Greg Mattison Leaving Michigan to be Ohio State DC
January 7th, 2019 at 1:56 PM ^
If he takes Washington with him, it's a major loss.
January 7th, 2019 at 1:56 PM ^
I’m actually not even mad. Take Michigan out of the picture. They hired a 69 year old D line coach. OSU is going to be good no matter what.
January 7th, 2019 at 1:57 PM ^
Sounds like Michigan wasn't going to extend him then he got a promotion instead. Pretty easy to understand. If I am OSU, I am not thrilled by this move at all. It would be like if we hired Larry Johnson to be our next D-Coordinator.
January 7th, 2019 at 1:57 PM ^
The players are going ape shit on twitter. Already some deleted tweets...
Tarik Black tweeted "Kevin Durant" lol
This is absurd. But not sure how it plays out for OSU long term.
One thing that is certain, we need a replacement that will be an excellent recruiter like Matty was.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:32 PM ^
As they should be. What cynical, shitty thing for Mattison to do to his players. Just a month ago he was probably telling them how they needed to put their bodies on the line for the OSU rivalry, sacrifice for the team, blah blah blah.
Just a shit thing to do to those young men. You just don't do that.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:44 PM ^
I'll bet there was a serious talk between Harbaugh, Brown and GMatt regarding his unit's inability to get any semblance of pressure against OSU, and as a result, GMatt's was going to get cut loose.
January 7th, 2019 at 1:57 PM ^
this will probably even out on the football field and not end up making all that big of a difference for the reasons people have stated (mattison being 70, scheme, etc). however, the emotional resonance is particularly strong with him going to that shit school in particular.
Ace retweeted something that I can't find at the moment, and it made sense to me, that alluded to the fact that we demoted him for Durkin then passed him over for DB. he also tearfully defended brady hoke before the firing, as they were famous bosom buddies. maybe he just got fed up and wanted to go out on top?
January 7th, 2019 at 2:04 PM ^
We demoted him for Durkin and passed him over for Brown after he left. We were lucky he stayed this long.
— Tony Kowalski (@tkowalski01) January 7, 2019
Hopefully his new DLs will bring the same pressure we brought on OSU this year.
January 7th, 2019 at 1:58 PM ^
It's a promotion, and Michigan wasn't going to resign him. Yes, they are a rival, but that rival just happened to give him the best offer he will get and we weren't going to retain him.
He's a grown man and he needs a job. I just hope Shea throws a touchdown and stares him down like Baker Mayfield lol
January 7th, 2019 at 2:01 PM ^
Yep most 70 year olds who have worked making the money he has "Needs a Job"
Some of you just can't see things when it is right in front of your face. Guy could of retired but let me guess "He still has so much to give in coaching"
January 7th, 2019 at 2:05 PM ^
Some people like to work, regardless of their age.
Maybe I shouldn't say "need", but he clearly is the type of man that likes to work regardless of net worth. Saban definitely doesn't need to coach anymore at his age and net worth, but it's his favorite thing to do. Same with coach K. Obviously those are not equivalent, but many people want to work until they just can't physically/mentally work.
If the coaches at Michigan have an issue with it, they should have resigned him. You can't just expect him to not work again because you don't want him to.
It's like if the Patriots didn't resign Brady when his contract is up, and then he decided to go to the Jets. Brady is really old at his position and has a billion dollars in the bank, but he may feel he still has more to give to the sport.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:17 PM ^
Some of you just can't see things when it is right in front of your face.
What should we be seeing, in your opinion? That somehow OSU hiring a guy on the brink of retirement, who was never really an elite DC, and whose DL seemed incapable of either drawing holding flag or batting down passes, is a coup against Michigan of the highest order?
January 7th, 2019 at 2:01 PM ^
I really don't think he needs a job at this point in his life. I'm sure his bank account is plenty healthy.
