So far everyone mention has been, at least in their coaching career, an offensive mind. Typically that's how things go in the MAC whoever has the ball last wins a shootout. Recently teams like Temple and NIU have started to break that mold and build around the defense, their success of late shows there is room, even in the Mid American Conference, for smash mouth football.Finally we have a defensive coach listed for the UB head coaching job, and a serious enough candidate to be interviewed, today, for the Buffalo Coaching vacancy. Credit goes to BrooklynBull at UBfan.com for bringing up his name before anyone else nearly a week ago. At the time I blew it off because well, you've seen the Irish defense, but there are some worth wile notes about him over on uhnd.com (unofficial home of Notre Damn Football).
Brown gets a bad rap for the play of the defensive backs this year, but I still think a lot of the inconsistency we’ve seen from the secondary has to do with the defensive scheme not matching the players strengths. Brown is by far the best recruiter for defensive recruits and when he was the lone defensive coordinator, Notre Dame had its two best defenses of the Weis Era. If he isn’t retained, I hope he either heads to the NFL or a school that Notre Dame doesn’t play or recruit against much. -- uhnd.com
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Recruited by legendary head coach Bo Schembechler, brown was a member of four Big Ten Conference championship teams at Michigan after which he enjoyed an eight-year NFL career as a role player for the New England Patriots, New York Jets, and the Detroit Lions.
After his playing days were done he broke into coaching as a special teams coach with Virgina before setting up camp with the New York Jets coaching the defensive backs. While he coached New Yorks defensive backs they intercepted 56 passes, tied for fifth most in the NFL from 2004-06. Cornerback Ty Law was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2005 with Brown's coaching and safety Kerry Rhoades was named to the NFL all-rookie team in '05. Brown alo guided guided safety Erik Coleman from a fifth-round draft pick to the starter in all 16 games, the first Jets rookie to start every game for nearly 20 years.
In January 2007 Brown was hired on at Notre Dame and the impact to the Irish Defense was immediate, The '07 defensive secondary allowed 161.58 passing yards allowed per game. That average ranked second in the nation and was the best by an Irish defense since '96 and the fifth-best average in the past 25 Notre Dame seasons. Safety Tom Zbikowski became just the eighth Notre Dame player to reach 300 career tackles in '07 and was drafted in the third round by the Baltimore Ravens.
Brown switched from coaching linebackers in '07 to defensive backs in '08 and helped safeties McCarthy set the single-season school record for tackles by a defensive back. This past season was one of the weaker Irish defenses in recent memory but Brown has been sharing some of the responsibility.
Positives of Brown:
- Good Recruiter at Notre Dame
- Solid defensive coach
- Experience as a defensive coordinator
Negatives of Brown:
- No experience with the MAC
- Mixed results in 08 and 09
Would this be a good hire for UB?
I'm not a believer, yet, but the more I look at his entire body of work, and not just the 09 season, I see someone who could be a great coach for UB. I prefer smash mouth defensive oriented football and right now other than Vance Bedford , brown is the only name in circulation.