Miami brings in new defensive coordinator, Corey Hetherman from Minnesota

Head coach Mario Cristobal holds up the U after the Hurricanes win at Hard Rock Stadium against the Virginia Tech Hokies on Sept. 27, 2024. Photo Credit: Mario Cristobal

The Miami Hurricanes defense struggled heavily last season, and as a result, coordinator Lance Guidry was let go in December. In his place, Minnesota defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman will step in to try and fix the defense. 

Hetherman only led the Minnesota defense for one year, but in that lone season, their defense was excellent. The Golden Gophers had one of the nation’s top defenses, ranking in the top 10 in several major defensive categories. Allowing only 285.7 yards per game, they ranked fifth; their 176.1 yards air yards allowed ranked ninth, and 16.9 points per game ranked ninth as well. This was a massive leap from the prior year, where those numbers were dramatically worse than all 56th or worse in the nation. This all while only taking the ball away a modest 21 times, a similar number to Miami’s 18 total takeaways. 

This isn’t the only time he flipped a defensive culture around. From 2015-2018, Hetherman was in the FCS with Maine, and by his last year there, the Black Bears led the FCS in several categories. Along with the leading rushing defense at 79.2 yards per game, Maine posted 47 sacks as a team, good for second nationally, and forced 31 turnovers, most in their division. 

Looking at the schematic differences between Hetherman and Guidry, their systems both start at the 4-2-5 format. Matt Shoddel of On3 broke it down and to him, “Hetherman keeps it a bit more simple…He isn’t as worried about trying to confuse the QB as he is about playing good, sound defense.” As he puts it there Guidry’s system tried a lot more disguising and movement of guys post snap.  Though these aspects can confuse an offense, it can also at times confuse a defense and, as a result, lead to coverage busts and the frequent explosive plays Miami let up all year. Minnesota conversely was excellent in preventing explosive plays. The Golden Gophers let up the nation’s fourth fewest plays of 20 yards with just 36; the Canes’ ranked 96th with 61 allowed.

Going into the Minnesota job, Hetherman said it best on how he wants this defense to be run, “Really for us it’s who are our best 11 and how we get them on the field, and we’ll tweak our scheme and make it fit to get our best 11 guys on the field to make sure we’re flying around playing fast.” At the end of the day, it’s simply what Hetherman is going to try and instill into this defense: good, solid, physical football that is disciplined but aggressive.

Though it was inconsistent, Miami will have talent for Hetherman to work with, including defensive lineman Rueben Bain, cornerback OJ Frederique, and Wesley Bissainthe, to name a few along the defense. Outside of them, though, Miami brought in several big-name defensive transfers and will also have some promising players expected to step into bigger roles and return from injury that could round out a solid defense that looked pretty good in Guidry’s first year at defensive coordinator. 

Miami’s offense, with a ton of changes, is likely to struggle early in the year. If Hetherman can push this defense to improve and get back to where it should be, Miami might be able to weather any early season woes and come out stronger to challenge for the ACC.