Andy Buh had established a fine life for himself. He had been an assistant coach at Kentucky for a year, and his family had grown comfortable living in Lexington. There was no reason to move.
That was before DJ Durkin, the Terrapins football team’s first-year coach, called Buh over the weekend. The longtime friends, who coached together at Stanford from 2007 to 2009, talk often. But Buh was dumbstruck when Durkin got to the point of the conversation: He needed a new defensive coordinator.
“My immediate thought process was, ‘Yes, I want to come,'” Buh said.
He took some time to mull over Durkin’s offer, which came after former defensive coordinator Scott Shafer stepped down April 1 due to undisclosed personal reasons.
Monday morning, Buh faced the Wildcats and broke the news. He was headed to College Park, with a sparkly new title and more responsibility, tasked with joining a coaching staff working to lift the Terps program from the basement of the Big Ten.
“There was only one person I spoke to about this job, and that was it,” Durkin said. “I knew in my mind who we needed to go with, and Andy is a guy who is very familiar with what we do defensively.”
Buh served as Kentucky’s linebackers coach last season before transitioning to special teams coordinator this spring. It marked the latest stop in a lengthy coaching career, one that included a three-year stint at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh.
It was there that Buh met Durkin, who served as the defensive ends coach and special teams coordinator from 2007 to 2009. Buh was the Cardinal linebackers coach in 2007 before being promoted to co-defensive coordinator for his final two seasons.
“Really excited about the opportunity to reunite with a friend, a longtime friend and coach,” Buh said. “That is very rare in this business.”
On Jan. 12, the newly hired Shafer touted his plan for implementing a flexible yet disciplined defense that places an emphasis on getting the ball back to the offense.
Durkin said Shafer’s absence wouldn’t change the Terps’ defensive identity, though.
“My philosophy is in line with Coach Durkin. We are an attack-style of defense,” Buh said. “We want to maximize the talent here on this roster first, develop these guys into fierce competitors and then attack. We are an attacking-style of defense. We want to dictate to the offense what we are going to do.”
Monday night, Buh and his wife, Kelly, flew into this state and ate dinner. The next morning, Buh woke up, slipped on his red Terps polo and began the next phase of his life.
“I knew the right guy was Andy and if he was willing and able to do it that’s what we were going to do,” Durkin said. “If not, we honestly probably would’ve waited until maybe after the spring. I knew in my gut and my heart he was the right guy.”
