By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
At a press conference on Wednesday, Defensive Coordinator Mike Macintyre expressed his joy for returning to the Ole Miss Rebel program after being away for 16 years. MacIntyre spent the past six seasons at the helm of the Colorado Buffaloes.
“I’m excited about where we’re going and where we’re headed, and very fortunate to be here and honored to be coaching at Ole Miss,” Macintyre said.
Matt Luke and MacIntyre are working together on the same staff for the third time in their careers. They worked together as assistants at both Ole Miss and Duke.
“I’m really excited with working with Matt Luke again for the third time,” MacIntyre said. “He is an awesome coach and a super person that I am really excited about helping him with his program.”
MacIntyre is bringing a 3-4 scheme to the Landshark defense that he picked up from the Dallas Cowboys while working under Bill Parcells who switch the Cowboy’s defense from a 4-3 defense to 3-4 scheme.
The 3-4 principal is what MacIntyre likes because of a few reasons. The scheme allows the defense to go up against spread offenses which in return would clog up the b-gaps, make the ball bounce, and it can allow edge pressure. MacIntyre calls the outside backers ‘quarterback disruptors.’ Not only can the backers confuse the offensive line prior to presnap, but they can also act like they’re rushing, full out blitz into the passing lanes, and can help in an RPO system.
“I think what we’ve developed is taking the pro system – it’s the exact same system the Chicago Bears run – and taken that system and developed it for college,” MacIntyre said.
MacIntyre’s friendship with Luke was a big part of him wanting to return to Oxford along with how much his wife and kids loved being here, he said.
Luke’s passion for the football program drives the team to be successful which added to MacIntyre’s decision to join forces with Rebels, he said.
“The second part of it is was we absolutely loved our time here at Ole Miss,” he said. “My wife loved it here, my kids loved it here.”
Last season, the Ole Miss defensive had trouble stopping the running game and MacIntyre hopes for improvement to come in the opening game against the Memphis Tigers.
“Hopefully we’ll make strides each week and hopefully we’ll play well coming out of the gate,” he said. “I think Memphis is the tenth scoring offense in America, so we better know what we’re doing and be ready out of the gate to play better and to play well.”
