Brass was the one caption Blue Devils won at Finals. It gets a new caption head for year 70
Bluecoats took seven of eight captions at 2026 Finals. The eighth, Brass, went to Blue Devils at 19.5. Hiring Kevin Ronan to lead brass changes the corps' best sheet, not its weakest.
Blue Devils have named Kevin Ronan to lead their brass program. The corps announced it October 2 under the headline "Meet Kevin Ronan: Leading The Blue Devils Brass into 2027" [1].
Ronan will serve as Brass Caption Head for the corps' 70th season [1]. The corps made the change in the one caption where it finished first at Finals.
What the brass sheet did in 2026
Blue Devils finished 2nd at the 2026 DCI World Championship Finals with a 97.500.
Brass was their only caption win of the night. They ended the season 1st of 12 in the caption.
The path there was not a straight line. Blue Devils read 3rd in Brass at Prelims with a 19.25. They slipped to 4th at Semifinals with a 19.1. They closed at Finals with a 19.5, first in the field.
That is a gain of 0.4 from Semifinals to Finals, in a caption that started the week outside the top two.
Why this hire is unusual
Corps usually change leadership where they lost. Here the corps changed leadership where it won.
That makes the hire a question of direction. A new head can protect a caption that peaked on the final night. A new head can also reset one that spent most of the week behind other brass lines.
The corps' announcement does not settle which it is. We could not read the body of the release, so this piece does not describe Ronan's background or the plan for the program.
Where a 2027 gain has to come from
A corps that already holds the top Brass score has little room left in that caption. Bluecoats won the other seven captions at Finals, so the room to gain sits there.
That points to General Effect, where the gap to the champions has to close if Blue Devils want to move up from 2nd. A brass staff can help there, since brass design shapes the book that judges react to.
That is a read of the sheet, not a claim about what the corps intends.
What to watch
Watch whether the rest of the brass staff changes, and whether the corps says more about Ronan's role. A single announcement is a plan. A sequence of them is a direction.
Sources
- Meet Kevin Ronan: Leading The Blue Devils Brass into 2027 · 2026-10-02
- BD Entertainment Seeks 2026 World Series Field Cast Performers BD Entertainment is building Field Cast rosters in six potential host cities for the 2026 World Series Pregame Show. Could your city be next? · 2026-10-06
- Meet Kevin Ronan: Leading · 2026-10-02
- The Legend of Blue Devils Bass 2 · 2026-10-01
- Crack Into a Night That Gives Back: The 2027 BDPA Crab Feed · 2026-10-01