re: OLB Coach

quote:

---

Report: Auburn hires Brandon Fisher as defensive analyst
by Steven Taranto
Mar 6, 5:01 PM

Auburn University has served a significant role in the Fisher football family, as Trent Fisher - the son of longtime NFL head coach and Tennessee Titans franchise great Jeff Fisher - had once suited up for the Tigers football program as a defensive back. Now, the latest Auburn Football hire brings another Fisher into the fold.

According to a report by Mike Silver of NFL Network, second-generation coach Brandon Fisher has been hired by Auburn to serve as a defensive analyst. Fisher, one of Jeff Fisher's three children, had served as the defensive coordinator at Southern Utah University during the 2019 season after spending much of the decade coaching at the NFL level.

Fisher, a former linebacker at the University of Montana, began coaching as an assistant secondary coach with the Detroit Lions in 2011 before joining his father's staff on the St. Louis Rams. There, he worked his way up to defensive backs coach by the 2015 season, and served in that role until the end of the 2016 season and his father's ouster as Rams head coach. While Fisher had originally planned to join the Cleveland Browns with former Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, he instead opted to take a sabbatical from coaching.

Last year, Fisher re-emerged at the defensive coordinator at Southern Utah, a job which he was led to through connections from the NFL world. When Jeff Fisher played cornerback for the Chicago Bears in the early 1980s, he played alongside former Southern Utah safety Len Walterscheid - whose son Justin became the school's offensive coordinator.
At the college level, Fisher possesses an NFL-style mentality that echoes that of Buddy Ryan, the great defensive mastermind who coached his father as Bears defensive coordinator. According to a 2019 report by Chris Kwiecinski of The Spectrum, Fisher is partial towards players who are "fast and tough" - Criteria that has shades of Buddy Ryan, who long stated that his desire was to have players who played "tough and smart" on defense.

Unfortunately, Fisher's NFL defensive experience wasn't able to change the fortunes of Southern Utah. After following up a 1-10 2018 season with a 3-9 campaign in 2019, both Justin Walterscheid and tight ends coach Teag Whittling were fired by the Thunderbirds. It had also been known since December that Fisher would not return, though he left the program of his own volition in order to pursue other opportunities.

Now heading to Auburn, Fisher will join a staff led by head coach Gus Malzahn, whose defense is led by defensive coordinator Kevin Steele. Under Malzahn, the Tigers finished the 2019 season with a 9-4 record and as the No. 14-ranked school in the country, and finished their year with a loss in the Outback Bowl. The program's most-notable defensive player, defensive tackle Derrick Brown, will not return for the 2020 season as he enters the NFL Draft.

---