Michigan’s defense is allowing only 203.3 yards a game, is fourth in rushing defense (69.3) and eighth in passing yards allowed (134.0) under defensive coordinator Don Brown. They’re also second in defensive touchdowns and first in team sacks, averaging 4.5 a game.
It’s so good that Michigan fans are worried they might lose Brown to a head coaching position. Fortunately for them, he appears to be here to stay.
“You look at his track record, everything he’s touched has turned to gold,” Harbaugh said of Brown during his “Inside Michigan Football” radio show last night.
Earlier in the day, he said his goal was to keep Brown happy.
“As long as Don Brown’s good, I’m good,” Harbaugh said earlier at his weekly Monday news conference. “You want to know my happiness is or my mood is like … Don Brown’s mood is good, I’m good.”
When asked about possible head coaching opportunities, Brown told the Detroit News, “Not now. I don’t think now. I’ve got a pretty good gig, don’t I? Take a look at how young we are defensively. It’s pretty exciting isn’t it?”
Earlier, he admitted his hands were shaking when he interviewed with Harbaugh. He took only 20 minutes to decide to join the staff.
Harbaugh proceeded to call him one of the great coaches in college football history.
“I knew I wanted to hire him even before we talked,” Harbaugh said. “I said, ‘I want you to be the defensive coordinator for the University of Michigan.
“I would say he is one of the best coaches in the history of the game, and I have been on a lot of teams, have been around a lot of coaches. Don Brown is right there at the very top at the very highest level, in my opinion. Tremendous teacher, great guy, great character. He showers us with his virtues daily.”
Brown said he’d be in Saturday to work despite the bye week to prepare for MSU and more. He joined former Michigan offensive lineman Jon Jansen on his College Sports Now radio show today.
Here’s Brown:
On a 28-10 win over Purdue: “They had done some really good things on offense, and a lot of it was from the gadget variety. We had to kind of weather the storm there in the second quarter, didn’t do a great job on one of the tunnel screens, they got us on a wide high … quarterback rolls, then back to the tight end to the back side.
“After that point in that second quarter drive, I thought our guys did a really good job of maintaining their eyes, being disciplined. We played a lot of man coverage so we wouldn’t lose people. We really played extremely well in the second half, did a great job getting off the field on third down and made it very, very difficult for them in that second half.”
On sophomore linebacker Devin Bush: “He’s a quality blitzer. He is fast, but you know how it is … some guys are fast but don’t play fast. This guy is fast and plays fast. He’s very cerebral. We found it out in the spring that he can handle a lot of concepts. Obviously, coupled with Mike McCray next to him, Mike’s got a ton of experience now. Anything that comes up they can work their way through.
“They took a wide receiver and put him in the backfield. They switched the blitz where Devin took No. 9 and Mike became the blitzer. That doesn’t happen with most linebacker groups. With those guys, they are extremely cerebral, playing at a high level, no question. It’s one thing to be fast, another to play fast. He’s certainly doing that.”
On success despite the team’s youth: “Impressed, yes. As I mentioned, extremely cerebral. The one area I point to is we played a Cincinnati team that presented its own challenges, but then had to get ready to play Air Force in a week. We had spent some time especially in spring preparing for that game, but to be able to shift gears physically, mentally, play a completely different style of offense …
“We really only made one mistake in the game in terms of rotations in the secondary corps. I really feel good about their approach. I have an outstanding group of guys in Coach [Greg] Mattison, [Chris] Partridge, [Mike] Zordich and [Brian] Smith. They get their guys ready to play each and every day. I think all that hard work is paying off. Their approach in the meeting room has been tremendous.”
On working with Harbaugh: “He creates an environment of creativity. Doesn’t only encourage it, but expects it. You’re allotted the amount of practice repetitions due to tremendous organization to give your players a chance to be successful. Coach refers to it as numbing repetition.
“It’s building that creativity … not anticipated, but expected. It’s just a great environment of football to be around.”
On the bye week: “Coach calls it opportunity week, a chance to get better. That’s what we do each and every week … an opportunity for our guys to get better. Trying to squeeze out all the mistakes we can or minimize them that so guys have a chance to play at a high level. That’s what this is … that’s the approach.
“It’s singular plays, minimizing your weaknesses. We had a couple of them we have to address. If I tell you, I’ve got to take you out, so I don’t want to do that. We’ll certainly address those issues.”
On the ceiling: “You alluded to our youth. We’ve still got an awful long way to go before we come close to hitting our ceiling. I can assure you each and every position coach is trying to take our guys from a to b, b to c. There are so many things we can do from technique and fundamental standpoints that will be really critical to our success.
“We’ll see multiple tight end looks that create extra gaps, spread offenses, and we’ll deal with them … continuing to not only get better at things we’re doing but be creative and create tempo changes of the offense. We’re a big advocate of playing on their side of the line of scrimmage and make them make quick decisions.”
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @AndrewVcourt and @Balas_Wolverine
• Like us on Facebook
