Does Don Brown get too much credit?

[Excalibur]

The 11th ranked defense in the country got "destroyed" by short passes?

I swear that some of you watch one game each weekend.

 

[Devland]

Half of coaching is recruiting. The success he had last year was not with his recruits. Did he leave because he knew there was going to be a drop off in talent on defense this year? I think only he knows that.

 

[sdhusky]

We just had four defensive guys blow up the combine, four guys who led the No. 9 defense in the country, and people are seriously questioning the coaching ability of the guy who was the defensive coordinator. Jesus. People point to turnovers? I'll point to the bounce of the ball -- we had more than our share of dropped interceptions and fumbled balls bouncing back into the hands of the opposition. That's luck, not coaching.

This combine showed not only how good the defensive players (and coaches) were but once again reinforces how malpractice-level bad the offensive coaching was that this team did not go to a bowl game. You don't like Steve Mariucci? Fine. Name any group of coaches you trust, throw them in a film room and they would be equally appalled by what passed for offensive coaching last year.

We didn't get many turnovers. Rutgers had a similar defense and got 3 times as many interceptions (18 vs 6).

Whether its bad bounces, the sun or coaching, it doesn't matter.

I doubt we go 5-7 if we got 12 more interceptions last year.

 

[huskynation]

We just had four defensive guys blow up the combine, four guys who led the No. 9 defense in the country, and people are seriously questioning the coaching ability of the guy who was the defensive coordinator. Jesus. People point to turnovers? I'll point to the bounce of the ball -- we had more than our share of dropped interceptions and fumbled balls bouncing back into the hands of the opposition. That's luck, not coaching.

This combine showed not only how good the defensive players (and coaches) were but once again reinforces how malpractice-level bad the offensive coaching was that this team did not go to a bowl game. You don't like Steve Mariucci? Fine. Name any group of coaches you trust, throw them in a film room and they would be equally appalled by what passed for offensive coaching last year.

If you want to win football games you can't just have a really good defense. Our offense was so bad, we couldn't run the ball, struggled in pass protection, questionable play calling combined with a ton of turnovers. That's enough to create a losing record right there.

Offense, Defense, and Special Teams: The defense between DB and PP improved from year 1 to year 2. Special Teams under Clayton White, improved from year 1 to year 2. The offense, a lost cause, the kids were even more confused and frustrated in year 2 than year 1. It it was obvious that PP and GDL was not developing the players offensively, nor were they putting the kids in the best position to succeed. How can we go to a bowl game if, Our offense consisted of 3 and outs, a bunch of interceptions. That's giving away a ton of points and look how many close games were lost.

Our defense suffered from horrible field position. Its crazy to say why couldn't they stop the other team on every single play every game. Here is a fact that says it all. Opponents offenses were more successful against our defense, than our offense was against theirs. They ran the ball better, threw for more touchdowns, and protected the ball better. Its pretty simple to anyone that watched the games.

 

[J187Money]

We just had four defensive guys blow up the combine, four guys who led the No. 9 defense in the country, and people are seriously questioning the coaching ability of the guy who was the defensive coordinator. Jesus. People point to turnovers? I'll point to the bounce of the ball -- we had more than our share of dropped interceptions and fumbled balls bouncing back into the hands of the opposition. That's luck, not coaching.

This combine showed not only how good the defensive players (and coaches) were but once again reinforces how malpractice-level bad the offensive coaching was that this team did not go to a bowl game. You don't like Steve Mariucci? Fine. Name any group of coaches you trust, throw them in a film room and they would be equally appalled by what passed for offensive coaching last year.

ND's DC was infinitely better this year because T'eo had 7 picks. In the past 3 years, he had 0. So clearly the coach woke up and did something 100% different.

 

[Huskyforlife]

His defense kept us In sooooo many games, anybody who thinks he's a bad coach doesn't know football

 

[pj]

Nobody said he was a bad coach, he is a great coach; all we said is that talented players had a lot to do with the defense's success, and that although he is a great coach he wasn't giving his best effort.

 

[rich1122]

Not enough turnovers. Too many 3 and 13's given to the other team. Never stepped on the other team's throat.

Otherwise spectacular.

 

[J187Money]

Nobody said he was a bad coach, he is a great coach; all we said is that talented players had a lot to do with the defense's success, and that although he is a great coach he wasn't giving his best effort.

Maybe you are right. And maybe the Packers lost because Aaron Rodgers quit trying.

 

[Palatine]

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.

UConn has had excellent defenses for many years. Don Brown's tenure was not the only great defense that UConn has fielded.

 

[Nostical]

After we beat Maryland, I met an Atlanta Falcon scout in the airport. I asked him if he'd mind telling me which players on our team he'd been watching. He mentioned our four Combine guys, Ryan Griffin, Nick Williams and Smallwood (for the future). And he loved Stefon Diggs the MD freshman return man. When I asked who he liked on our O-Line his answer came quickly --"no one".

