Jim Harbaugh may have swung and missed on a pair of potential hires, but the new Michigan head coach dusted himself off, got back into the batter’s box and (reportedly) knocked one out of the park.
Citing multiple unnamed sources, FootballScoop.com is reporting that D.J. Durkin has agreed to become Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator at UM. The school has yet to make an official announcement, although a slew of Harbaugh coaching hires could be confirmed and released as early as this week.
The 36-year-old Durkin has spent the past two seasons as the coordinator at Florida, and served as interim head coach in the Gators’ Birmingham Bowl win over East Carolina Saturday. In 2013, the Gators were 15th in scoring defense at 21.1 points per game; in 2014, the 21.2 ppg was good for 24th nationally.
All told, Durkin spent five seasons in Gainesville. Prior to that, he served as on Harbaugh’s Stanford staff as defensive ends coach as well as special teams coach.
If Durkin is onboard, that would mean Harbaugh has both of his coordinators in the fold as it has previously been reported that Tim Drevno is leaving USC to take over the offensive side of the ball in Ann Arbor.