USA TODAY International Edition
Durkin’s formula at Maryland: Veteran staff, young, elite talent
With a flurry of verbal commitments from a number of the surrounding area’s premier prospects, Maryland has quickly asserted itself as a trendy destination for prospective student- athletes located in the fertile recruiting bed found within short driving distance from campus.
A quick trip to the north finds Baltimore and its suburbs. A few miles to the south is Washington, D. C., where Maryland added four- star quarterback Kasim Hill to its in- progress recruiting class. Further south lies the Tidewater area of Virginia, which annually produces enough talent to draw eyeballs from every conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Yet this alone is nothing new: Maryland has always been a player in the local recruiting scene, and perhaps even more so since the school’s move into the Big Ten Conference. But the Big Ten draw also can be a curse, as the Terrapins’ foray into a Midwest- centric league has further opened its recruiting circle to poachers from schools such as Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa and Illinois that long have pulled players from Maryland's turf.
Then there’s Josh Kaindoh, a five- star defensive end from Bradenton, Fla., who verbally committed to the Terrapins in late April, just weeks after his teammate, fourstar defensive tackle Camaron Spence, did the same. There also are two wide receivers from Georgia who gave non- binding commitments to Maryland this month.
This sort of trendiness — attention from some of the country’s premier recruits, not merely from those within the bubble surrounding campus — is new to Maryland.
It’s in some ways a byproduct of the newcoach smell: D. J. Durkin, who was defensive coordinator under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, has brought ample enthusiasm to his first months here, outlining a step- by- step process for reinvention through cultivating a national image for Maryland football.
“I’ve made it very clear to our guys, as part of our mission statement, that we’re here to win championships,” Durkin told USA TODAY Sports. “We’re not going to say it shyly or kind of embarrassed.
“It’s going to take us putting a product out there on the field that people will say, ‘ This thing’s going in the right direction.’ And once that starts, I think you can turn it into a monster. Because we’re going to have players in our area every year that are national- type recruits. So if we can have a team that they can be excited about, then a lot of those guys are going to want to come here.”
Durkin can recruit, but we knew that. During stints at Stanford, Florida and Michigan, he built a reputation for identifying and closing on some of the nation’s best prospects. And he can build a defense, as evidenced by the Wolverines’ fourth- ranked unit from a season ago. But can Durkin be a head coach?
He has no experience in this position, though he does have mentors in Harbaugh and Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, making Durkin’s style a unique blend of two of college football’s bitter yet most successful rivals. And in two hires added to the Maryland staff, Durkin will find a sounding board to help smooth the learning curve.
Defensive line coach Mike London, who spent the last six seasons as Virginia’s head coach, gives Maryland a strong communicator in the locker room and has immense sway among high schools and recruits in the Tidewater area.
“I’ve done the head coach thing,” London said. “I felt good about the things I’ve accomplished. This is kind of a reset button for me to say, ‘ OK, I can help someone else that’s doing this. I can be an asset. I don’t have to be the Lone Ranger, I can be Tonto.’ ”
A coaching clinic held on Michigan’s campus last summer introduced Durkin to then-Ball State head coach Pete Lembo, now the Terrapins’ special- teams coordinator and tight ends coach. A winner at Lehigh, Elon and with the Cardinals, Lembo compared hiring a coaching staff to a jigsaw puzzle. “There are an awful lot of things that have to align to make it right,” he said.
London and Lembo give Durkin veteran voices to team with his approach for reversing the Terrapins’ uneven start to life in the Big Ten. This is Durkin’s blueprint: Maryland as year- round contender, combining recruiting acumen, energy- driven production and experience to shape the program in a decidedly Michigan- like image.
“I really believe that energy equals production, in being hands- on, being on the brink of mayhem and the controlled chaos of urgency,” Durkin said. “That equals production. That gets things done. If you don’t have that type of culture around, then I think you’re missing something.”