REPORT: Michigan Has Fired Don Brown
Per Bruce Feldman, Michigan has dismissed defensive coordinator Don Brown.
When Brown was hired by Michigan in 2016 he had a great reputation. He had done more with less at Boston College, brought a level of passion and intensity to the sideline that is elite even for a grizzled defensive coordinator and earned the nickname "Dr. Blitz" because of his aggressive, attacking scheme.
Fast forward to now and his defense is a sieve.
The 2020 season proved it. The season-opening win against Minnesota looked good, but the Wolverines still allowed 326 yards. That's not exactly a ton of yards, but it's still nearly 100 yards more than Brown used to give up during his hay day. A bad Michigan State team put up 449 total yards in an unforgivable 27-24 win and then Indiana piled up 460 yards during a 17-point win. Wisconsin absolutely pounded Michigan by 38 and stacked up another 468 yards. Finally, even Rutgers went off. In a triple-overtime thriller, the Scarlet Knights compiled 456 yards.
It became very clear that other staffs figured Brown out. Throw in just how bad U-M's defense looked against Ohio State over the last three years and it's been enough for a while.
Brown is a major domino falling indicating that big changes are coming for Michigan's staff. It might also indicate that Harbaugh will be back as long as he's willing to make sweeping changes to his staff. Stay tuned.
