D.J. Durkin
D.J. Durkin went 12–17 as a head coach, 2014–2025, at Florida, Maryland and Auburn. Share
- Record
- 12–17 career
- Seasons
- 4
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Jan 15, 1978
- Alma mater
- Bowling Green
- Best season
- 2014 7–5
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Florida interim, bowl game | 1–0 | Birmingham Bowl W | |||
| 2015: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2016 | Maryland | 6–7 | 5th (East) | Quick Lane Bowl L | ||
| 2017 | Maryland | 4–8 | 6th (East) | |||
| 2018–24: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2025 | Auburn interim, remainder of season | 1–2 | T–13th | |||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 11 | 1–10 | 9% |
| Against top-10 teams | 5 | 0–5 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 6 | 1–5 | 17% |
| Conference games | 20 | 5–15 | 25% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 2 | 1–1 | 50% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 9 | 4–5 | 44% |
| At home | 14 | 7–7 | 50% |
| On the road | 13 | 4–9 | 31% |
| At neutral sites | 2 | 1–1 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 12 | 8–4 | 67% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 17 | 4–13 | 24% |
His own 29 games on file, 2014–2025, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Indianaseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Michigan Stateseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Minnesotaseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Rutgersseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| UCFseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Michiganseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Ohio Stateseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Penn Stateseries | 2 | 0–2 |
How he was hired
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | Bowling Green | Graduate assistant | |
| 2003–04 | Notre Dame | Graduate assistant | |
| 2005 | Bowling Green | Defensive ends coach | |
| 2006 | Bowling Green | Linebackers and special teams coach | |
| 2007–09 | Stanford | Defensive ends and special teams coach | |
| 2010–12 | Florida | Linebackers and special teams coach | |
| 2013–14 | Florida | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2014 | Florida | Interim head coach | |
| 2015 | Michigan | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2016–18 | Maryland | Head coach | |
| 2019 | Atlanta Falcons NFL | Consultant | |
| 2020–21 | Ole Miss | Co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2022–23 | Texas A&M | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2024–present | Auburn | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2025 | Auburn | Interim head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Urban MeyerBowling Green, Florida
- Tyrone WillinghamNotre Dame
- Kent BaerNotre Dame
- Gregg BrandonBowling Green
- Jim HarbaughStanford, Michigan
- Will MuschampFlorida
- Dan QuinnAtlanta Falcons
- Lane KiffinOle Miss
- Jimbo FisherTexas A&M
- Elijah RobinsonTexas A&M
- Hugh FreezeAuburn
- Alex GoleshAuburn
Assistants who became head coaches
- D. J. DurkinMaryland
- Kurt RoperColorado
- Mike LondonVirginia, Richmond, Howard, William & Mary
- Pete LemboBall State, Buffalo, Lehigh, Elon
- Walt BellMassachusetts
- Chad LunsfordGeorgia Southern, Florida Atlantic
- Kent AustinSaskatchewan Roughriders, Cornell, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Worked under (12)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urban Meyer | Bowling Green | 2001–02 | Graduate assistant | |
| Tyrone Willingham | Notre Dame | 2003–04 | Graduate assistant | |
| Kent Baer | Notre Dame | 2004 | Graduate assistant | |
| Gregg Brandon | Bowling Green | 2005–06 | 2005: defensive ends coach; 2006: linebackers and special teams coach | |
| Jim Harbaugh | Stanford | 2007–09 | Defensive ends and special teams coach | |
| Urban Meyer | Florida | 2010 | Linebackers and special teams coach | |
| Will Muschamp | Florida | 2011–14 | 2011–12: linebackers and special teams coach; 2013–14: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Jim Harbaugh | Michigan | 2015 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Dan Quinn | Atlanta Falcons NFL | 2019 | Consultant | |
| Lane Kiffin | Ole Miss | 2020–21 | Co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Jimbo Fisher | Texas A&M | 2022–23 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Elijah Robinson | Texas A&M | 2023 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Hugh Freeze | Auburn | 2024–25 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Alex Golesh | Auburn | 2026 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (7)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D. J. Durkin | Florida, 2014: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; Auburn, 2025: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Maryland | |
| Kurt Roper | Florida, 2014: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Colorado | |
| Mike London | Maryland, 2016: assistant head coach and defensive line coach | Virginia, Richmond, Howard, William & Mary | |
| Pete Lembo | Maryland, 2016–17: assistant head coach and special teams and tight ends coach | Ball State, Buffalo, Lehigh, Elon | |
| Walt Bell | Maryland, 2016–17: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Massachusetts | |
| Chad Lunsford | Auburn, 2025: special teams coach | Georgia Southern, Florida Atlantic | |
| Kent Austin | Auburn, 2025: quarterbacks coach | Saskatchewan Roughriders, Cornell, Hamilton Tiger-Cats |
Other assistants under him (11)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Blake Gideon | Florida, 2014: defensive quality control coach | |
| Brian White | Florida, 2014: running backs coach | |
| Coleman Hutzler | Florida, 2014: special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach | |
| Matt Barnes | Florida, 2014: graduate assistant; Maryland, 2016–17: special teams coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Travaris Robinson | Florida, 2014: defensive backs coach | |
| Aazaar Abdul-Rahim | Maryland, 2016–17: defensive backs coach | |
| Andy Buh | Maryland, 2016–17: defensive coordinator | |
| Anthony Tucker | Maryland, 2016–17: running backs coach | |
| Chris Beatty | Maryland, 2016: wide receivers coach; 2017: assistant head coach and wide receivers coach | |
| Tyler Bowen | Maryland, 2017: offensive line coach | |
| Derrick Nix | Auburn, 2025: offensive coordinator and running backs coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Maryland | head coachbonuses up to $625,000; $25,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $6,833,104 | $2,462,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Maryland | head coachbonuses up to $625,000 | $2,412,000 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Michigan | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $133,333 | $880,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Florida | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $197,500 | $500,500 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Durkin’s teams went for it on 24% of fourth downs and on 44% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 46% of plays and took 24.7 seconds a play, 2016–2017.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 13 g | 29 of 115 25% | 51% | 45% | 24.3 | −0.02 | |
| 2017 12 g | 24 of 104 23% | 37% | 47% | 25.2 | −0.06 | |
| All 25 g | 53 of 219 24% | 44% | 46% | 24.7 | −0.04 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.