Michigan Football: 4 Most logical replacements for departed Don Brown

After Michigan football let go of Don Brown, the search for a replacement is on and here are four coaches who make a ton of sense.

After what seemed like years on the hot seat, Don Brown won’t be back as Michigan football defensive coordinator in 2021, which has opened the door for the Wolverines to revamp their defense.

The move to jettison Brown also signals more strongly than ever that Jim Harbaugh will indeed be the head coach next season and beyond. No defensive coordinator is likely to come on board until a new deal is done for Harbaugh and that remains the top priority.

However, at this point, it seems like an announcement about a new deal for Jim, won’t be far off, otherwise why would Don Brown need to be fired?

At any rate, this hire is probably going to be the most important of Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan. Harbaugh truthfully is going to have a 1-2 year window to turn things around and that starts with getting back to 9-10 wins in the 2021 season.

Which defensive coordinator can help him get there? We look at four options that make a ton of sense starting with a recently fired SEC head coach.

Will Muschamp

The bottom line is that Will Muschamp hasn’t been successful as a head coach in college football but as a defensive coordinator, he’s been elite. He helped coach LSU to a national title as DC back in 2003 and spent six seasons as a DC in the SEC and finished with a top-10 defense on five occasions.

Muschamp has no direct ties to Jim Harbaugh or anything, but Michigan should have money to spend on a coordinator, which is good because unless Muschamp wants to sit out a year, he will be a hot commodity for DC-hungry teams and U-M should be at the front of the line.

His fiery persona would also be an added benefit, as would the fact that Muschamp would essentially be the head coach of the defense as Brown was. He’d have full autonomy.