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2022 Saturday Tradition Big Ten defensive coordinator rankings
By Alex Hickey
Published:
If you’re the glass half-full type, it was another season of stellar defense in the Big Ten.
Of the top 10 teams nationally in scoring defense, 5 were from the B1G.
Glass half-empty types will point out that the ineptitude of Big Ten offenses could be a factor in this. But it’s more of a chicken-and-egg scenario. Do Big Ten offenses struggle because they face Big Ten defenses, or do Big Ten defenses excel because they’re up against Big Ten offenses?
The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle — but tilting toward the defenses really being that good. At the top half of the league, the Big Ten’s defensive coordinators are as good as it gets in the country.
Here’s how we rank their performances in 2022.
1. Ryan Walters, Illinois
Walters improved the Illini defense by 10 points and 100 yards per game over last year’s performance. He did so with virtually the same roster as last season, minus the best player from that team in Kerby Joseph.
In the process, Walters made himself an attractive head coaching candidate, which is why Purdue is handing him the keys even though he’s only 36 years old.
2. Phil Parker, Iowa
Just another season of Iowa contending for the Big Ten West title and reaching a bowl game despite having a bottom-5 offense nationally. That’s the Phil Parker effect.
The rise of Cooper DeJean is a classic example of Parker’s strength preparing the Hawkeyes. DeJean is listed as a safety or nickel, but had to move to cornerback due to injuries to Terry Roberts and Jermari Harris.
DeJean had an all-B1G season playing out of position.
It doesn’t matter who is in the lineup. Parker will always field one of the nation’s top defenses. Iowa was No. 1 nationally with 4.1 yards per play allowed.
3. Jesse Minter, Michigan
Minter had big shoes to fill when Mike Macdonald took over as Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator, and he filled them well.
The Wolverines didn’t have the killer pass rush of Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo to rely on this season, but still fielded one of the nation’s best defenses. Michigan actually improved from 17.4 ppg allowed last year to 13.4 ppg allowed in 2022.
That anyone can rank ahead of Minter is a credit to how deep this conference is defensively. He did a masterful job this season.
4. Joe Rossi, Minnesota
Safety Tyler Nubin is perhaps the only player on Minnesota’s defense likely to be drafted in the first 3 rounds. Yet the Gophers were once again one of the nation’s most formidable defenses, ranking 3rd in scoring defense (13.3 ppg) and 5th in total defense (279.5 ypg).
Amazingly, the Gophers were able to maintain those numbers despite having the fewest tackles for loss in the B1G. They made up for it by being the nation’s 2nd-best defense on third down, limiting opponents to a 26.2% conversion rate.
5. Jim Knowles, Ohio State
Recency bias will have most remember Knowles’ defense getting burned for 45 points. But prior to the Michigan game, Ohio State’s defense performed drastically better than it had last season despite clearly having some liabilities in the secondary.
The Buckeyes improved from 38th nationally in 2021 to 13th in scoring defense this year.
6. Manny Diaz, Penn State
If one can ignore the Nittany Lions allowing a combined 85 points to Michigan and Ohio State — which one cannot — Diaz was as good as any coordinator on this list in 2022.
Penn State became a different team at the line of scrimmage, moving up from 8th in the B1G in sacks in 2021 to the league lead with 3 per game this season. The Nittany Lions also have 95 tackles for loss — 13 more than any other B1G team.
7. Jim Leonhard, Wisconsin
Regression was to be expected for a defense that lost 8 starters from last season — especially when Leonhard had to throw on Wisconsin’s head coaching hat after 5 games.
But the Badgers didn’t slip that badly, dropping to 15th nationally in yards per play allowed from 1st a year ago. Wisconsin finished 25th in scoring defense, though, which was the program’s lowest ranking since 2018.
Leonhard is without a job — for now — but that shouldn’t last too long.
8. Brian Williams, Maryland
The Terps went from being torched for 30 points per game a year ago to allowing a more respectable 24.1 per game under Williams, who took over at the tail end of last season.
Maryland improved the most in limiting long plays. The Terps were 13th in the league last year in long plays (20+ yards) allowed with 66. That was down to 43 this year, which rated 6th.
9. Ron English & Mark Hagen, Purdue
By definition, the Boilers were a little above average defensively, ranking 54th nationally in points allowed.
They were quite opportunistic though, ranking 3rd in the B1G with 14 interceptions, 3 of which were returned for touchdowns. And in reality, 4 were returned for touchdowns, but one was wiped out due to a ridiculous excessive celebration penalty.
Interestingly, Purdue was also the only defense to hold Illinois running back Chase Brown under 100 rushing yards, as well as the only unit to keep Minnesota under 100 rushing yards in a game.
10. Bill Busch, Nebraska
The Huskers finished 12th in the B1G in scoring defense, but 7th in conference play. That improvement corresponds with Busch taking over as interim DC after Scott Frost and Erik Chinander were fired.
11. Joe Harasymiak, Rutgers
Iowa had a good enough defense to compete despite its miserable offense. Rutgers did not. The Scarlet Knights were on the field too much, and it showed. This was the league’s worst red zone defense, allowing scores on 39 of 41 opposing trips inside the 20.
Rutgers finished 8th in the B1G in total defense, yet allowed the 2nd-most points.
12. Scottie Hazelton, Michigan State
A year after posting the worst-ranked pass defense in the country, Hazelton’s intrepid secondary finished dead-last with a measly 2 interceptions. There are 16 Big Ten players who finished with more interceptions than Michigan State had as a team.
13. Jim O’Neil, Northwestern
The Cats were chopped up for 191 yards per game on the ground, which ranked 111th in the country. Northwestern also had the nation’s worst turnover margin, with only 12 takeaways against a whopping 30 giveaways.
Pat Fitzgerald fired O’Neil after 2 failed seasons on the job.
14. Chad Wilt, Indiana
Wilt is the perfect name for the guy who led Indiana’s defense this year. Because that’s what the Hoosiers did.
Indiana finished last in the B1G in scoring defense, passing defense and total defense.
Wilt can’t get all the blame, though. Tom Allen was the one calling plays.
15. Erik Chinander, Nebraska
When Chinander was fired, the Cornhuskers were 127th nationally with 233.5 rushing yards per game allowed. The Huskers also allowed 409 passing yards to Georgia Southern, which only eclipsed the mark 1 time the rest of the season.
It’s hard to do much worse than that.
Alex Hickey is an award-winning writer who has watched Big Ten sports since it was a numerically accurate description of league membership. Alex has covered college football and basketball since 2008, with stops on the McNeese State, LSU and West Virginia beats before being hired as Saturday Tradition's Big Ten columnist in 2021. He is an Illinois native and 2004 Indiana University graduate.