Falcons hire Mike Nolan as new defensive coordinator
We know that Mike Nolan likes to wear suits. We'll have to see if needs some advice on bow-ties. (Associated Press)
The Falcons hired Mike Nolan, who received his start in coaching from Dan Reeves, as their new defensive coordinator on Tuesday.
He replaces Brian VanGorder, who left the team last week to become Auburn’s new defensive coordinator.
Nolan is considered a 3-4 coach. But Falcons coach Mike Smith’s respect for him from their days together in Baltimore runs deep. They will blend the principles of Nolan’s 3-4 with Smith’s 4-3.
The Falcons hired Dirk Koetter as offensive coordinator on Sunday.
Team owner Arthur Blank expects the new coordinators to bring a new set of eyes and expertise to the team.
“Their ability . . . to be totally objective, cold-hearted and unemotional about the young men that we have on the roster [should be an asset],” Blank said. “[We’ll] bring in some folks that will be able to give us maybe some new perspective, maybe some different perspective not only on team questions, but on player issues that we may have as well.”
Despite revamping the secondary and trying to bolster the pass rush, the Falcons struggled to improve their pass defense. Since 2008, they’ve ranked 21st (2008, 220.4), 28th (2009, 241.9), 22nd (2010, 226.6) and 20th (2011, 236.6).
“Moving forward, this defense needs to continue its growth and evolution as a passionate and fiery defense, one that is going to fly to the football, disrupt, be opportunistic and capitalized on opportunities to turn the game around; flip the game in critical situations,” general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. “We’ll look for a coordinator who will [aid] Coach Smith and his approach to putting that type of aggressive defense on the field.”
Nolan has been a defensive coordinator in the NFL for 14 seasons. He also was San Francisco’s head coach from 2005 to 2008.
“Mike Nolan is an established coordinator in this League,” said Falcons head coach Mike Smith in a statement released by the team. “He brings more than 25 years of NFL experience to our team and has been a coordinator at this level for 14 years. Mike has a history of developing physically intimidating defensive units, and we are fortunate to have him join our staff.”
Nolan spent the last two seasons as the Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator.
Last season, the Dolphins boasted the third best run defense in the NFL, allowing just 95.6 yards per game and 3.7 yards per carry. His defense also produced 41 sacks which ranked tied for 10th in the NFL and allowed the sixth fewest points per game at 19.6. The Dolphins also ranked seventh in third-down percentage (33.8) and sixth in red zone defense, holding opponents to a 44.2 touchdown percentage inside the 20.
In 2010, Nolan’s defense ranked among the league’s top ten in overall defense, pass defense and run defense, and was one of just five units in the League to accomplish that feat. Nolan joined Miami after spending the 2009 season as the defensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos. Under his tutelage, Denver’s defense improved to seventh in the NFL in total defense after finishing 29th in 2008. Denver’s pass defense was equally impressive, ranking third in the NFL, allowing just 186.3 yards per game through the air.
Prior to joining the Broncos’ staff, Nolan served as the San Francisco 49ers’ head coach from 2005 to 2008. During Nolan’s four-year tenure with the club, the 49ers were one of the NFL’s most consistent teams in stopping the run. San Francisco ranked fourth in the league in yards per carry during that period surrendering just 3.9 yards per rush.
Nolan spent four seasons in Baltimore from 2001 to 2004, including the last three as the defensive coordinator. Nolan’s group tied for the NFL lead in takeaways (106) while ranking fifth in the league in both points per game allowed (18.8) and third down percentage (34.7). He also coached five Ravens defenders to nine trips to the Pro Bowl, while tutoring back-to-back AP Defensive Players of the Year in LB Ray Lewis (2003) and S Ed Reed (2004).
The New York Giants made Nolan the NFL’s youngest defensive coordinator in 1993 at the age of 34. He spent the next eight seasons as a defensive coordinator with the Giants (1993-96), Redskins (1997-99) and Jets (2000). In his first year with the Giants, his defense led the League allowing just 12.8 points per game. His coaching career began at his alma mater, Oregon University, where he served as a graduate assistant in 1981. He went on to coach at Stanford University and Rice University as a linebackers and defensive backs coach before the Denver Broncos hired him to be the special teams/linebackers coach in 1987. He spent six seasons with the Broncos and helped the team reach the Super Bowl in the 1987 and 1989 seasons.
