Mike Corgan
Sports Editor
AS AN ALL-BIG TEN safety for Michigan, Corwin Brown spent four years punishing Notre Dame receivers with his big hits. Now, as the new defensive coordinator for the Irish, Brown hopes he can turn around a defense that spent most of last season taking a beating.
Brown’s task certainly won’t be an easy one. He inherits a defense which ranked 60th in the nation under former defensive coordinator Rick Minter. Last season, the Irish gave up 24 passing touchdowns and an average of 203.8 yards through the air, while only intercepting the ball 11 times.
But with Brown comes both youth and experience.
Even though Brown is only 37 years old, he boasts an impressive résumé that includes 8 years in the NFL as a player, 3 years as the special teams coach at the University of Virginia and 3 years as the defensive backs coach for the New York Jets.
In each of his stays, he has been highly successful. In addition, he comes recommended from some of the best minds in football – Bill Parcells, Bill Bilichick, Romeo Crennel, and Al Groh.
None of this is new to Coach Weis, however. In fact, he has always thought highly of Brown, and even tried to persuade him to join the coaching staff at Notre Dame in 2005.
“Obviously I'm a big fan of Corwin,” Weis said. “I tried to hire him when I first got here and he told me no, so I told him I wouldn't talk to him again. We had conversations then, and his family wasn't ready to move. They just had transitioned from Virginia to the Jets at the time.”
Undoubtedly, this transition for Brown will be more difficult as he attempts to revamp a defense that looked more lackadaisical, confused, and passive than hardworking, intelligent, and nasty last season.
To achieve his goals, Brown has implemented a 3-4 defensive formation, which is less complex, and far easier for the players to understand than Rick Minter’s 4-3 defensive system of the last two years. Furthermore, Brown has taken a considerable amount of time in practice to making sure that the players know what they are doing on defense.
Fifth-year senior Trevor Laws has been especially pleased with Brown’s teaching abilities and the new defensive scheme.
“Coming in here with a new defense has been great,” said Laws. “The coaches really know how to teach a 3-4 and they’ve helped us along and the guys are stepping up.”
Under this new defense, Brown hopes the players will be able to reach their full potential, playing freely and making fewer mistakes on the field.
“They're going to play hard and they're going to play tough,” said Brown. “That's what I feel.”
Although it is too early to tell exactly how much progress Brown has made with the defense, he has already made tremendous strides in the recruiting process.
A native of Chicago, Brown was instrumental in persuading 4-star running back Robert Hughes to come to Notre Dame. Additionally, he is a large reason why the Irish currently have the number one recruiting class for 2008. Out of 19 recruits for the class of 2008, Rivals.com credits Brown with helping recruit 10 of those players, far more than any other member of the Notre Dame coaching staff.
Just as Coach Weis has been able to entice offensive recruits, especially quarterbacks, to come to Notre Dame because he has the ability to prepare them for the NFL, so too can Brown say to recruits.
Not dissimilar to how Coach Weis has been able to entice offensive recruits with his four Super Bowl rings, Brown has used his experience in the NFL as a motivating factor to sign defensive players.
“I play[ed] in college,” said Brown. “Played in the NFL and I can tell those guys, hey, this is what I did. These are some of the things that you may experience. This is what Notre Dame has to offer, and I would think that would be very, it would be very inviting to any young man.”
Contact Mike at mcorgan@nd.edu.
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