Does Don Brown get too much credit?

[Palatine]

His defenses were loaded for the last two years. And while he put up good defensive stats. They weren't GREAT defensive stats. And they didn't translate into wins.

We all know his defenses broke down at the worst times in the 4th quarter.

As we watch the four combines invitees ascend to the top of the class. And we look back at Kendall Reyes rookie season. Seems to me like he had a lot to work with.

Did Brown underachieve?

 

[sdhusky]

I've thought that.

 

[UConnDan97]

We'll find out soon enough with his teams at BCU...

 

[WhereistheDove?]

They may not have put up great defensive stats, but they were also on the field A LOT.

 

[Woof 101]

His defenses were loaded for the last two years. And while he put up good defensive stats. They weren't GREAT defensive stats. And they didn't translate into wins.

We all know his defenses broke down at the worst times in the 4th quarter.

As we watch the four combines invitees ascend to the top of the class. And we look back at Kendall Reyes rookie season. Seems to me like he had a lot to work with.

Did Brown underachieve?

Very hard to say they underachieved with our offense of the past two years. There was several instances of our supposed lock down corners toasted for six though...

 

[whaler11]

God I agree with Pal. Yes, the combine has shown the Brown love was overblown. I am terrified for next season on the players they lose.

 

[metsfan2323]

I'm 99% sure Don Brown made our defense and the players better. Defensive success seems to follow Don wherever he goes, it's not a coincidence. Hopefully some of whatever Don has rubbed off on Hank Hughes. Give the coaches some credit for getting Sio, BWW, Gratz, and Trevardo to their current status, the players are giving them credit, we should believe what they are saying.

 

[metsfan2323]

I am terrified for next season on the players they lose.

and last year everyone wondered how we would replace Reyes and Martin, and then Stephen gets injured preseason, we must be doomed right? Nope, our interior defense was as good as it has ever been with a bunch of no names playing Tackle.

 

[whaler11]

and last year everyone wondered how we would replace Reyes and Martin, and then Stephen gets injured preseason, we must be doomed right? Nope, our interior defense was as good as it has ever been with a bunch of no names playing Tackle.

Hopefully UConn has a bunch of NFL corners they didn't put on the field last year. I'm sure they just played Mack for fun.

 

[metsfan2323]

Hopefully UConn has a bunch of NFL corners they didn't put on the field last year. I'm sure they just played Mack for fun.

Byron Jones was playing safety because he had two NFL players ahead of him at CB. He takes over one CB position and about 6 guys duke it out for the other starting role.

 

[whaler11]

Byron Jones was playing safety because he had two NFL players ahead of him at CB. He takes over one CB position and about 6 guys duke it out for the other starting role.

Even granting that its one player. I have been banging the drum that they are losing a ton of very good players on defense. Just like I was banging the drum they had a terrible offensive line last year. I hope I'm wrong this time.

 

[UConnDan97]

I'm 99% sure Don Brown made our defense and the players better. Defensive success seems to follow Don wherever he goes, it's not a coincidence. Hopefully some of whatever Don has rubbed off on Hank Hughes. Give the coaches some credit for getting Sio, BWW, Gratz, and Trevardo to their current status, the players are giving them credit, we should believe what they are saying.

I don't want to argue against the statement that Don Brown made the defense better, because it was certainly a great defense and he was at the helm. The only thing that I'll take a little exception to is the statement where you say you hope whatever Don had rubs off on Hank Hughes. It's not like Hank Hughes is chopped liver. Hank has had a successful defense for many years. And although this last Don Brown defense was statistically better in terms of yardage, the Hughes defenses always seemed to have a knack of gaining a high amount of turnovers. I know part of that is due to the "bend, don't break" philosophy, but those turnovers definitely led to wins...

 

[businesslawyer]

Don Brown did a fine job here, but our defensive results over the last two years, given the personnel he had relative to our strength of schedule, was far from heroic.