What was interesting was when I asked him what he thought of the game itself and our big win, he said "I don't watch games, I watch players".

 

[uconndogs]

Masters and Friend (yes, I said Friend) will get sniffs.

 

[HartfordHank]

What was interesting was when I asked him what he thought of the game itself and our big win, he said "I don't watch games, I watch players".

But that is what he is paid to do. He is not scouting a future opponent, only the players. It would be interesting to hear how he goes about doing that. Which players does he pick on which plays. Why film is so important, the ability to look at different things on the same play.

 

[freescooter]

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...

I'd go even furhter and say that the failure to get turnovers was the biggest weakness with Brown's defense. When you play a pressure style, it is critical that you turn teams over, because you are more susceptible to the big play, since you are taking a more risk. Last year's team in particular had the fewest interceptions of any UConn defense in years. It also had fewer fumble recoveries. To some degree fumbles might be a question of luck, but not interceptions.

 

[J187Money]

Or opposing QBs were instructed to take sacks instead of throw under pressure. If you were facing this defense you would definitely not want guys throwing balls up for grabs. Knowing we can't score means you can take a sack and live to fight another series.

 

[ruskin]

Here is a fact that says it all. Opponents offenses were more successful against our defense, than our offense was against theirs. They ran the ball better, threw for more touchdowns, and protected the ball better. Its pretty simple to anyone that watched the games.

Can't disagree with that. When you have the 10th-worst offense in the country chances are pretty good the other offense will be productive.

 

[freescooter]

Or opposing QBs were instructed to take sacks instead of throw under pressure. If you were facing this defense you would definitely not want guys throwing balls up for grabs. Knowing we can't score means you can take a sack and live to fight another series.

Except that EVERY quarterback is instructed to take a sack rather than throw into pressure, and I can think of a number of balls that were thrown up for grabs and turned into big plays. Just off the top, Buffalo's late score was one such play. there was one in the Louisville game, too, though if you want to credit their quarterback I guess you can. There were a couple of others.

 

[J187Money]

Except that EVERY quarterback is instructed to take a sack rather than throw into pressure, and I can think of a number of balls that were thrown up for grabs and turned into big plays. Just off the top, Buffalo's late score was one such play. there was one in the Louisville game, too, though if you want to credit their quarterback I guess you can. There were a couple of others.

Right. But especially late in the season - you don't think the instructions were along the lines of "Don't make mistakes - they can't score - just don't give the game away?" Also in game situations - we did not have big leads late in games where there is generally a lot of passing. Situations have a lot to do with picks. And the LBs as a group dropped about 6 easy ones. Not sure that goes to coaching.

 

[freescooter]

J187Money,
I get what you're saying. But every team drops interceptions. Last year I think Johnny Mac had at least 6 dropped. But when I think this team had the fewest of any UConn team in the D1A era, and ranked at the bottom of the list among D1A. And we had 2 NFL calibre corners. Over the past years our INTs have been:
2005-14, 2006-12, 2007-NA, 2008-18, 2009-12, 2010-20, 2011-18, 2012-6. Even the 2 not very good teams, 05 and 06 had 14 and 12 respectively. The 2007 link didn't work and I don't recall how many we had then, but I think it was not unusually low. So UConn has typically been in the Top half, usually the top third of the nation in INTs. Until last year. I have to think it had something to do with the schemes, guys not being in position to make plays, or not coached to make interceptions but to be in position to bat the ball down or make the tackle.

I guess the other thing this data does is it gives me a little more confidence that we'll be fine with Hankcalling the shots on that side of the ball. We may not have the same number of top players, but as far as approach we'll be fine with Hank.

 

[J187Money]

I'm not a scheme expert, but it seemed to me that we were principally in M2M coverage a lot, and I recall that we played more zone in the Edsall era (bend but don't break). Allows for more tipped balls and misreads. We also spent a lot of this year (even more so than last year) with our LBs in the backfield. LBs did a lot of the pressuring this year (in prior years the DL was providing more pressure) which gave them less opportunities? That might account for it. Or maybe not.

Would we have won more games with more TOs? Yes. But we needed offensive TDs more than we needed more TOs. The fact that we were ranked so high statistically withOUT TOs is even more impressive.

I'm not sure there is a right answer, but I'm pretty sure the wrong answer is that DB was mailing it in.

