Greg Mattison Is Michigan's Defensive Coordinator
our coordinators have the exact same hair. no nonsense hair.
no one will ever say their hair is the best part of them.
This seemed like a far-fetched rumor when it started buzzing but lo, it is true:
Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Greg Mattison is expected to go the University of Michigan as their new defensive coordinator, according to a league source with knowledge of the situation.
No deal has been formally reached, though.
He would likely be replaced in Baltimore by secondary coach Chuck Pagano.
UPDATE: Mattison has taken the job and Pagano has replaced him.
I“We’re excited for our defense and for Chuck, and we’re happy for Greg Mattison,” coach John Harbaugh said. “I will talk more about it tomorrow when we formally announced Chuck as our new coordinator in a press conference.”
Mattison is the best possible hire of all rumored names, a veteran with a history of excellent defenses in both college and the NFL. He coordinated Michigan's stout '95 and '96 defenses and can probably take some credit for the national championship-winning '97 edition. After leaving Michigan, Mattison was Notre Dame's DC for a few seasons, then moved on to be co-DC at Florida with Charlie Strong. He's been with the Ravens the last three years.
This isn't exactly hiring Gus Malzahn—Chizik was a great DC himself before becoming a head coach—but it's the closest possible thing, an indication that Michigan is no longer skimping on assistant salaries. When the above-linked article finishes "Mattison has been successful with the Ravens, so this is a bit of a surprise," you know you're dropping some coin.
Hope meter: incremented.
Also, there's an official release on much of the rest of the staff:
Hoke Announces Seven Staff Appointments
ANN ARBOR – University of Michigan head coach Brady Hoke announced today (Tuesday, Jan. 18) the hiring of seven staff members to his Wolverine coaching and support staff. Hoke named six of the nine assistant coaching positions and the appointment of his strength and conditioning coach.
Six members of the San Diego State staff joined Hoke in Ann Arbor. Al Borges will coordinate the offense and work with the quarterbacks, Dan Ferrigno will coordinate the special teams and coach the tight ends, Darrell Funk will coach the offensive line, Jeff Hecklinski mentors the wide receivers and Mark Smith has been appointed linebackers coach. Aaron Wellman also joined the Wolverines’ staff as the strength and conditioning coach.
Hoke rehired long time Michigan running backs coach Fred Jackson to the same position on the staff. Jackson will begin his 20th season as a member of the Wolverine coaching staff in 2011.
All but Ferrigno were already known, and Ferrigno was suspected. Borges is listed as QB/OC so that probably means Loeffler won't return—and that's how Michigan can afford an esoteric TE/ST coach.
Michigan still has two open assistant slots and holes at DB, DL, and QB. Since Hoke and Mattison both have extensive experience as DL coaches it's not 100% that QB is the spot that goes unfilled but it's probable. Bringing in another offensive coach would mean the staff had five offensive assistants and just two on D.
BONUS: Michigan's also hiring Hoke's director of operations, so this will probably be the first and last time you think about this name: Bob Lopez. May he be a thousand times more obscure than Draper and Labadie.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:15 PM ^
Ray Ray didn't stab anybody... he just stood by and watched as his boyz knifed a guy over 10 times and then lied to the cops about what he saw. Minor point I know.
January 18th, 2011 at 10:55 PM ^
Kills.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:20 PM ^
In fairness, Ray didn't stab anyone. Ray Lewis is NOT a murderer. . .
. . . but if he sees a stabbing which is a murder, he's getting in his limo, getting the hell out of there, and ain't sayin' shit about it, and will obstruct justice to throw the cops off the scent.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:59 PM ^
Unless you go to tOSU or Misdemeanor State
January 19th, 2011 at 12:36 AM ^
you stab someone in a loaner car that you are driving to Jeanette? You know because everyone murders people, stabs people, goes to the Gold Club and starts fights.
Though Ray did excessively stretch once so we may not want to take the risk....
January 18th, 2011 at 8:31 PM ^
So I go away for two hours to look at wedding cakes with the fiancee, and come back to this wonderful news.
This is a much-needed shot in the arm. More please.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:04 PM ^
go look at some more cakes. we still have 2 slots to fill.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:59 PM ^
and catching frogs and playing hot wheels with your friends? When your fiancee was 9 she was planning her wedding.
Just go with the flow.
Planning the Honeymoon is a blast. The rest of it, just nod and pretend you like what she likes.
January 19th, 2011 at 12:33 AM ^
Let her pick everything - where your family sits, the food for the wedding, which cake, the whole nine. Even your decisions have to seem like her decisions.
Happy wife happy life man - might as well get started early. Oh and congratulations by the way. I forgot to say that to you earlier CR. Trust me it's well worth it...
