Scott ShaferDefensive Coordinator
This young coach's pedigree (he's only 41) starts with his graduation from Riverside High School in Painesville, OH in 1985. He first played QB at Ohio University, but a knee injury forced his transfer to Baldwin-Wallace College, where he played for the Yellow Jackets from 1987-1989. He graduated in 1990 with a degree in education. Ya know who else is a Baldwin-Wallace College graduate??? Cheaty McSweatervest.
Ruh-oh.Moving on.......or, How did he get here????
1991-1992: Graduate Assistant, Indiana University with Bill Mallory
1993-1995: Secondary coach, University of Rhode Island
1996-2000: Defensive backs coach, Northern Illinois University
2000-2003: Defensive coordinator, Northern Illinois University
2004: Secondary coach, University of Illinois with Mike Mallory (what's with the Mallory Love???)
2005-2006: Defensive Coordinator, Western Michigan University
2007: Defensive Coordinator, Leland Stanford Junior University
2008: Defensive Coordinator, University of Michigan
SO--If you were someone who makes hiring decisions, you may ask yourself, MY G-D WHAT HAVE I DONE??? given his lack of tenure at most of his previous positions, save for NIU? I mean really...any interviewee would have some serious 'splaining to do about all those damned moves. But I sure as heck would want to meet his wife, because no woman I know would pack, unpack, and then repack 14 times in 16 years!!!!!!! Shafe, I hope you've bought her lots of jewelry. Seriously dude.OK--Let's drill down on some of his accomplishments at each of his stops along the coaching trail.....
Indiana University 1991: Hoosiers finish the year 7-4-1 overall with a 5-3-0 Big Ten record. Highlights that year??? Coach Mallory got hisself suspended for questioning the officiating at his post-game press conference in IU's defeat to Michigan 24-16. The NCAA offered a $10,000 fine or suspension, and the ol' ball coach took one for the team and sat out the next week's away win at Wiscy. Ok, not about Shafer, but he was only a graduate assistant for gosh sakes...
Rhode Island Rams 1993-1995: I got nothing....
Northern Illinois University 1996-2003: Success! First, ya gotta love their current Coach---Jerry Kill. Forget that he hasn't coached a game there yet--with that name, he's gotta be great!! Back to Shafer. He began his tenure with the Huskies as the secondary coach and added Defensive Coordinator responsibilities in 2000. The Huskies had a 30-16 record while Shafer was DC and won the MAC West Division Championship in 2001 and 2002....at least that's what his published bios report. But when you go looking for a list of the MAC Championship Games somehow Toledo won in 2001 and lost to Marshall in 2002.
Things that make you go: hmmmm. But Northern Illinois DID appear in the MAC Championship game in 2005. And lost to the Akron Zips.
While Shafer WAS there in 2003, the Huskies beat #14 Maryland 20-17 in OT, #21 Alabama 16-13 away, and were ranked as high as #10 in the polls! But in Week 8 they suffered the ESPN Game Day Jinx and lost to #22 Bowling Green. They lost once more to Toledo finishing that season 10-2 with NO bowl invitation......
Riding that high (or low??) Shafer skated over to Illinois where Ron Turner was presiding--or was that pretending??? Not too pretty for the Illini in 2004 when the team went, um, well...3-8 overall and 1-7 in the Conference.
AHHH but never fear! Coach Shafer was off, yet again, to Western Michigan in 2005 where he helped turn the team from a 1-10 laugher to a respectable 7-4. Then in 2006 his defense set MAC records for fewest rushing yards allowed/game, was first in the nation for INTs (24) and sacks (46) and was 6th in run defense, seventh in turnover margin, and 11th in total defense. He coached notables such as Ameer Ismail (undrafted) and Londen Fryar (son of Irving).
Coach Shafer was also nominated for the Broyles Award recognizing the best assistant coach in the nation. He was beat out by Bud Foster at Va Tech, alas.
2007--over to The Leland Stanford Junior College, home of Valdemort, where success that year included not only a win over the Cal Bears, but the amazing upset of #2 ranked USC 24-23.
Then Rich Rod interviewed him, and voila! here he is.
ErocWolverine has a great post about Shafer's base 4-3 scheme
And, I SWEAR that Adam Rittenberg over at ESPN has hacked my brain for ideas.....part II
So, let's just hope that Coach Shafer can bring his successes here, and that he stays for a while!!!
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22 comments:
errr i think he does my taxes
i will admit though - the man does know how to stop MAC offenses...
I know sru...
I worry about the MAC bubble/MAC love that everyone has.
although he did get the boys at Stanford a few big wins.
I'm skeptical about the defense...
I'm actually excited about the new defensive scheme in a way. It will be interesting to watch a defense actually attack the ball and not sit back on it's heels and wait for the ball to attack them. I've always loved blitz happy defenses but the right offense can tear it apart so I guess we will see.
That's just too many moves in too short a time. Someone needs to vet this guy's wife. Something or someone *shudder* always catches up to this duo (cue "Criminal Minds" theme music).
On the brighter side, with RR et al, this MAC daddy appears to be part of the new Michigan Man persona. However, there could be some competitive jealousy concerning cheerleaders, but I digress.
You have to love the romanticism of a lovable rogue’s gallery.
T9, another fine post that you should put on mgoblog's diaries section!
stop it with the "MAC hating" out there, as a MAC grad, it is becoming obvious that the whole conference is becoming a "cradle of coaches" and not just the Redskins---errrr---RedHawks from Miami, OH.
