D.J. Durkin plans to fit Maryland football with a blue collar

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/dj-durkin-plans-to-fit-maryland-football-with-a-blue-collar/2015/12/03/6134ea7e-9a02-11e5-b499-76cbec161973_story.html

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D.J. Durkin looked nervous. He rubbed the sides of the lectern after being introduced as Maryland’s football coach Thursday morning at Gossett Team House, and he grinned as if he wasn’t quite sure what he had just gotten himself into.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long, long time,” said Durkin, 37, who simply couldn’t stop smiling after that. The former Michigan defensive coordinator, hired by Maryland on Wednesday, was warm during his debut in College Park. He was also brimming with ambition, which he will need in abundance in the coming months as he attempts to resuscitate a Maryland program that limped to a 3-9 finish under an interim coach.

[Feinstein: Durkin can win at Maryland, but it won’t be easy]

Durkin signed a five-year contract worth $12.5 million. He will make $2.4 million in his first season, with the deal increasing by $50,000 in each subsequent year. He is also set to receive a rollover for a sixth year at $2.65 million at the end of his first season.

Durkin spoke of imparting his blue-collar mentality in the same auditorium as Maryland Athletic Director Kevin Anderson addressed Randy Edsall’s firing eight weeks earlier, telling reporters that he wanted an offensive-minded coach who could reenergize the fan base. Though Durkin built his reputation as a defensive coach at Stanford, Florida and Michigan, Anderson said the new coach’s hard-nosed personality can promote a winning culture at a program that is behind the curve in the loaded Big Ten East division.

“As I went through the process and started to meet with many people, at the end of the day the person who stuck out in our mind was D.J. From the very beginning,” Anderson said.

Durkin certainly understands the challenges. He worked two stints apiece under the division’s marquee head coaches, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, and much of his introductory news conference centered on that pedigree. But Durkin has plenty of in-house issues to tackle before he can start thinking about next season’s schedule. At the forefront is the evaluation of prospective staff members, including Maryland’s holdovers from this past season.

That includes former interim coach Mike Locksley, whose photo as the team’s leader still adorned the walls of Gossett Team House on Thursday morning. Locksley, who interviewed for the job earlier this week and was considered a finalist, finished 1-5 after relieving Edsall. Locksley is also a highly regarded recruiter who holds the keys to Maryland’s talented 2016 class.

“Mike, as well as everyone else, will be evaluated, and we’ll go through that process as we go,” Durkin said.

[Several recruits say they’re on board with Durkin, but keeping tabs on Locksley]

Durkin said he will not coach in Michigan’s upcoming bowl game. With the NCAA’s current live recruiting period set to close next weekend, he has 11 days to round out Maryland’s 2016 class. With several players looking on in the audience, including redshirt junior quarterback Caleb Rowe and freshman wide receiver D.J. Moore, Durkin expressed confidence in the players already on the roster and called the area’s recruiting scene “one of the richest talent areas in the country.” But he also cautioned against rushing decisions about his staff as another recruiting cycle nears its end.

“I’m going to be very deliberate about it,” Durkin said. “We’re in the middle of a recruiting period right now, and we have a group of guys on staff here that are recruiting that I need to get with. . . . We’re going to do this right.”

Durkin, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, paid homage to his roots. His wife and two young children sat in the front row alongside his parents, whom he credited for helping him attain his first head coaching job. He remembered his time as a young construction worker in his home town, which helped mold his approach to the game. At one point, he called Maryland a “blue-collar place.”

Even if that didn’t seem to fit, the comment underscored Durkin’s vision for a program that doesn’t have much of an identity. After the nerves had subsided in what had to be considered a successful first impression in College Park, Durkin laid out his plans to build one.

“We will be aggressive in everything we do,” Durkin said. “That’s what I know. That’s where I’m from, from the ground up, my home town of Youngstown, Ohio. I learned those values a long time ago.”

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Durkin impressed Meyer and Harbaugh. Now he’ll oppose them.