Walton Done as Defensive Coordinator

In a surprising move, Randy Shannon has fired first year defensive coordinator Tim Walton. I say surprising because Randy has been quoted not too long ago as desiring to keep stability in the coaching staff, something the Hurricanes have not had in several seasons. The coaching carousel continues though, as reports came in that the two coaches had a falling out during the offseason.

Though that's entirely possible, I believe this has more to do with the fact that the defense vastly underperformed this season, the first that Randy did not have control over since 2000. Randy has been known to use a predictable defensive scheme, typically just man 2 under, relying on his playmakers to lead the defense. However, the defense was top 10 in all but one of his seasons as defensive coordinator and took a noticeably steep dive with Walton in.

The problems started with Oklahoma and continued on as teams like Duke, UNC, and GT had their ways with us. Finally came the 48-0 rout at the Orange Bowl, a shocking loss considering the context of the game and the quality of the opponent. Walton showed his inexperience in failing to adjust to anything that was working for opposing offenses throughout the season. Whether it was the intermediate passing game, power running game, or the now-infamous TE passes to the flat, Walton's defenses did not react to the success of these plays at all during the games.

For recruiting purposes, I doubt this'll make much of an impact for anyone. He was well liked by recruits and had a hand in bringing in several of our top local guys. The unlikely scenario at worst would be one guy being upset and leaving, but I wouldn't worry too much about that. As far as replacements go, who knows at this point. Any names would be pure speculation.