Michigan Football: Don Brown landing on his feet in Arizona?

Don Brown won’t be back with Michigan football for the 2021 season but it looks like he will get employed again very soon, maybe with out in Arizona?

This time of the year can certainly be unpredictable for coaches and that’s proving to be the case for former Michigan football assistant coach Don Brown.

Last week, Brown was dismissed as defensive coordinator of the Michigan football program after five seasons on the job and three top-3 finishes in terms of overall defense (yards allowed) in the NCAA. Dr. Blitz as Brown is known, certainly had some great times in Ann Arbor.

But his inability to keep Ohio State in check, at least in 2018 and 2019 proved to be his downfall. Brown was then let go last week and it appears that Jim Harbaugh will be back with a new DC.

However, many people came out and defended Brown when he was let go and to be fair, nobody ever said he was a bad coach. He obviously is a very good coordinator, but sometimes, you just need a change and Michigan football made the right call.

In a happy ending of sorts, it appears that Brown won’t be unemployed for long and it appears he will start working for another former Michigan football assistant and that’s Jedd Fisch who was just hired to be Arizona football’s head coach.

Fisch, who coached under Jim Harbaugh in 2015 and 2016, working on the same staff as Brown, reportedly is making Brown the priority for DC according to 247 sports.

Brown would be a good hire

For Arizona, this would be a home run hire. The Wildcats have been one of the worst Power-5 programs in college football the past few years under Kevin Sumlin and they have especially struggled on defense in the Pac-12 conference.

In both 2019 and 2020, Arizona football ranked 118th and 119th in points allowed, so there is only one direction to go and that’s up.

Brown may have his flaws and to be fair, a lot of defensive coordinators struggle defending Ohio State. His system may not be as well known in the Pac-12 as it was in the Big Ten, so that could give him an edge and at the very least, he will instill a better fundamental defense.

Brown is a pretty good recruiter too, although getting kids from the Northeast to Arizona might be a little more difficult.

If it does become official, I’d be happy. Brown is a good coach and a good man. He just needed a change of scenery and the Wolverines needed a new voice on defense.