Michigan Football: 4 Most logical replacements for departed Don Brown

Tim Banks, current Penn State S/co-DC

Michigan football fans should already be familiar with Tim Banks, that is if they follow recruiting, because Banks, who is from Detroit, has been a thorn in the Wolverines side especially in Detroit, where he played at Cass Tech.

Four in-state recruits in the 2021 class ended up going to Penn State and Banks, who is the co-defensive coordinator there, is a big reason why.

With his ties to the state, his candidacy makes sense. He’s also been a defensive coordinator at Illinois and Cincinnati and at Penn State, the Nittany Lions have put together a top-30 defense in each of his five seasons there, except for in 2020.

Another thing that about Banks is that he would bring some expertise to help with Ohio State. The Nittany Lions haven’t shut down Ohio State, but they held the Buckeyes under 30 three times and under 40 in each of their last five meetings.

Michigan, on the other hand, has allowed Ohio State to score 30 points or more in four of the last five years. There has been some smoke about Banks following Michigan people on Twitter and you wonder if he’d be interested in the safety job at Michigan.

My guess is that he would need to at least be the co-defensive coordinator, I don’t see him taking a demotion to leave Penn State and the Wolverines may only land him if they offer him the DC job on his own.

To me, he seems more than ready. He’s coached good defenses in the Big Ten for a long time and he would be a huge plus on the recruiting trail. I don’t see a downside here at all.