Until football season when you have to fight for the TV....then you will regret every minute of it:)
January 19th, 2011 at 7:58 AM ^
You let some petty thing like getting married or a fiancé get between you and MgoBlog? What's next, you getting married during the season?
January 18th, 2011 at 8:36 PM ^
YEAH!!!!
We will have a legitimate defensive scheme and development next year!!!!
Let's keep the good news comin'!!!!
January 18th, 2011 at 8:37 PM ^
Basically DB is bringing back Carr football. Boring, no imagination, can't stop the fast skilled offenses, and the lack of innovation.
January 18th, 2011 at 8:42 PM ^
I will gladly take "bend but don't break" over whatever the hell we were putting on that field the last three years.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:11 PM ^
That would have been the bend over and break defense.
January 18th, 2011 at 8:45 PM ^
Your signature is ironic enough that I'm inclined to think you're a troll.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:30 PM ^
I don't want to go back to the old way of playing defense. I want to see a tough defense that is quick and is able to make tackles in space. Under Carr we didn't have that except for 97. Yes I know the defense was very disappointing the past three years. I really think RR could have had a better defense in 2011 considering the youth would have had more experience. Now if RR was stubborn and required his DC to run a 3-3-5 no matter whether they knew how to, then that's another story.
By the way I'm no troll. I've been a Michigan fan since I was a kid. I just want to see the football program be more inovated. My hope was that hiring RR would resolve that. It did, at least with the offense.
January 18th, 2011 at 10:15 PM ^
Correction: under Carr, we didn't have that except for 95, 96, and 97 (see the stat someone else posted about how in 95 we had the #1 Big Ten scoring D, and 96 we had the #2. Guess who the DC was in 95 & 96, and who left the cupboard absolutely loaded for 97? Oh, right. :)
January 18th, 2011 at 9:12 PM ^
the 95 & 96 Mattison coordinated teams blitzed a crapload and played a lot of man to man coverage in one of the more in your face style of defenses that had been seen in Michigan in years. It was after Hermann STOPPED blitzing and relying on a cover 2 scheme that the defense regressed post-97 championship.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:49 PM ^
Who should Hoke have hired then?
I guess it is impossible to please everyone.
January 18th, 2011 at 11:02 PM ^
Greg Robinson is available.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:54 PM ^
that we've just lived through.
January 18th, 2011 at 10:51 PM ^
was break.
January 18th, 2011 at 11:27 PM ^
All we have heard from coaches this week is how they are going to adapt and make changes. I don't think I ever heard the word adapt out of LC's mouth.
January 18th, 2011 at 8:38 PM ^
Another Greg??? What is Michigan's obsession with Greg??
Good hire though! Had cred and has coached at the M
January 18th, 2011 at 8:40 PM ^
This hire just makes me want to beat the shit out of Bielema. I don't know why but I want to see Bielema cry like the morally corrupt little bitch that he is. I guess I'm envisioning what they call a "run defense" and the fact that we may actually have one soon.
Fuck you, Bielema. Mattison and Mike Martin will eat your children.
January 18th, 2011 at 11:37 PM ^
Nice. I thought that I was the only person that wanted to rain haymakers on Bielema upon seeing that ugly face. Why does he bother me so?
January 18th, 2011 at 8:43 PM ^
This is awesome. Much, much better than bringing in Bedford or Austin. I think we can now start to expect serious defensive progress. Mattison gets results.
January 18th, 2011 at 8:53 PM ^
Great Hire, Mattison was in charge of the defense when we had at least one All-American every year and NFL talent. Now he's had a few years with Rex Ryan influencing him and being around players like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, this can only be good.
So its looking like a Denard Spread-offense supported by a Stephen Hopkins smashmouth running game with a blocking fullback and two TE's that will never touch the ball and a permanent Mike Martin BEAST mode on defense with a secondary scheme that includes more than planning how not to get burnt every play, and you know, stopping the effin' RUN GAME
January 18th, 2011 at 9:38 PM ^
Hoke utilized a small, speedy back at SDSU. Hopkins doesn't necessarily have the job lined up just because he is more of a 'bruiser'-style RB
January 18th, 2011 at 10:14 PM ^
I don't know why everyone is suddenly in a love feast with Hopkins? The guy didn't show us much this year, except on short yardage situations...which is what I expect Hoke will use him for. Fitz & Shaw are much better running backs then Hopkins. PERIOD. And I'm thinking Hayes will likely compete for the job this fall.
ps. Please spare us the "different styles, different offense" lecture. Raw talent overcomes scheme/style nearly every instance.
January 19th, 2011 at 2:51 PM ^
Perhaps because of the potential for Hopkins RAGE? Maybe he "didn't show us much this year," but how much are you expecting of a true freshman? Perhaps he needs time to develop, adjust to the college game, learn to hold onto the damn ball, read the blitz, etc.
