Defensive Coordinator Scott Shafer hasn’t been discussed nearly as much as OC Calvin Magee, mostly because Magee has always been by Rich Rodriguez’s side, and it is a little more obvious to see what he has done in his career.

However, Shafer is an accomplished coordinator himself, known for an aggressive style that calls for blitzes frequently. In fact, Shafer’s teams have led the nation in sacks on an occasion or two. Let’s take a look at Shafer’s years as defensive coordinator.

Northern Illinois
Category	Prev	2000	2001	2002	2003
Run D	190	60	66	38	47
Pass D	17	53	69	103	75
Total D	3	53	70	73	56
Pass Efficiency D	3	90	63	55	37
Scoring D	3	60	68	49	31

After a year as the secondary coach at Illinois (where he coached CB Kelvin Hayden into a second-round draft pick), Shafer returned to the defensive coordinator position, this time at Western Michigan.

Western Michigan
Category	Prev	2005	2006
Run D	108	56	6
Pass D	108	116	57
Total D	115	108	11
Pass Efficiency D	116	87	34
Scoring D	114	93	39
Sacks	–	23	1

Leading Sackers 2006
Player	Pos.	Sacks	Rank
Ameer Ismail	LB	17	1
Zach Davidson	DL	8	44
Matt Buskirk	LB	3.5	–
Nick Varcadipane	DL	2.5	–
Austin Pritchard	LB	2	–

It was at Western Michigan that Shafer worked the most magic. The Broncos improved in every relevant category in Shafer’s very first year (the decline in total pass defense can be attributed to more attempts, as the Bronco’s run defense was immediately upgraded), often by a very large margin. By his second year in Kalamazoo, Shafer’s Western defense was #11 in all the land, despite giving up 39 points in their first game of the season (to Indiana). He turned Ameer Ismail, an OLB who wasn’t even sniffed by the NFL, into the nation’s leading sacker.

Stanford
Category	Prev	2007
Run D	117	77
Pass D	23	107
Total D	97	98
Pass Efficiency D	60	84
Scoring D	108	65
Sacks	111	11

Leading Sackers 2007
Player	Pos	Sacks	Rank
Clinton Snyder	LB	8	32
Pat Maynor	LB	6	58
Pannel Egboh	DL	6	78
Udeme Udofia	DL	4.5	142
Chike Amajoyi	LB	4.5	156

Stanford was another case of Shafer making an impact in year one. Of course, there is the marquee moment of the Cardinal’s upset over USC (they were one of only 3 teams to hold the Trojans to under 24 points), but the team improved overall during the course of the season as well. The big improvement, once more, was in terms of pass sacks. Keep in mind that these improvements took place against teams with far more talent than Stanford (UCLA, Oregon, Notre Dame, Cal), and it’s easy to see why people are excited about Shafer wearing the maize and blue. One thing to point out, however, is that his pass efficiency defense has always taken a step back in year one. With returning corners, but new safeties, it should be interesting to monitor how that goes. One would expect, with more pressure on the quarterback, that efficiency would go down.

For those questioning Shafer’s “Michigan Man” credentials, there are a few pieces of evidence to the contrary. First, he was an assistant at Western Michigan for two years, and is familiar with the state dynamics. Secondly, there is a rather incredible story linking Shafer to Bo Schembechler since Scott’s much younger days. It’s a good read, and I recommend checking it out.

Posted under Coaching
Tags: coaching, scott shafer

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