Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Kuligowski taking D-line to new heights
CORAL GABLES — Not long after taking over as Miami’s defensive line coach, Craig Kuligowski sat down to watch film.
His hope was that as he started learning more about his new players, he’d find some he could work with, some he could begin to mold to look like some of the dominant Hurricanes linemen of the past.
But clip after clip, highlight after highlight left Kuligowski disappointed. There was little promise, he thought.
“I didn’t see anybody I thought was a very good player,” said Kuligowski, who in his 15 years at Missouri put together a dazzling resume that had him coach 24 all-conference players and mold four players into first-round NFL draft picks since 2009. “There wasn’t anybody. Then when they came in for the first day and came through my door, I was like, ‘He looks like he should be pretty good. He looks like he should be pretty good.’ That doesn’t mean they’ll be good, but you can see that guy looks huge and you can see potential. And through this season, we were able, I think, to get some of that potential out of guys.”
Observers of Miami football might say that was a bit of an understatement.
During Miami’s 9-4 season that ended with the Hurricanes’ first bowl win in a decade, few units were as surprising as Miami’s defensive line.
The group, led by freshman Joe Jackson and veteran Chad Thomas, finished with 37 sacks, 11 more than they had a year earlier. They also were eighth in the nation with 108 tackles for loss.
And as the Hurricanes prepare to open spring practice on Tuesday, the expectation is that the line could be even better.
Jackson and Thomas are back. So are Kendrick Norton, RJ McIntosh and Demetrius Jackson.
The unit has a year’s worth of experience working with Kuligowski, who was so impressive during his 15-year tenure at Missouri that Hurricanes coach Mark Richt hired him for Miami’s staff before he’d even hired a defensive coordinator, a position that was eventually filled by Manny Diaz.
The reasoning, Richt said in August, was that he worried another school might hire Kuligowski if he took his time. And that wasn’t something he was willing to risk, not with what he knew about the coach.
“I think he’s one of the best in the business, if not the best,” Richt said back in August. “If I had a D-coordinator that didn’t want him, I figured I probably don’t have the right D-coordinator.”
And while most of Miami’s linemen didn’t know Kuligowski by name, they knew of his resume. They knew he’d coached the likes of Aldon Smith, Michael Sam and Kony Ealy. And they saw from the first practice that things were going to be different under their new coach’s aggressive, attacking style.
“It was really exciting, even at that first practice,” said defensive end Demetrius Jackson. “I love to be coached. All of us can take coaching, and it was exciting to know we were going to be better. We were already good athletes, so to have someone with the knowledge to lead us in the right direction, with the resume that he’d build and the great players he’d coached, we knew it was going to be a great year.”
Added fellow lineman Kendrick Norton: “We had a lot of growth. Those guys coached us and let us play. Getting upfield and getting penetration and making plays with excitement and passion, running around the field. We grew a lot and he had different ways to teach us. He’s worked with all different kinds of guys that learn differently, so he had a million ways to teach us how to get the job done.”
But Kuligowski, who was an offensive tackle at Toledo before starting his coaching career at his alma mater as a recruiting coordinator in 1992, says there really is no secret to what he was able to do with the Hurricanes during his first year at Miami.
He is quick to give Diaz’s scheme credit for helping Miami improve. And he has the highest of praise for strength and conditioning coach Gus Felder, who he says has reshaped the Hurricanes’ bodies.
After that, he says his players — those who stayed — have been willing to put in the work they needed to get better, even during a frustrating four-game skid, when several Miami linemen were injured and couldn’t play.
Earlier this year, Richt announced he was promoting Kuligowski to assistant head coach. The coach will have additional responsibilities, of course, but his primary goal will be continuing grooming the line.
And the Hurricanes are now looking forward to seeing where their coach takes them next.
“I think if we put our minds to it, we can be a dominant group. We can be one of the best defensive lines in the country. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that,” Norton said. “We’re going to put in the work and if we keep working like that and go out there on a mission with him, we can do it.”