Dooley said Wednesday that Sunseri will still be calling plays, so exactly how it's going to work is a bit unknown. What's safe to say is that Conklin has been in charge of the defense in terms of the defending the passing game when we get to watch practice and he is at least the co-defensive coordinator. It wouldn't be surprising to see Conklin, who's been in the press box all season, and Sunseri in the same spot on Saturday, with Conklin having greater input and someone else signaling in plays and handling matters on the sideline. Graduate assistant Brandon Staley, who has been in the box and coordinated defenses at the JuCo level, could be a candidate to swap places with Sunseri on game day.
The concept of change to the defensive power structure and communication flow chart is one that Sunseri has handled with class publicly but not one that he was pleased with at all on Sunday when it was presented to him. Frankly, we're told Sunseri's reaction left some wondering if he would accept the changes and continue his tenure.
So Saturday it is thought that Conklin and Sunseri will both be in the coaches' box calling defenses. Dooley has not gotten into the details of what the plan is, but we expect both to be upstairs. What we can say is that Dooley hasn't taken his eyes off his defense this week. He's been in defensive meetings all week and hasn't left the defensive side of the practice field all week long.
The hope is to try and master a couple of concepts to go play sound defense after not handling anything a week ago, leading to frustration and to some defensive players to implore Sunseri to tell them what to do on the sideline. The vibe has definitely been that Dooley's presence --- and this is key --- and a commitment to greater communication and input from all sources has led to better practices, energy and a belief this defense could play with improved confidence and effectiveness this week.
Honestly, I don't know what would happen if this defense started to play better (except that we would probably win out and win the bowl game). So many of us wanted DD to succeed and continue to be thankful for him coming to our university to take over a complete mess from past regimes, but the fact of the matter is we still didn't win any games against the top tier teams in the SEC. I still believe that Hart has made his decision already, and DD will "resign" after Kentucky. DD is coaching now for a future position to try to show other schools that he can get it done. If our defense turns it around some, then he will have a good argument and something to sell to other programs.