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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404 comments Add your comment
Falcons_in_the_house
January 17th, 2012
3:56 pm
Time to renew season ticket LOL
CrαZy
January 17th, 2012
3:57 pm
4-3 3-4…… Whatever we don’t have the personnel for either right now… So which ever they choose we’ll have a lot of work to do!! I like the hire.
big play ray
January 17th, 2012
3:57 pm
Abraham is going to get at least 10 sacks next year. Ray Edwards is going be traded or released. and Bier Man is going to get 10 sacks on the other side. Sidbury is going to be a servicable backup.
Dunta Robinson’s int and pass breakups are going to go up next year because he will FINALLY play man to man cover 0 and 1. that’s his strong suit.
mark
January 17th, 2012
3:58 pm
two thumbs up about this hiring class all around! this guy is a D genius every place he has been the D improves! i cant wait to see some pressure on the qb! start playing some football and not cover wr 20 yrs behind i hope he sees that some players dont work and let them go!
Rcky_Mtn_Falcon
January 17th, 2012
3:59 pm
It’s interesting, the Colts interviewed Spags for the DC position on Monday, and fired Caldwell today. Wonder if maybe they are thinking about making him their Head Coach in Indy now ?
loyal falcon
January 17th, 2012
3:59 pm
I love this hire. I think Mike is going to be a great addition. I’m not sure about Dirk yet
J-Man
January 17th, 2012
4:00 pm
I expect the Falcons to go after Paul Soliai to occupy the all important NT position in the 3-4 Defense, I also see us getting another LB or letting Spencer Adkins or Akeem Dent to play the other LB spot. I also see Babineaux and peters being moved to the DE in the 3-4 Defense and Iexpect ABE to be let go and maybe we go after Mario Williams.
CrαZy
January 17th, 2012
4:00 pm
Not sure you can consider anything Dunta does as strong anymore??? He’s not a great CB… I’d be happy to see him go!!!!
alpha9
January 17th, 2012
4:00 pm
does anybody else realize that the falcons were 7th on offense and 10th on D course not…The Fan culture needs to change more than the team..all these old fans that long for the good ole 6 – 10 seasons…you are whats wrong…Saints got bounced by a sub .500 team a year ago got manhandled by a first year head coach and a bust at QB…Patriots are 1-4 in the playoffs and had been bounced in the first round 3 years in a row after they caught cheating…Yet those cities and fans love those teams
curious
January 17th, 2012
4:01 pm
Glad to see the Falcons moving so fast. In fact, the breeze has spun my attitude. Go Birds!
Michael M.
January 17th, 2012
4:01 pm
You know Nolan has got to be loving the opportunity to come in here and be a part of this Falcons Organization ………I like this hire, think we are going to see a hell of a different football team come next Season
Nique
January 17th, 2012
4:02 pm
Nice hire, I’m very pleased with this one!!! Good job Falcons! This is exactly what we the fans were waiting for!!!!
mark
January 17th, 2012
4:02 pm
plus the saints are gonna be without williams and he step up and sign they num 1 candidate its a win win situation!
Ichabod
January 17th, 2012
4:03 pm
DOL, how does a blended 3-4/4-3 work?
RedandBlack Peachy
January 17th, 2012
4:05 pm
Actually the only thing specific we are missing is a big body in the middle. There are quite a few in the 2012 draft that are projected to go in the 2-4 rounds where we start to draft. Our linebacker corp is athletic. If Ray’s issue was healing from surgery, this year should be a good year and if the Falcons decide to lock him up, the two of them focusing on pass rush because they lineman are focused on the run is real plus. Our issue, of course, is at the safety and cornerback positions. But regardless of what D we run we would have to address that. LOVE this hire. Wanted Spags at first but the idea of running even a hybrid 3-4 is much more appealing.
Michael M.
January 17th, 2012
4:05 pm
lol
Chris Snow
January 17th, 2012
4:06 pm
Great hire. Although I think he has his work cut out for him.
Section 322 Row 7
January 17th, 2012
4:06 pm
OC – Bad DC – Good 50% Coordinators Grade is average just like the Falcons in 2011
RedandBlack Peachy
January 17th, 2012
4:06 pm
This hire is worth season tickets.
