The Greg Mattison File
So, Greg Mattison. He's been a coach forever, starting out as an Illinois GA and winding his way through a half-dozen schools coaching defensive linemen with a brief stint as WMU's DC in the mid-80s.
In 1992 he moved from Texas A&M to Michigan, where he was the DL coach from '92 to '94; in '95 he was promoted to DC. Notable players he coached include All-Americans Chris Hutchinson, Will Carr, and Jason Horn, '93 team captain Buster Stanley, and the bulk of Michigan's terrifying '97 defensive line that featured Glen Steele.
Mattison's Michigan defenses were good even for the standards of the time. Opponents averaged 12.1 points per game in '95, and none of them scored 30. Michigan State got a punt return touchdown to get to 28 in a 28-25 win, the most points actually given up by the D that season were the 27 ceded Penn State. It was kind of good:
The team earned the fifth of six 1990s Big Ten rushing defense statistical championships for all games by holding opponents to 93.2 yards per game. The team also earned the fifth of five consecutive and six 1990s Big Ten rushing defense statistical championships for conference games by holding opponents to 88.1 yards per game. The team led the conference in total defense for conference games (314.5) and all games (284.8).
In 1996 the D took a moderate step back, giving up 15.3 PPG and twice allowing 29 points, one in a comfortable win over MSU and once in another loss to PSU. In Michigan's three other losses the offense scored 16, 3, and 14 points. The bit about M standing for "mediocre" was launched after that season but it wasn't because of the D.
After the year Mattison left to be Notre Dame DC under Bob Davie. At the time this was high treason, but now people are talking about how his kids got free tuition and back in the mid-90s that meant something for assistants. I'm all like whatever in re: this matter.
Mattison was the DC for the entire dismal Davie era, a stretch of five years from 1997 to 2001. The NCAA database kicks in in '99, so we can provide (most of) the 1,000 foot view for his last three years:
Year | School | Rush D | Pass D | Pass Eff D | Total D | Scoring D |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | Notre Dame | 50 | Bad | 82 | 74 | 78 |
2000 | Notre Dame | 57 | 43 | 61 | 51 | 35 |
2001 | Notre Dame | 39 | 10 | 38 | 14 | 22 |
[The 1999 stats don't have pass yardage D but we can surmise from the other numbers it was Not Good.]
At the time ND was playing legitimately brutal schedules—have fun storming Nebraska and Tennessee, kids—and in 2001 Davie saddled Mattison with the 110th-ranked offense in the country, so that last bit is something of an achievement. Caveat: it's hard to tell exactly how much influence Mattison had since Davie was a DC before he ascended to the top chair but given their respective career arcs it seems reasonable to assume it was Mattison doing the good things.
When Davie got broomed the next year Mattison was kept on but demoted to DL coach, where he remained until Ty Willingham got the axe. This could have been curtains for his career but instead he moved to Florida, where he operated as a co-DC with Charlie Strong. The rankings from that stretch:
Year | School | Rush D | Pass D | Pass Eff D | Total D | Scoring D |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005 | Florida | 10 | 38 | 25 | 9 | 18 |
2006 | Florida | 5 | 33 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
2007 | Florida | 10 | 98 | 71 | 41 | 46 |
You may remember the '07 Florida defense from such bowl games as "Aargh You Could Have Been Doing This For Years." That season Florida's untenably young secondary spent the season getting toasted tasty-crisp; the next year they'd recover en route to a national title, finishing 9th in total D.
Mattison was in the NFL by then. He left Florida for to be the Ravens' LB coach and was quickly promoted from that spot when Rex Ryan left to coach the Jets after his first year. In both his seasons as Ravens DC Mattison's charges finished 4th in DVOA, an advanced metric from Football Outsiders that adjusts for schedule strength and other vagaries. That's actually a tiny step back from Ryan's tenure, when the Ravens were second, fifth, and first in the league in defensive DVOA, so that wasn't exactly a rebuilding job.
In fact, most of Mattison's career as a DC consists of him walking into established situations and maintaining high levels of play for brief periods of time. The exception is his run at Notre Dame, where there were obviously some things very wrong that Mattison (and/or Davie, but again career arcs) repaired as the Fighting Irish footbaw era drew to a close. He's never walked into Chernobyl and walked out with an extra arm for ass-kickin'.
That and a couple of years here and there where his defenses weren't at least good are about the only knocks. He toiled in the ND salt mines forever and when Willingham's staff got fired he got a promotion at Florida; he then was the instant choice in Baltimore despite only being around one year. Both the circumstantial evidence and number suggest that Mattison is for real and the kind of A-list hire that Michigan sorely needed after the GERG/surprise-3-3-5 era.