January 18th, 2011 at 11:04 PM ^
Don't forget the possible catching of the punts!
January 18th, 2011 at 11:58 PM ^
for any of our RBs until one of them (other than Vincent) shows they can stay healthy enough to play more than half a game at a time.
January 19th, 2011 at 8:08 AM ^
I'm not so sure about the Denard Spread-offense part. I'm not convinced that Borges is really capable of utilizing a weapon like Denard in a full spread offense. Although I believe him when he says he'll incorporate him into the offensive schemes he does use. I also don't think the running back situation is a proven one. Still, this hire does give me much more hope than I had before!
January 18th, 2011 at 8:55 PM ^
Michigan still has two open assistant slots and holes at DB, DL, and QB. Since Hoke and Mattison both have extensive experience as DL coaches it's not 100% that QB is the spot that goes unfilled but it's probable.
The press release says that "Al Borges will coordinate the offense and work with the quarterbacks," so there won't be a QB coach. Last two spots will go to DB and DL coaches.
Anyway, Mattison seems like a great hire, and I like the way the staff is shaping up.
January 18th, 2011 at 10:24 PM ^
January 18th, 2011 at 8:58 PM ^
Looks like things are shaping up!!!
January 18th, 2011 at 9:09 PM ^
when Mattison ran the D's in 95, we ran a pretty straight 4-3 with a sub package of a 3-4 look featuring David Bowens wrecking havoc as a OLB blitz specialist. In 96, Mattison dropped Bowens down to a DE / hybrid end and he went all Brandon Graham on the conference before he transferred (which I think was b/c Mattison left IIRC). The Ravens play a 3-4 b/c of the personnel they have.. if any coach tried to tinker with that, they'd be legitmately crazy. I like what Mattison did with Baltimore this year considering Ed Reed was out for most of the year.
I have no inside info, but I'd image you'd probably see either a 3-4 with a Craig Roh playing Terrell Suggs / Lawrence Taylor / Lamarr Woodley position, or a straight 4-3 where Mattison would protect Martin and a DE-Roh with a space eating DT (Washington / Campbell), backed by Demens, Fitzgerald, and C Gordon. The other thing is that Mattison coordinated teams in college have traditionally played a lot of man to man. If Woolfolk is healthy, you may see man coverage with a 1-deep back end and a shitload of blitz packages... I hope Demens is running lots of sprints this offseason...
January 18th, 2011 at 11:18 PM ^
I like that you just compared Craig Roh to Terrell Suggs
January 18th, 2011 at 11:57 PM ^
Roh playing some OLB this year and not performing nearly as well as he did when down. Correct me if I'm wrong.
January 19th, 2011 at 12:46 AM ^
3-3-5 OLBs play a far different role in their defence than 3-4 OLBs. Your prototypical 3-4 OLBs are the James Harrison/LaMarr Woodley duo at Pittsburgh who are play like DEs who occasionally drop into coverage.
January 19th, 2011 at 9:24 AM ^
A 3-3-5 OLB has a lot of coverage responsibility, especially when you decide to play a 3-rush 8-back coverage. That's one of the big problems that we had was that we didn't really change up the pass rush strategy.. it was either rush 3 or rush 4 with the 4th already down in position, no need for the OL to pick up blitzes-- they were telegraphed. In a 3-4, the Rush OLB is "blitzing" 80-90% of the time with the pass coverage drops being change-ups where you decide to bring at least 4, most of the time 5 rushers at the QB from different positions. The OL against a 3-4 knows that 4-5 people are coming every play, it's just a crapshoot as to who and from where. Also, the 3-4 rush OLB lines up a lot to the strong side to try to get matchups against a tight end with the formal DE on the strong side being asked to get upfield against a OL/OG combo.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:20 PM ^
I suddenly cannot wait for September!!
January 18th, 2011 at 9:23 PM ^
RR and Mattison, that would have been sweet. It is amazing that Michigan basically at least tripled what it spends on assistants for hoke over RR.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:35 PM ^
Seriously doubt RR could have landed Mattison. RR was loyal to his assistants to a fault and also did not have the long term security that an incoming DC would want
January 19th, 2011 at 12:23 AM ^
In fairness to RR (and David Brandon), I don't think he could have offered the money that Hoke offered Mattison. Bill Martin was still AD when we hired GERG, and GERG had just been fired by Syracuse and was probably just happy to be employed.
January 18th, 2011 at 10:30 PM ^
January 19th, 2011 at 12:18 AM ^
funny how Hoke managed to land the guy who invented the 3-3-5 at effing SDSU around the same time we hired GERG.
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