The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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"Everything he has touched has turned to gold. Just look at his track record as a head coach, defensive coordinator and even as a baseball coach. "We are beyond excited to wel- come this high-character, high- achieving individual to our program and university. Teaching and player development are synonymous with coaching and Don Brown epitomizes those qualities." A college lifer that began his career an assistant at Dartmouth, Brown was Maryland's defensive coordi- nator from 2009-10, held the same position at Connecticut (2011-12) and then worked with the Eagles over the last three seasons. His production at every stop is a tribute to his unique methods. "Most defenses, whether they ad- mit it or not, are read and react. Most play parallel to the line of scrimmage, but his defense is built on explosion," Cronan said. "He takes the fight to you, and he dares you to counter- punch. "He's the boxing heavyweight that goes to the middle of the ring and just starts unloading a bunch of up- percuts, and you have to adapt to him." Brown's defense can be described as a base 4-3, but in today's college football, he is constantly changing looks up front, at the second level and in the defensive backfield. "The first thing he teaches is the 4-3, but he's a coach that believes in multiple fronts so we played 3-4, 3-3-5 — what makes him such a great coach is he has so many tools in his toolbox, as far as personnel groupings, and he uses all of them in a single game," said safety Justin Simmons, who was a second-team All-ACC selection in 2015. "As an offense, I can only imagine how terri- fying it is to prepare for every single blitz, every different scheme with their subtle variations, and every personnel package he has." Simmons racked up 67 tackles in his senior year and had five intercep- tions. He arrived in Boston confident in his ability to play zone-defense concepts and was content to roam center field, eyeing the quarterback for possible pass deflections. For a year, that is what he did. Then Brown arrived. "I knew what I was good at, but Coach Brown said to play for him I had to cover slot receivers and tight ends, I had to blitz, I had to come up to stop the run, and he demanded that no matter the matchup — even if the guy was faster than me or had two inches and 25 pounds — I had to win," Simmons said. "He instills so much confidence in you and he has such high expectations for you indi- vidually, as a position group and as a defense, and then he gives you the resources to meet those expectations. "He's really an incredible coach to play for." Those that know Brown call him gruff, fiery, a football coach that just loves the X's and O's, is constantly evolving and is always willing to listen to other ideas. He pushes his players to reach their potential, and they love him for it. "You could hear him yelling from