And immediately they begin to challenge again in the NFC North. Just kidding. He's got a lot of work ahead of him. But he does have a degree in Economics.
Schwartz is one of the hot assistant coaches making the rounds for a head coaching job. So he's a good hire. He appears better than their last coach, Rod Marinelli, who I had never heard of until Detroit hired him.
This quote, from Pride of Detroit, is by a Titans' fan about their former defensive coordinator:
Jim Schwartz is a brilliant man who is well schooled in mathematics/economics at Georgetown, and has done extensive work with FootballOutsiders.com. He's a stat guy who breaks down tendencies like no other. I'd expect his staff to be like-minded. He'll get you very good on D if the talent pans out, but he hasn't shown an ability to get guys to play over their heads. He puts up with the occasional lack of discipline and won't be a drill sergeant. He is, it must be noted, a protege of Bill Belicheat (from his Cleveland run, not the Patriots staffs), so expect tight lips and lots of creative injury misinformation.
I've run the whole range of emotions with Jim Schwartz. For a few years I was praying for him to get hired away (like when he almost beat-out Nolan for the 49ers job) because I thought he wasn't getting the job done. When he took over the defense after Gregg Williams got the head spot in Buffalo, and went down like clockwork each successive year. By 2005 it was near last in points allowed in the league. Now, I'll admit that the defense was hemorrhaging talent (due to injuries, free agency and natural decline). As we've acquired more talent over the last few years he's been lights out and an innovator. Still it was frustrating as a fan to watch Schwartz not adapt his system to fit the players he had after we blew up the core of that team.
I think most would agree that has adapted very well to being a coordinator and should excel at making sure the talent develops on the defensive side. He probably needs a strong offensive mind to help him out there.