Could Penn State Lose an Assistant Coach to Michigan?
Michigan parted ways with defensive coordinator Don Brown on Monday, following a season in which the Wolverines allowed 34.5 points per game. That's more than double what they gave up in 2016.
Brown's defenses grew looser and more porous since then, bottoming in a 2020 season when opponents scored at least 27 points in all six games. So who's next in Ann Arbor?
Coach Jim Harbaugh likely has an eye on Tim Banks, Penn State's safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator. Banks has been at Penn State since 2016, when he joined the staff from Illinois.
Banks has been a defensive coordinator or co-defensive coordinator at four schools (including Central Michigan and Cincinnati) and is ready to take a mantle of his own.
Banks has been instrumental in helping mold safeties Marcus Allen, Troy Apke, Garrett Taylor, Nick Scott, Lamont Wade and Jaquan Brisker into All-Big Ten players. Brisker in particular came a long way this season, from starting at a new position to being named third-team all-conference.
Further, Banks is a Michigan native (he played at Detroit's Martin Luther King High and Central Michigan University) and Penn State's lead recruiter in the region. Banks was instrumental in recruiting four players from the Detroit area to Penn State's 2021 class.
All four players are defensive recruits (linebacker Jamari Buddin. safety Jaylen Reed, cornerback Kalen King and linebacker Kobe King) who were SI All-American candidates.
"Even though I have this boyish look, I’ve been recruiting a long time and I’ve made a lot of great relationships around the country, particularly in the Midwest," the 49-year-old Banks said earlier this year. "I’ve coached in a lot of different stops along the way. Relationships are everything, and I've had a chance to develop a lot of great ones that really bode well for me and [Penn State]."
Those relationships certainly would transfer smoothly to Michigan.
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