New defensive coordinator eager to get started at Miami
When Miami opens spring football season Tuesday, there will be dozens of new faces on the fields.
Of those, the most significant may be a 61-year-old man with a grandfatherly look.
Bill Young has spent considerable time over the years marveling at what Miami's defenses have accomplished. Now, he's in charge of that scheme, and Miami's new defensive coordinator cannot wait to get the 2008 season officially started.
"I don't think it's going to be much of a change at all," Young said. "A lot of the things that the teams I've been coaching have been doing defensively have been copied from the University of Miami. I've studied Miami defensive football forever ... I've always been a real fan of Miami defensive football."
And it turns out that Miami coach Randy Shannon is a fan of Young.
So when Shannon, who's entering his second year as coach of the Hurricanes, decided to replace 2007 defensive coordinator Tim Walton, he quickly set sights on Young — whose defense at Kansas last season led the nation in takeaways, which helped the Jayhawks finish 12-1 and win the Orange Bowl.
The sides were initially brought together by Trace Armstrong, the former NFL standout — and now an agent based in St. Louis — whom Young coached at Arizona State and whom Shannon knew from his time with the Miami Dolphins.
"I was very surprised," Young said. "I had no clue that I'd ever be coaching here at the University of Miami. So it was a nice surprise. Christmas early."
By that, he means Christmas 2008. Young never spoke with anyone about the Miami job until the national coaches clinic, which occurred after the Jayhawks beat Virginia Tech at the Orange Bowl in Dolphin Stadium, the new home of Hurricanes football.
"I had no clue I was ever coming back," Young said.
The basic scheme of Miami football won't change much under Young, although he's already made it clear that he wants the Hurricanes to get back to their attacking roots — or "flying around," as Shannon would put it.
Leaving Kansas, especially after how he was part of the staff that turned Jayhawks football around, was difficult for Young. But the lure of Miami, at the same time, was simply too much to ignore.
"The opportunity to come here and work for coach Shannon obviously was something that I absolutely could not turn down," Young said. "To be part of a program that has accomplished what this program has accomplished ... it's absolutely astounding."
Notes:@ Miami opens its 15-session spring practice schedule Tuesday afternoon. Most of the workouts will be closed, although the annual spring game (March 29) will be open at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. ... Shannon said the Hurricanes will have names back on their jerseys in 2008, after stripping the team of that perk in 2007. ... There is no spring practice depth chart, but Shannon said Miami has at least two players at every position. ... Among the returnees ruled out for spring practice because of injury or other matters include LB Colin McCarthy, DE Courtney Harris, OL Orlando Franklin and DT Dwayne Hendricks.
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