Chickin Little
January 17th, 2012
4:10 pm
Some of you people would not be happy if we hired a hybrid Don Shula/Bill Parcels/Vince Lombardi/ Bill Walsh/ Joe Gibbs coach. Rather than read the article which stated, “They will blend the principles of Nolan’s 3-4 with Smith’s 4-3″, you just throw up your hands and automatically succumb to failure. Thank God you people were not in charge of our country during World War II, or we would be speaking German, Japanese, or dead. Sheesh, give the man a chance!
JSS
January 17th, 2012
4:11 pm
I love all these penciling in Old Man Abe… He’s a UFA, and are you going to get him at a discount somehow? That is how you lost Dahl… Reality+fantasy=confused Falcons fans…
Whopper Dawg
January 17th, 2012
4:11 pm
Makes perfect sense to me, we run a 4 3 and have 4 3 personnel, he is a 3 4 guy, so we will run a hybrid. I predict in a year, they will be saying we need 3 4 personnel for this to work. Failed miserably as the 49ers head coach and this is his 7th DC job the longest of which lasted 4 four years (his first one), and the shortest of which (two) lasted one year. So his average tenure as a DC is 2.3 years.
True Falcon
January 17th, 2012
4:12 pm
At least this guy has some descent stats. Dirk on the other hand had the worst offense in football.
Michael M.
January 17th, 2012
4:12 pm
@ Ichabod ……………….3-4 defense looks for much bigger linemen who can engage offensive linemen on the line of scrimmage and keep blockers off the linebackers as they work down the line of scrimmage. Linemen in the 3-4 want to command a double-team block; 4-3 linemen want to beat a single block every time. A hybrid defense wants its linemen to be able to do either thing when asked
Linebackers have their own issues to deal with when switching from one package to another. Linebackers in the 4-3 defense are slightly shaded behind defensive linemen, which makes it difficult to get a blocker on them right away. Teams like the Buccaneers get away with undersized, but fast, linebackers because it is hard to block them. In a 3-4 defense, the inside linebackers have to be big and physical, because they regularly line up directly over guards who can easily get up on the backers.
Ken
January 17th, 2012
4:13 pm
I am loving this hire!! We finally have a guy that gets results!! Falcon fans now we can start to look for the Falcon defense to get more takeaways giving the offense more posessions and giving them a short field with these oppurtunities, now we should see more points from the offense. The Falcon defense will get teams off the field on 3rd down now and we can expect better designed blitzes. Mike Nolan will make Dirk Koetter’s job a little easier.
#IKillTrollsAllDay FUNNY!!!!!! LMBO!!!!
The Walrus
January 17th, 2012
4:15 pm
Excellent move!
yeahsure
January 17th, 2012
4:15 pm
Love the hire. Mike Smith was NOT the problem with this defense. If you see his work in Jacksonville, they were very aggresive and blitzed creatively and frequently.
Falcon in DC (Rupe)
January 17th, 2012
4:15 pm
D-Led,
You should get Nolan Bowtie! Good hire by the Falcons. The arrow is pointing up!
Lawnmower Man
January 17th, 2012
4:15 pm
The Falcons have unleashed an army of blog plants to convince us that this is a good hire, so we will renew our season tickets. Sad.
Michael M.
January 17th, 2012
4:18 pm
Be some familiar names gone this year with some new faces we never seen before coming on the scene so don’t be surprised…..they fixing to shake this Team up
78Dawg
January 17th, 2012
4:18 pm
I can barely contain my overwhelming elation….NOT !
collegeballfan
January 17th, 2012
4:18 pm
This hire works for me.
The 3-4 or 4-3 is not necessarily about how you line up but what players you have on the field.
tj
January 17th, 2012
4:19 pm
while I like this hire, I don’t know about it. I think that if he was allowed to run his 3-4 defense then it would be great but Mike smith already said we have drafted for the 4-3 not 3-4. And I don’t know why, but i get a feeling that we will see about 85% 4-3 and 15% 3-4.
nobody likes a braggart
January 17th, 2012
4:21 pm
Where’s all the Aints fans? HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
78Dawg
January 17th, 2012
4:21 pm
So were goona run a 3 1/2 3 1/2 Defense…..Gues we play Jaquizz Rodgers both ways….
bye bye Aints
January 17th, 2012
4:23 pm
Go SF!!…..keep Scam out of the pro bowl.
tt44
January 17th, 2012
4:24 pm
Some folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be! says ole Abe Linc,.