 

[uconndogs]

I've said this before, BC does not have the defensive talent that UCONN has had the last couple of years, especially in the backfield. BC's DBs are sloooooooooowwwwww..........

Brown runs his LBs every play like he did last season and BC is going to give up a ton of big plays....a ton.

 

[J187Money]

Very hard to say they underachieved with our offense of the past two years. There was several instances of our supposed lock down corners toasted for six though...

Right. That style of defense puts pressure on the corners and sometimes they get beat. But with a normal offensive output nobody would say anything negative about this defense.

 

[mattp]

Let's not get all sour grapes on Don Brown now. He did a great job in giving us an exciting defense. Could you imagine sitting through last season's offense with a bend don't break style defense? It'd have been painful. That said I think we would have been a lot more effective if we had more turnovers as a result of the aggressive play. Hank Hughes did a great job before him and I think he'll do a great job now. In terms of actual effectiveness his D's were overall on par with Don Brown's. I think we'll probably see Hank blitz a little more than he did with Edsall, which will be nice. Hopefully we'll end up somewhere in the middle in terms of aggressiveness. We are losing some great talent on defense, but I really like a lot of the young guys we have and I think we'll have a lot of success. If Weist can get this offense moving I might even hop back on the P bandwagon.

 

[Srqhusky]

Does the boneyard complain too much ?

 

[Palatine]

Let's not get all sour grapes on Don Brown now. He did a great job in giving us an exciting defense. Could you imagine sitting through last season's offense with a bend don't break style defense? It'd have been painful. That said I think we would have been a lot more effective if we had more turnovers as a result of the aggressive play. Hank Hughes did a great job before him and I think he'll do a great job now. In terms of actual effectiveness his D's were overall on par with Don Brown's. I think we'll probably see Hank blitz a little more than he did with Edsall, which will be nice. Hopefully we'll end up somewhere in the middle in terms of aggressiveness. We are losing some great talent on defense, but I really like a lot of the young guys we have and I think we'll have a lot of success. If Weist can get this offense moving I might even hop back on the P bandwagon.

This isn't sour grapes. It is dispassionate perspective incorporating recent events (the combine). I was certainly happy that Brown brought an more aggressive style of defense to UConn. Edsall's bend but don't break was hard to watch.

I also think whoever mentioned that Hank Hughes deserves some credit makes a good point. Hughes has proven to be a very good coach who has developed numerous NFL players. I think he will do a good job. I also hope he runs a more aggressive defense now that he isn't under Edsall's thou.

 

[CTMike]

Its simple- When DB was here he was great. Now that he's at BCU he sucks!

 

[pj]

Don Brown was an excellent coach but he was coasting and we can do as well or better under Hughes. We lost a ton of talent so the defense will be down this year but it can come back; we need to start recruiting defense better. Edsall seemed to have a gift for finding athletes who could develop, it remains to be seen if P's defensive classes will develop as well. But at least the offense should be improved with Weist and better talent on the way.

 

[J187Money]

Don Brown was an excellent coach but he was coasting and we can do as well or better under Hughes. We lost a ton of talent so the defense will be down this year but it can come back; we need to start recruiting defense better. Edsall seemed to have a gift for finding athletes who could develop, it remains to be seen if P's defensive classes will develop as well. But at least the offense should be improved with Weist and better talent on the way.

Coasting? I'm sure you have evidence to back that up.

 

[Excalibur]

People realize that his two years here weren't Don Brown's only two years in coaching, right? His history says Pal is wrong, and his two years here were consistent with that history.

 

[Excalibur]

Coasting? I'm sure you have evidence to back that up.

He doesn't.

 

[pj]

Coasting? I'm sure you have evidence to back that up.

It was obvious that he was coasting on the recruiting trail, he put no effort into recruiting at all. I do not know if he was coasting on his game coaching but episodes like the Western Michigan game make me wonder.

 

[sdhusky]

Don Brown did a fine job here, but our defensive results over the last two years, given the personnel he had relative to our strength of schedule, was far from heroic.

yup.

Especially in the turnover department.