Brown is reportedly beloved by his players.
After news broke of Michigan's now-official hiring of defensive coordinator Don Brown yesterday, reactions poured in from various corners of the internet, and I've yet to see anything that even approaches a negative take.
Boston College blogger Bill Maloney is in the bargaining stage:
Michigan fans: if you want we will trade Brad Bates and a extra Hockey National Championship trophy if you give us Brown back.
— Bill Maloney (@bcatleagle) December 20, 2015
Brian would take this trade. I'm a little less inclined, as podcast listeners could guess. Maloney was kind enough to email Brian some more detailed thoughts on Brown:
BC fans were pretty familiar with Brown prior to him coming to Boston because he had coached all throughout the region and on teams we faced at UMass and Maryland. His 2007 UMass team gave Matt Ryan a tough time by blitzing from everywhere.
My one criticism the first two years was that he sort of square peg/round holed Spaz's roster into what he wanted to do. Spaz ran a more traditional 4-3 cover two and his DBs were almost undersized LBs who were asked to tackle a lot. This led to BC giving up some late leads when the other team figured out the different looks and the DBs got exposed.
What made this year different is that he finally had great DBs, especially at corner. This allowed him to do all sorts of twists, stunts, blitzs and allow the LBs to focus on run stopping. The DBs were asked to play lots and lots of man. And they played it physically. Brown also sort of coaches a "be really physical on every play because it is not going to get called Pass Interference every time." Maybe that will change if he has elite talent at Michigan, but he did that at UMass and UConn too.
Brown also has good eye for the type of players he wants. I don't know of any Midwest recruiting ties, but if he can find elite corners out of low level, small town New England teams, I think he can adjust.
This is a big loss for BC. I hope he fits in with Harbaugh and Michigan since it it probably his last stop.
Brown should have no issue deploying his more aggressive schemes with a defensive backfield featuring Jourdan Lewis and Jabrill Peppers.
Card Chronicle gentleman Mark Ennis is happy to see Brown go:
RIP Big Ten. Brown is a mad scientist. https://t.co/8vOCiBuDFl
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) December 20, 2015
Crazy thing about Don Brown's defenses is even going back to UConn they've been insanely good and never paired with even a decent offense.
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) December 20, 2015
Everyone can have their own opinion but I don't think there's a better defensive coordinator in college football. https://t.co/FuKWGBFFU3
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) December 20, 2015
As a Lousiville person, Ennis had to put up with Brown during both his UConn and BC days. A former Clemson blogger for PhilSteele.com piggybacked off Ennis' comments to say he's as good any anyone in the country:
Just to reiterate what @MarkEnnis has been saying, Don Brown is that good. I'd take him over Venables, Smart, anyone. He's the best.
— M. Ryan Hayes (@mRyanHayes) December 20, 2015
There are many more testimonials from various sportswriters in a post on the board.
247's Clint Brewster passed along this note from a coach who's gone against Brown:
"Very unconventional. Aggressive defense. Really good third down packages. Attacks protections well. BC had the best defense we played against the past couple years"
Yes, a dollar says that coach is Tim Brewster, the FSU tight end coach who watched as BC held Dalvin Cook to easily his worst game of this season.
Despite his Bad Cop countenance, Brown has an engaging personality and is apparently beloved by his players:
BC player that tipped us on Don Brown to #Michigan: "We loved him. He was by far my favorite coach. Definitely a father figure."
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) December 21, 2015
Since Brown has spent the entirety of his coaching career at recruiting nonentities—save, I guess, a two-year stint at Maryland—that's as good an indicator as any about his potential impact in that area.
There's ample evidence that Brown will be a very easy coach for fans to support, too. He'll hopefully get active on Twitter again, as his account is internet gold:
CAMP SEASON IS FINALLY HERE AT THE HEIGHTS!!! #FUTUREDUDESpic.twitter.com/FSwxNbftRB
— Don Brown (@FBCoachDBrown) June 1, 2015
During camp he acknowledges a daily #DUDEOFTHEDAY and an occasional #GUYOFTHEDAY; it appears that a GUY is someone who has yet to become a DUDE.
"Be a dude" served as BC's mantra for the last couple years due to Brown's influence:
It started with defensive coordinator Don Brown.
"That's his saying all the time, be a dude," Addazio said. "And what being a dude is is being a baller. You know? Just being a real baller. Just being a dude.
"Be great. Be a baller. Be great at what you are. Just don't be average."
That message found a receptive audience in the Eagles' locker room.
"It just resonated with our team, you know what I mean?" Addazio said. "It just started kinda, 'Hey, be a dude, man. Be a dude.' And then we got going with recruiting and it kinda really caught on."
Expect Michigan's defensive coaches to sound unusually similar to Jeff Spicoli going forward.
MLive's Nick Baumgardner found a couple more of Brown's go-to mantras. One year at UMass he simply yelled "SMASH" at every opportunity—I'll keel over and die if he alters this to "BLUDGEON" at Michigan—and his other UMass slogan suggests he'll fit right in on this coaching staff:
"'Leave Earth' was it one year," recalls Jason Hatchell, who played linebacker for Brown from 2004-07 at UMass. "That basically meant 'don't be normal ... don't be the norm, be better than that.'
"It was on the back of our shirts."
Smash. Leave Earth. Play with your hair on fire. Be better than the norm.
If any of this line of speech seems familiar to Michigan fans, it should. Jim Harbaugh's been known to speak in catch phrases and slogans from time to time. And Michigan's head coach is also known for his intensity.
It's hard not to love this hire.