Go Falcons…Just win your LONGTIME supporters a SUPERBOWL! We need big, fast , mean O line and D line…P. Jerry…a bust? Edwards A model?, Abe…bless his heart is aging and slower!
Michael M.
January 17th, 2012
4:24 pm
Aint fans went on long vacation for awhile……can u blame them ? Team got whipped up on and they going to come in here and get ragged out………….lmao on that one ! ! ! ! !
ohhhhYEAH
January 17th, 2012
4:24 pm
@ yeahsure
Don;t go typing facts like that on here, they will only ridicule you for posting positives about Smitty. I said the same thing yesterday when losers tried to say Van Gorder was aggressive and it was Smitty who was the problem. So i presented them the statistical data that as a DC, Smitty’s units were never lower than 12th in the league in total defense(only once was it that low) and were 2nd overall at one point, not to mention his defenses were only out of the top 7 in sacks just ONCE. But yes, I can see their point, it must have been Smitty……riiiiight
Big Dude
January 17th, 2012
4:25 pm
Heard the latest? Looks like the Saints OC & DC could be leaving for higher ground. If this is true, the NFC South is up for grabs….
WHO DAT BLACK
January 17th, 2012
4:25 pm
Nice move, Falcons. John Abraham will stand up at OLB. Ray Edwards might as well, or take a few trips to Golden Corral and become the 5-technique. Spoon and Lofton may be the best LB tandem in the league after this move. And that says a lot, considering Willis and Bowman in SF are excellent. The secondary will be better because they can sack the QB and get pressure with 4-5 rushers. Look for the Jones kid out of UGA to get drafted. Not sure how they will check Jimmy Graham, but should make for some good games.
I'm Gumby, Dammit!!
January 17th, 2012
4:26 pm
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about. All you haters that are pi$$in’ and moanin’ about this, why don’t you try READING the article and check out what he’s done over the last few years.
RISE UP!
Steaky
January 17th, 2012
4:27 pm
Now this is what I’m talking about. http://mosthighpayingjobs.com
JoFo
January 17th, 2012
4:28 pm
Even if you like this hire; 1/2 a team does not hack it! We still do not have a solid and proven OC!
78Dawg
January 17th, 2012
4:28 pm
DOL…your copy and paste from ESPN is not reporting…Wake up AJC
Larry
January 17th, 2012
4:29 pm
This is a solid hire. Spags is still raw from just getting fired.
Plus, at least this DC doesn’t look like a porn star with the personality of a door knob like the previous DC!
BIG JIM
January 17th, 2012
4:29 pm
with the 3-4 and 4-3 i dont’ care what defense it is the falcons got to know how to tackle somebody for the pass 4 years this team can’t tackle…..
E-Roll
January 17th, 2012
4:30 pm
According to footballsfuture.com here are a few of the free agent NTs that will be available in 2012.
Antonio Garay Height: 6-4 Weight: 320 Age: 32
Sione Pouha Height: 6-3 Weight: 325 Age: 32
Brandon McKinney Height: 6-2 Weight: 345 Age: 28
Pat Sims Height: 6-2 Weight: 330 Age: 26
Howard Green Height: 6-2 Weight: 340 Age: 33
Shaun Rogers Height: 6-4 Weight: 350 Age: 32
Red Bryant Height: 6-4 Weight: 323 Age: 27
WHO DAT BLACK
January 17th, 2012
4:31 pm
Big Dude, after Gregg Williams blitzed us into the offseason, I think it was a clean break. Carmichael and WR coach Johnson moving on would be huge. They are instrumental in the development of our stars: Brees, Graham, Colston. I like Spagnuolo, although I would be comfortable with a more conservative DC because we can score with anyone. Also, that would help get rid of Harper at SS because we would need a ball-hawking type instead. Not only can’t he cover, but he can’t make INTs either. We could also bring in a couple of safeties that got cut last year because they didn’t fit well with Williams.
What's next?
January 17th, 2012
4:32 pm
Uncle Rico as new QB coach and Peter Griffin as new O-Line coach?