Uh yeah. I’ll take a guy who has put up top 5-10 defenses almost every year for a decade please. Michigan 2019- #7 total D/ #19 scoring D 2018- #2 total D/ #16 scoring D 2017- #3 total D/ #13 scoring D 2016- #1 total D/ #2 scoring D Boston College 2015- #1 total D/ #4 scoring D 2014- #11 total D/#21 scoring D UCONN 2012- #9 total D/ #20 scoring D
Brown is a terrific DC. He's also given up 118 points to OSU the last two seasons. From the UM perspective, that's kind of a big deal and makes the discussion somewhat complicated.
he is the epitome of the Harbaugh era. His tenure is defined by a single game, despite any other numbers. And that game has not gone well.
Brown can be stubborn but he's still an elite dc. Its nearly impossible to stop elite offenses in this day and age and even more difficult to when you have average at best dts.
Honestly thought I was going to get a bunch of well actuallys from the Michigan posters but all those posts were reasonable and understandable
I think there’s some room to discuss his defenses v elite teams as opposed to the rest of the schedule. But even the more analytical numbers like S&P still hold him up. There’s a lot to like about him. There’s also a lot that’s frustrating. but at the end of the day he’s a very good to great DC
I can remember the shit storm saban got when durkin observed a Bama practice and there were rumors he’d be apart of his support staff interesting to see if kiffin gets the same or if time has healed those wounds
I wish um administration and Harbaugh had the balls to hire Tosh Lupoi as partridges replacement but they dont.
Happy for Partridge and hope he does really well there. With his recruiting record pretty much everywhere UM has sent him and his experience in different roles at UM, he could get a HC job within 2 years if he does well as a DC.
Yeah. Of heat exhaustion. And iirc they left him on the sidelines without medical attention for some long span, like 45 minutes to an hour, before sending him to the hospital.
In all seriousness it seems like Durkin was really reckless with the young man's health, but I highly doubt he's the first guy to run a program like that. He got his punishment and I don't think he deserves a lifetime ban from the sport.
I'm forgetting parts of the Durkin stuff at Maryland. Was he at the workout when the kid died? Or was it "he hired the guy who ran the workout and is responsible for it"? I would never hire him either way, but I can at least see an argument for a second chance if it was the latter.
things came out after that made the culture there look really bad. If you are running a win at all costs program and your S&C/medical staff fuck up in dramatic fashion that likely contributed to the death of a player, you are fucked. I think the player never got the proper care and he might have been saved if they did they right things which makes it much worse than just a freak death.
The fact that Maryland fired him without cause tells me there wasn't enough tying him directly to the kids death to feel like firing him with cause would hold up in civil court. When something like that happens the coach always accountable since its his program. I think they had to fire him based on the findings showing the strength coach was clearly allowed to be a meathead hardo for years without being reigned in and the training staff didn't remotely do their job to recognize how dire the kids situation was. Fair or unfair the buck stops with the head coach in that situation. But its not like Durkin was calling the kid a pussy for not finishing drills. Maryland's report basically said he was aware that the kid was overheated but it was being handled by the training staff. I imagine that happens all the time at every school. Ole Miss had a kid die in the same situation in 2011 but the training staff followed the correct protocols. He's going to have to live with that forever and he's going to have to answer for it to recruits Mamas anytime he's in their living room. I hope he's forthright and contrite about it and doesn't make excuses. That will go a long way to restoring his image and help if he ever wants to be a head coach again.
The independent report Maryland had done essentially said that had the training staff followed protocols and put him in an ice bath to get his temperature down he probably would have lived. Instead they kept him out on the field in the sun and he just kept getting worse. Maryland admitted fault based on the training staff not following the protocols but cleared Durkin of any wrongdoing. Him letting the strength coach be an asshole for years led to what was reported by ESPN as a toxic culture though the Maryland report said that didn't appear to be the case. We vetted him hard and reached out to former players at Maryland and administration at Maryland. Apparently they all thought he deserved a second chance.
I'll be interested what durkins recruiting is like after the incident. IMO he's always been more recruiter than coach, he was meh as dc at UM and the position he coached was the weak link(lbs) of the defense .
Brian Kelly killed a kid (at least one) too, so falling back to a DC position seems fair sure not as much of a fall from a scissor lift but still a fall
Futureman might lowkey be the biggest homer on the board. If he reads it on an Ole Miss board, it's 100% fact.
Michigan was a top 10 defense in 2015 according to S&P, total D and scoring D. His position group was the weakest because the talent he inherited was worse than the other position groups. Durkin was a good DC at Michigan. No clue what he'll do now in that division after he killed a guy, but I don't get where you come up with your talking points.