MI defensive coordinator DJ Durkin to be Maryland head coach

MI defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin will be Maryland’s new football coach, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. In 2012, Rivals.com named Durkin the Recruiter of the Year for the class he helped to put together at Florida. Maryland offensive coordinator Mike Locksley assumed the interim head coaching role for the remainder of the season, going 1-5. “His pedigree is outstanding”. Despite flawed efforts versus IN and Ohio State, Michigan finished the season at 9-3, touting the nation’s No. 4-ranked total defense and No. 11-ranked scoring defense. The Wolverines had a run of three straight shutouts in late September and early October that included a 28-0 win at Maryland. He left the Pac-12 for the SEC to join the Florida Gators, becoming defensive coordinator in Gainesville in 2013 under then head coach Will Muschamp, replacing current Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn.

Durkin, who was Jim Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator for the 2015 Michigan Wolverines will stay in the Big Ten East, but as the leader of a struggling Maryland Terrapins program.

A four-year starter at defensive end and linebacker at Bowling Green, Durkin began his coaching career with the Atlanta Falcons in 2001, with whom he was a graduate assistant under Meyer.