Coach Don Brown and Coach Jim Harbaugh – never thought I’d be a Michigan fan but I am now!!

Ok, normally I don’t get quite this excited about staffing announcements in the world of college football – after all, this is a career path where you can have a winning record for years and the boosters have the power to convince the administration to fire you because you didn’t win the right games by the right margins or get into the right bowl games. Coaching changes in the off season are a dime a dozen.  This one, however, is AWESOME and has made me an instant Michigan fan (I know, it sounds crazy, but that’s how much I love Coach Brown!).  Coach Brown came to UMass after Coach Whipple left in 2003, and in 2006 we were runners up in the IAA National Championship in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and he was Atlantic 10 coach of the year. His five year record at UMass was 43-19, with a trip to the previously mentioned national championship and the  2007 postseason quarterfinals.  In 2009, he left to be the defensive coordinator at Maryland, and then had stops at UConn and Boston College before taking the job in Ann Arbor.  Not only is he a defensive genius, but he’s a great man and will be the best mentor the defensive players at Michigan could hope to have. Bill hasn’t worked for many men I think of as father figures, but Coach Brown is one of them (Coach Whipple is the other – and they’re both best friends, so need I say more?).  He expects the best from his players and staff, but in a way  that inspires you and pushes you to make yourself better. His work ethic and devotion to football and to the people around him makes you want to give 100% to him and the team all day every day.  You absolutely don’t want to let this man down, whether it’s when you’re filming practice for him or running wind sprints in 10 degree weather in February.  Michigan is one of the most storied collegiate football programs in the country, and things just got a lot more exciting for the Wolverine faithful now that they hired Coach Brown – his blitz packages are 100% purebred South Boston (“southie”) smashmouth football.   I’m pretty sure the rest of the Big 10 will be woefully unprepared for Michigan now.  #HailToTheVictors