 

[huskymedic]

J187Money,
I get what you're saying. But every team drops interceptions. Last year I think Johnny Mac had at least 6 dropped. But when I think this team had the fewest of any UConn team in the D1A era, and ranked at the bottom of the list among D1A. And we had 2 NFL calibre corners. Over the past years our INTs have been:
2005-14, 2006-12, 2007-NA, 2008-18, 2009-12, 2010-20, 2011-18, 2012-6. Even the 2 not very good teams, 05 and 06 had 14 and 12 respectively. The 2007 link didn't work and I don't recall how many we had then, but I think it was not unusually low. So UConn has typically been in the Top half, usually the top third of the nation in INTs. Until last year. I have to think it had something to do with the schemes, guys not being in position to make plays, or not coached to make interceptions but to be in position to bat the ball down or make the tackle.

I guess the other thing this data does is it gives me a little more confidence that we'll be fine with Hankcalling the shots on that side of the ball. We may not have the same number of top players, but as far as approach we'll be fine with Hank.

23 interceptions in 2007 - led by Robbie Vaughn w/ 7 (http://www.uconnhuskies.com/datadump/MFootball/2009/Media Guide/5/Stats.pdf)

 

[Excalibur]

So we discount 2011?

 

[freescooter]

So we discount 2011?

To an extent I would,yes. that was a "transition" year before Brown had his defense fully implemented. I don't know, though. It might have been that 2012 was a fluke. he didn't stick around long enough to find out.

 

[Nostical]

Masters and Friend (yes, I said Friend) will get sniffs.

Masters was hurt and wasn't playing that day against Maryland. I agree Adam will get a good look.
The scout and I spoke for a while. I asked him how many of our players were SEC-like. He said you've got several who could play for Alabama. They just have a lot more, lol. I was intrigued with his schedule. He was flying to KC for the next day's Falcons game v the Chiefs, then out to San Jose St to look at some kid at practice. Then down to San Diego to look at a couple SD State kids, etc. His next actual game was at Colorado the following Saturday. He wasn't young. He's been twice divorced!

 

[Excalibur]

To an extent I would,yes. that was a "transition" year before Brown had his defense fully implemented. I don't know, though. It might have been that 2012 was a fluke. he didn't stick around long enough to find out.

As I recall, his defenses at his other stops caused plenty of turnovers.

 

[J187Money]

The players loved him. And when he was rumored to be leaving for Yale last year the to be seniors went nuts (at least some of them) which may be why he stayed and only stayed to see them through.

 

[whaler11]

Don't think we have a sample size here with Brown and turnovers. They didn't generate many, but if you look at turnover numbers teams generally regress to the mean over time.

The defense got buried at WMU and got torched at Syracuse. They crumbled against Temple - but that one is on the head coach and offense. Defense was generally good - wasn't great, with an average offense they win 8-9 games.

He inherited some very good players and they played well as a unit. No one will ever know the exact impact. Let's just hope his defenses suck at BC.

 

[pj]

The players loved him. And when he was rumored to be leaving for Yale last year the to be seniors went nuts (at least some of them) which may be why he stayed and only stayed to see them through.

Yes. He only stayed for his seniors, he was always planning to leave this winter, and he didn't invest in recruiting. How much he invested in developing the younger players, you'd have to be on the team to know. As far as game prep is concerned, the team seemed well prepared except in the WMU and Buffalo games -- which were our #3 and #6 games in points allowed, but were the #10 and #11 teams on the schedule -- the 30 points given up to WMU cost us a bowl game, and these games were early enough in the season that the team shouldn't be tired or unable to get up for the games. The 40 points against Cuse I'll chalk up to (a) good offense and (b) playing for 8 consecutive weeks.

 

[huskysupporter]

The 11th ranked defense in the country got "destroyed" by short passes?

I swear that some of you watch one game each weekend.

My use of the word "destroyed" was poor. Coach Brown did not adjust when offenses adjusted in the second half. Western Michigan found a soft spot (underneath passes), and exploited it non stop. Brown continued to allow linebackers to cover wideouts.

I thought Coach Brown did very well here. He is a master motivator and had to deal with a horrible offense that consistently went 3 and out and put the defense in some terrible positions.

But I do think he did not always make the right adjustments.

 

[Excalibur]

My use of the word "destroyed" was poor. Coach Brown did not adjust when offenses adjusted in the second half. Western Michigan found a soft spot (underneath passes), and exploited it non stop. Brown continued to allow linebackers to cover wideouts.

I thought Coach Brown did very well here. He is a master motivator and had to deal with a horrible offense that consistently went 3 and out and put the defense in some terrible positions.

But I do think he did not always make the right adjustments.

I think you've got the WMU game backwards. For some reason we came out looking to stop the run, and got burned. Then we tightened up, helped by the injury to Carder, but we had started to right the ship even when he got hurt. WMU's last 8 possessions after going up 17-0 went like this:

Punt (3 and out)
End of Half
Touchdown (Sio whiffs on a tackle)
Punt (3 and out)
Punt (3 and out, Carder hurt on 3rd down play)
Punt
Punt (3 and out)
Punt