Greg Mattison is not a man with a stuffed beaver.
BONUS CONSPIRACY THEORY: Hoke hired Mattison just to fire him after this year. Mattison leaves Michigan: national title. Mattison leaves Notre Dame: BCS game after being terrible. Mattison leaves Florida: national title. Put your money on the Ravens next year.
January 19th, 2011 at 3:40 PM ^
to walk out of Chernobyl with an extra leg for ass-kicken?
January 19th, 2011 at 4:07 PM ^
He kicks with his extra arm. Making it extra kick-ass.
January 19th, 2011 at 3:43 PM ^
All the analysts were in agreement that this is a home run hire for the good guys. I can't wait to see what he does with our guys.
January 19th, 2011 at 3:47 PM ^
you hear that zettel?
January 19th, 2011 at 3:47 PM ^
Have we ever learned the resoning for the stuffed beaver that gerg used??????
January 19th, 2011 at 4:02 PM ^
WTF is right. I still don't understand WTF was going on there. Does anyone have insider information?
January 19th, 2011 at 4:04 PM ^
If this is not in Bacon's new book about the RR era, I will be extremely disappointed. How is this going to motivate your defense? We need answers people.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:22 PM ^
how better to motivate 18 and 19 year old boys than by promising them they will be up to their chins in beaver if they play well?
January 19th, 2011 at 4:50 PM ^
Or Wynona is a big U-M fan?
January 19th, 2011 at 3:48 PM ^
excited about a coaching hire since Rich Rodriguez!
January 19th, 2011 at 4:37 PM ^
that doesn't bode well.
January 19th, 2011 at 3:58 PM ^
While our D might be the football equivalent of Chernobyl it is not out of the realm of possibilities for Mattison to turn it around in 1 year.
GERG was forced to coach a system he had no experience with, failed to properly motivate his players (as evidenced by RR stepping in front of the D @Penn State, hasn't had any recent success before Michigan to speak of, spent most his time on the sideline picking his nose, and rubbed his players with a stuffed beaver for whatever reason.
I expect the D to be significantly better next year.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:02 PM ^
You sound rather reserved about this Brian.
Serious question:
Did you look at his past recruiting exploits? It sounds like he brought in some serious ass kickers during his time at Michigan...
January 19th, 2011 at 5:19 PM ^
I was interested in this as well.
What major players can he be credited for bringing into the college programs he coached?
January 20th, 2011 at 6:19 AM ^
Tim Tebow for one.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:03 PM ^
Hiring excellent coordinators is such an underrated part of evaluating a good head coach. The fact that Borges and Mattison speak so well of Hoke, even though both have been in the game for much longer is a major credit to Hoke.
Yesterday I kept thinking about Greg Robinson and how they kept showing him again and again throughout the Gator Bowl. This hire makes me very happy
January 19th, 2011 at 5:04 PM ^
One reason I was dubious about the Hoke hire is that I imagined it would mean things like the return of Mike Debord as OC. I didn't realize Hoke would be bringing in such a heavy hitter. Glad to know I can strike one worry from my list.
Mattison's age and family connections are reassuring too - need not fret about moving on to a HC job in a few years, as one would with a younger, less settled coach.
January 19th, 2011 at 7:26 PM ^
Not to pick nits, but in what sense is Al Borges a heavy hitter? Or did you mean that Greg Mattison is the defensive equivalent of a heavy hitter on offense, which is to be differentiated from what DeBord would have been?
Next time just name check Ron English. A lot more efficient.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:04 PM ^
January 19th, 2011 at 4:09 PM ^
He came back because of Hoke and only Hoke.
January 19th, 2011 at 5:42 PM ^
and is about to have a baby. Conveniently she likes A2 too.
January 19th, 2011 at 7:23 PM ^
That article, and Mattison's quotes, make it very plain that he is here because of Hoke and would not be here otherwise. I wonder if Brandon knew this all along? It certainly adds a lot to what Hoke brought to the table.
I am not convinced that he is just hear b/c of family. If he only wanted to come to Ann Arbor to be close to his daughter and future grandkid, he could have just retired and moved to the area. Given his employment history, he probably isn't hurting for coin. I think this hire is attributable to Hoke.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:14 PM ^
....from yesterday previously discussed in multiple threads. There is zero chance Mattison would be in A2 without Hoke. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:35 PM ^
Thank you. That is a big score one for Hoke then. The ability to secure quality assistants is a huge testimony to the leader.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:04 PM ^
Ray Lewis, heard of him?
