Defensive coordinator hired

David Woods (Contact)
Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2006

The UCLA football team will have a new defensive coordinator come spring practice, and judging from his comments, a new defensive philosophy as well.

“We want to attack,” said DeWayne Walker, the newly hired coordinator, on Monday. “We want to have an aggressive, opportunistic and high energy defense. We have to take the football away (from opposing teams).”

Contrasted with former defensive coordinator Larry Kerr’s bend-but-don’t-break style of defense, Walker will bring a more aggressive philosophy to the defensive end of the field.

That may be music to the ears of UCLA fans who witnessed the Bruins finish No. 113 out of 117 Division I-A teams in total defense last season.

NFL experience was cited by coach Karl Dorrell as one of the most important qualities in the candidates for defensive coordinator. Walker appears to fit the bill. With seven years of NFL experience as the secondary coach under such defensive coaches as Bill Belichick and Gregg Williams at New England, Buffalo, and Washington this past season, Walker possesses the qualities Dorrell thought necessary in a candidate for the defensive job. This is despite the fact that his only experience as coordinator came at Mt. St. Antonio’s College in Southern California.

“You learn so fast on the NFL level,” Dorrell said. “So many of those assistants are ready to be coordinators. He is just top notch. He’s an up-and-coming coach. I’m sure that he’ll do a dynamite job.”

During Walker’s stint with the Patriots from 1998 to 2000, he coached the secondary, and two of his defensive backs, Ty Law and Lawyer Milloy, reached the Pro Bowl. More recently, with the Redskins over the last two seasons, he has helped cultivate young cornerbacks Shawn Springs and Carlos Rogers. This past season, the Redskins led the NFL in passing percentage allowed at 54.4 percent.

“We are fortunate to get a guy of his caliber and expertise,” Dorrell said. “I’m pleased with how the university stepped up so we could get a guy like this.”

Walker, whose contract is for one year, will not be coaching for the first time at the Division I level. Prior to joining the Patriots, he coached at Utah State, Brigham Young, Oklahoma State and at California. In 2001, he joined Pete Carroll’s staff at USC as assistant head coach and secondary coach.

“This is where I started,” Walker said. “College was an opportunity for me to get into coaching. This (being UCLA’s coordinator) is going to give me an opportunity to achieve my goals.”

Walker, 45, started for two years as a cornerback at Minnesota from 1980 to 1981 and also played in the Canadian Football League and the United States Football League in 1982, 1984 and 1985.

As for the positions on the rest of the defensive staff, the Bruins have not been decided. Dorrell and Walker will meet over the next week to make decisions on the defense for next year.

“We are still going to reevaluate,” Dorrell said. “We’re going to sit down and get a chance to reevaluate everything on that side of the field.”

Walker may wear two hats next year as both defensive coordinator and secondary coach, but that has not yet been decided. Walker, however, said that he will pay close attention to the defensive backs anyway.

“The secondary is definitely going to be my baby,” Walker said. “I definitely want to have my hand in that area.”

Walker will have a tough road of him as all three linebackers from last year’s 10-3 team are graduating, and senior captains Marcus Cassell and Jarrad Page are gone. The positive thing for Walker is that his young defensive line will be one year older and that injured linemen Kevin Brown and Nikola Dragovic are expected to be fully healthy.

Though Walker did say that his philosophy would be more of an attacking one, he could not mention specifics in terms of what defenses he would run or what needs to be improved for next year.

“Once we get a defensive staff together, we’ll break it down,” Walker said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”