Western is where I did my undergraduate (I don't tell too many people that,lol) He did a fabulous job there! This is really going to sound elitist, however where can you go after the University of Michigan? I think he is here to stay for a bit, and I did hear that he promised his wife that they would not move again when they got to Stanford, then coach Rod called and well.....which fairs in our favor as now he probably does need to stay put for a while for his wife's sake!
After watching the video count down on MgoBlue, I did have a little concern about the defense since Coach Rod says he focuses most of his efforts on the offense. (if you haven't checked out the video countdown on Mgoblue, it is awesome!)
thanks 616
will do.
T9,
i think you may have skipped over one of the most important aspects of this whole story- R2 hired this guy because R2 liked what he saw of Shafer's D on the field. he wasn't an alum or former coaching buddy. he wasn't someone who had hung around the program for years and it was "his turn" to be a coordinator.
MGoBlog detailed last week how R2 had noticed Shafer's D while watching game film of the Maryland - NIU game (in prep for playing Md). R2 was impressed and loosely followed Shafer's work @ other schools, including last year @ Stanford.
R2 needed a D Coordinator and instead of rehiring/recycling someone he had known for years, he went out & hired someone he really didn't know based on their work and accomplishments, not their so called "pedigree".
that is a HUGE change in philosopy for this program.
i think Shafer's going to do well, but more importantly, i have confidence that if he doesn't, R2 will get someone else.
xtra pt for sru- he does look like a CPA
completely agree SiC--you want to hire the best guy for the job.
it's good to know that RR went out and hired the best coach rather than a buddy. All that moving around though makes me concerned about committment. (such a girl, ha ha)
Freddy Jackson may be next up on Know Your Coach---given RR's "rehire" language
Was it political or based on skill????
(I'm voting skill)
"This is really going to sound elitist, however where can you go after the University of Michigan?"
Well, you can move up to The Ohio State University.
- I'm Justin Boren and I approved this message.
Skeptical about the defense?
T, we're going to be insane on defense this year. All that talent now in shape on the D line, two tremendous corners.... if the safeties can hold it together we're awesome on D.
I've been begging for an attacking type of USC/ old-school Miami D for a long time, and it looks like we finally have a scheme to match the talent we recruit. Speaking of which, this scheme could be the reason we'll land Jhelani Jenkins- the kid is a flat out STUD.
Oh, and hi, everyone! Great job on the site- I just added it as one of my homepages. Been busy with the move, landing a new gig and getting the B-plan finalized, meeting with an investor tomorrow (I scored tickets to the PGA- not a bad place for a day long business meeting.) and hopefully we launch the end of September. Wish me luck!
Oh, and I'll be in town for the Miami game if anyone's up for some tailgating action.
let's put this stuff about Boren to rest once & for all. there's an unshopped photo from tosu's practices floating around. i can't post it but here's a link to the M Against the World site, which has the photo posted: http://michiganagainsttheworld.blogspot.com/2008/08/benedict-belly.html
take that photo and compare Justin to ANY lineman still on our roster, and then tell me he left over "family values" and not his distaste for Barwis...
hey joshua!!!
missed you--thought you dumped us for your new uber cool wolverinenation friends ;-)
Seriously, glad to hear that you've had a productive summer and may be in a position to buy the beer for all.
whetstone: smile for the "I'm Justin Boren..."
SiC: the picture of Boren looks suspiciosly like Holly. guess she's been eating the corn mash all summer, no???
i dunno- i'll bet if holly mangold had a chance to play football for tosu, she'd have shown up in a lot better condition.
SiC,
Loosen up, my friend. Just trying to provide a little humor to your bleak existence in the land of burning couches.
if you are looking for how Shafer uses the okie 3-4 as his nickle to presure the ball, and stop spread offenses im pretty sure i have it covered over at
gsimmons85.blogspot.com
any questions feel free to ask...
whets,
thank you, but i'm as loose as it gets around here this time of year.
have had to listen for months about what a great catch boren was for tosu.
not inclined to listen about that anymore.
pass the donuts, justin.
"pass the donuts, justin."
"Once you quit bogarting that chocolate milk, Mikey."
Point, set, match
schwetty!
sic
to think we had to listen for a year about how great boren was while at michigan - then when you guys lost a bunch of lineman after the season, we heard how thankfully justin boren was one of the two guys returning.
6 months later he'd be lucky to be in the 4 deep rotation at michigan?
sru,
aside from jake long, our line was a sieve last year. did you ever read anything else?
as for justin, he was a highly touted recruit who played as a frosh & started as a soph. as for rating his actual performance? he was always the "not as bad as the two guys to his right" center. but when everyone else left or quit, he became very important. i'm not sure if he became good.
in a way, justin is the archtype for what was wrong w/ the program under Lloyd. we had very talented recruits but many never developed/became better than they were in high school. especially the O line.
thats justin in a nutshell. look at his recruiting photo, last year team photo, & the tosu practice photo. he hasn't improved since he left columbus.
justin has two years of eligibility and plenty of time to develop. he didn't want to do that at michigan. take a look at the picture- you can see why.
oddly, the Dispatch photo array for the 1st day of practice featured (in addition to a dozen picks of Pryor) a spread on Boone and how he's lost so much weight & playing so "quick" now. justin may still turn it around, but he'll have to lose that gut and get leaner, where ever he is. i don't think he realized that last january.
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