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<ref>{{cite web|last1=Brooks|first1=Bucky|title=Wade Phillips, Vic Fangio among top 10 defensive coordinators|url=http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000498479/article/wade-phillips-vic-fangio-among-top-10-defensive-coordinators|website=NFL.com|publisher=NFL.com|accessdate=3 August 2017}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kenyon|first1=David|title=10 Best Defensive Coordinators in College Football|url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2649110-10-best-defensive-coordinators-in-college-football|website=http://bleacherreport.com|publisher=http://bleacherreport.com|accessdate=3 August 2017}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web|last1=Collins|first1=Geoff|title=Interview with Geoff Collins/Co-Defensive Coordinator Mississippi State|url=http://www.jobshadow.com/interview-with-geoff-collinsco-defensive-coordinator-mississippi-state/|website=www.jobshadow.com|publisher=www.jobshadow.com|accessdate=3 August 2017}}</ref>
Revision as of 18:22, 3 August 2017
A defensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of a gridiron football team who is in charge of the defense. Generally, along with the offensive coordinator, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach. The defensive coordinator is generally in charge of managing all defensive players and assistant coaches, of developing a general defensive game plan, and of calling the plays for the defense during the game. At higher levels of football (college and professional), the defensive coordinator typically has a number of assistant coaches working under him who are responsible for the various defensive positions on the team (such as defensive line, linebackers, or defensive backs). You can look to the links under references for some of the best defensive coordiantors in history according to Bleacher report. John Chavis (American football) and Jeremy Pruitt are among two of the great college defensive coordinators in recent history. There are Also many NFL greats that can be found in the references. People like Wade Phillips and Vic Fangio are among the NFL greats at defensive coordinator. Determining how good a defensive coordinator is has to do with a number of things such as defensive statistics, the type of attitude their players took to the field and also what other coaches and players had to say about them.
Being a defensive coordinator in college and in NFL have their differences but for the most part their Job description is mostly the same. The biggest difference between them is that in college you have to recruit and the coach is more envolved in the recruitment process than in NFL. You can check the references if you want to see what exactly a average day is like for a defensive coordinator with an interview from Geoff Collins (American football).
Some other sports that have strong delineation between offensive and defensive positions use similar positions; Phil Housley, for example, served as a defensive coordinator for the National Hockey League's Nashville Predators from 2013 to 2017.
