy to swallow, even if he "doesn't really mean it." There are some things you just can't say and be forgiven.

ThWard

November 24th, 2009 at 6:02 PM ^

Agree that I don't want him. Don't agree that he would take a position coaching job. Lots of OC/DCs who are cast aside as part of a failing coach's administration have taken position spots at higher profile programs rather than coordinator spots at lower tier programs... and I doubt he'll be DC (or co-DC) of any BCS-level programs next year.

Hoken's Heroes

November 24th, 2009 at 6:06 PM ^

Tenuta is the true DC at ND. Brown can recruit but it's not quite clear if he can coach. ANother question about Brown is if he has negative recruited against Michigan. I remember reading something about how he has but I can't for certain say it's true. Maybe someone on here knows more.

mejunglechop

November 24th, 2009 at 6:23 PM ^

I really don't know why people get so worked up about negative recruiting*. I wouldn't have any problem with Rich Rodriguez telling a recruit, "Terelle, the truth is Jim Tressel isn't going to know how to maximize your talents." Or, "Latwan, I don't think Bill Stewart is going to point West Virginia to an upward trajectory."

I don't have a problem with Urban Meyer telling Denard, "You know it's awful cold up in Michigan"

Coaches are trying to sell their schools, I don't see anything wrong with them pointing out the relative flaws, perceived or not, of their competitors.

*within reason. Telling a recruit a coach recruiting him has Parkinson's is not within reason.

Hoken's Heroes

November 24th, 2009 at 6:31 PM ^

I agree with you that negative recruiting happens and in most cases I could care less. I only bring it up because Corwin Brown played for Michigan. He's a Michigan Man. Maybe you don't find it a problem with a Michigan Man negative recruiting against his alma mater, but I do.

fatbastard

November 24th, 2009 at 9:42 PM ^

that that Michigan is all talk. They don't have the history that we do. I played there. It's all hogwash, they say they're the winningest team of all time, but they didn't have Knute Rockne, or Rudy. Really, Bo was just a guy, and they haven't won a national championship in decades -- I mean you can't count that '97 team 'cause ya know that was Tom Osborne's year."

Don't hold that against Cornflakes. He'd be a great linebackers coach here.

ish

November 24th, 2009 at 6:31 PM ^

i don't know why our fan base got so caught up in lo wood. if we got some combination of CC (announcing any minute), tony grimes, rashad knight and maybe vinopal we'd be good to go.

CCBlue

November 24th, 2009 at 6:40 PM ^

Figured Lo would be the easiest convert since it basically came down to us and ND with Corwin Brown the apparent tipping pooint. I'm not particularly infatuated with him, but lord knows we need all the secondary help we can get, especially since we keep turning Safeties into LBs.

NHWolverine

November 24th, 2009 at 10:43 PM ^

however he's past that in his career. Someone could hire Brown as their HC but I see DC at a the first available D-I team for him in 2010. I'd like to see more coaches from that Bo-player era coach position players at our club but honestly the OP's suggestion is a long shot at best.

k06em01

November 25th, 2009 at 10:12 PM ^

I don't think he would accept the DB coaches job here either...not with Robinson in place. But if everything else falls through for him, it'd sure be awesome!

k06em01

November 25th, 2009 at 10:12 PM ^

I don't think he would accept the DB coaches job here either...not with Robinson in place. But if everything else falls through for him, it'd sure be awesome!