January 19th, 2011 at 4:43 PM ^
He has the Hard Edge Michigan needs on the defensive side of the ball.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:07 PM ^
I have not been a firm believer in Hoke, but putting the right coaches around you is a big part of the job and Hoke taking Mattison from the Ravens,makes me respect a little bit more. Hopefully next year Michigan can make a jump as big as Illinois did this year,minus the Michigan game.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:09 PM ^
Hey, let's not be too harsh, he did win a championship ring with Florida in 06 right?
January 19th, 2011 at 5:20 PM ^
And that was the year his D completely overwhelmed Troy Smith and OSU, holding them to 82 (!) yards of offense and seven offensive points.
January 19th, 2011 at 5:42 PM ^
Maybe he's got the secret to unraveling the buckeye mystery.
January 19th, 2011 at 5:53 PM ^
2-0 as DC. And left us a pretty good defense that gave us our last 3 game winning streak over them...
January 19th, 2011 at 11:17 PM ^
Can they really do any worse then what we watched this past year . I say give them a chance and see what they accomplish .
January 20th, 2011 at 1:47 AM ^
I said that before last season. That being said, I think (pray to the heavens that) we'll see a major improvement on defense.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:10 PM ^
I remember being excited about Mattison the first go 'round, as he was one of the architects of the vaunted ATM "Wrecking Crew" defenses of the late 80s/early 90's. I think I read some where that one of the reasons he left is that he had issues with Llyoyd, anyone know about that? I think it is a great get for us-dude has a sweet pedigree at multiple stops including the Ravens. POW!
January 19th, 2011 at 4:16 PM ^
deals with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to.
January 19th, 2011 at 6:06 PM ^
+1/2 for office space ref. +1/2 for south park name, awesome.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:24 PM ^
January 19th, 2011 at 4:26 PM ^
Does anyone have information on the financial terms of the agreement? I know Brandon said paying ACs real money was gonna be a priority .
January 19th, 2011 at 5:25 PM ^
I read somewhere that coaching Baltimore this year qualified him to receive NFL retirement benefits. This combined with a desire to be near his daughter means that we might not have had to break the bank to get him here.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:43 PM ^
I think the D would improve significantly anyway next year (sans Gerg), but this makes it even more likely. Mattison obviously has a very good resume.
However, 2007 Florida (I wasn't aware he was the co-DC there) is a great example of the limits of coaching. They had Charlie Strong (a renowned defensive guy) AND Mattison coaching them, but their pass defense was 2010 Michigan horrific. Why? As discussed before, it was lousy with freshmen. The next year? Much improved, even with Strong still at the helm, just b/c they got more experience.
Just guessing, but even if we had Mattison here this year, our D still would have been bad, particularly our pass D. However, it is 99% likely would it have been better, perhaps allowing us to win one more game (e.g., Penn State or Iowa).
I'm glad he's a good recruiter, b/c in the end, there's no substitute for having players with experience (and hoping they stay healthy), so we need to keep replenshing our depth.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:48 PM ^
co-signed
January 19th, 2011 at 4:44 PM ^
If Mattison/Davie fixed problems on the ND defense, you'd think that Mattison would have to get a lot of the credit, since Davie would have been responsible for the problems developing in the first place.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:58 PM ^
hopefully he can get things on track...obviously we would be better anyways, but going back to the 4-3 and getting good and big lineman will be the key to stopping big ten offenses.
January 19th, 2011 at 5:13 PM ^
Michigan's front seven were all smaller than Ron Dayne and held them to 80 yards in the first half and 0 in the second in one of their games. Our line is bigger than that 99-00 line. I really wish the meme that RR only recruited slot ninjas to play All positions would just die. He recruited big whenever he had the chance, in addition to some of the crappy small players like Denard and Odoms /s. Michigan is not lacking in size, and size is not always necessary (see jamie Morris, Mike Hart). The age of the players and the switch to the 4-3, and the superior coaching will be reasons for the improvement of this D.
January 19th, 2011 at 6:38 PM ^
I also think RR's stubborn insistence on substituting 280-lb. downlineman with 180-lb. safeties had a big part to do with it
January 20th, 2011 at 12:55 AM ^
While the size of dline now is bigger than in '99-'00, I'm guessing that on average the size of the opposing olines that UM faces are probably bigger now than they were a decade ago.
January 19th, 2011 at 5:11 PM ^
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