January 7th, 2019 at 1:59 PM ^
Well Ravens fans will tell you their defense improved after he was replaced as defensive coordinator. He was the biggest thing holding them back.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
Best of luck to Greg. He did this before when he left to go to ND after the 1996 season. He's a good coach but he can be replaced. We did it before and we'll do it again this time. Just a surprising outcome because, based on previous information, it seemed like retirement would be his next step. Guess he wants to be a DC again before that happens. As this plays out, we'll hear if this was an amicable departure or not. I'm hoping he parted on good terms. If not, probably has something to do with Solomon's unexpected departure.
This will open up some changes on the defensive side which I'm pretty sure people were making noises about after the last 2 games.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^
WOTS is Day is now trying to hire Harbaugh.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:06 PM ^
WHICH ONE! Jim or Jay?
/s for your /s
January 7th, 2019 at 2:04 PM ^
The world is upsdie down
January 7th, 2019 at 2:05 PM ^
MEH....
Let's get MUCH younger and move on.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:06 PM ^
Thanks for the memories, GMatt!
I love Coach Mattison, but he wasn't long for this position as it was. Since we're all about wishing for someone to coach "Modern Football" how about coaching the DL to draw holding flags and bat down passes when they cannot get home -- for a great as the DL's have been, there have been a dearth of BOTH lately.
I think this is a good sign, albeit an unexpected one, that things are starting to move on the staff. Self-scouting said DL was weak in the OSU game, and that opened the defense up to being torched.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:07 PM ^
They can have him. His best days are behind him. Time for us to send some old cows to pasture anyway............
January 7th, 2019 at 2:07 PM ^
Yeah, while this whole story has a ton of WTF's? in it, to me the biggest WTF is why Ohio State wants to make Mattison their DC? I mean he's a solid DC, but Ohio State can hire almost anyone in the country. He was #1 on their list? I mean, I can see Mattison being a top choice at any number of schools looking to upgrade, but Ohio State is in the rare position of being able to pick and choose pretty much anyone. And their pick is Mattison? Really?
Seems an odd choice to me.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:07 PM ^
It sucks to see him go to OSU, but he's almost 70, was never an amazing DC, isn't the recruiter that he once was, and the interior DL was one of the weaknesses of the team.
Yes, he's bringing a lot of inside info to OSU. But I think him leaving is a net positive. I wish he was retiring into a cushy job in the AD's office, instead of OSU.
I hope he fails spectacularly and whoever takes over for him here kills it.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:09 PM ^
There is just something seriously shitty about this. You think Mattison bleeds Maize and Blue forever then realize he's now planning to jump to Michigan's arch rival after having served its other major rival back in the day. The only thing to hope for is that it portends an NC in the offing like it did when he last bolted the program for ND.
His career is replete with Michigan ties wherever he has gone, including Iowa and Western Michigan. And he supposedly came to AA to be near his grand kids and daughter.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
He already bailed to ND.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:09 PM ^
Bucknuts just tweeted that OSU LB Coach Bill Davis is not returning and they have reached out to Al Washington.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:45 PM ^
Yikes
January 7th, 2019 at 2:09 PM ^
11 Warriors is not impressed. Nor should they be
January 7th, 2019 at 2:10 PM ^
Haven't been able to find if it's actually the DC position.
They did part ways with Schiano, but also learned they told Grinch he was not going to be the DC.
Davis the LB coach is not coming back, the DB coach Taveer Johnson is probably out too. Mattison's position is not yet confirmed and they are talking to Washington.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:10 PM ^
January 7th, 2019 at 2:10 PM ^
Once you get past the jilted lover betrayal feeling, this is...not bad? I loved Coach Mattison and wish him personal success (though I can no longer wish him professional success), but, pending other staff changes this off-season, this is not a big deal. He was expected to retire soon (I'm sure he still is) and is not an elite DC.
It's a gut punch, but once you get over that pissed off feeling that someone just suckered you, you realize that, in this case, they can't hit very hard.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
I was looking at this from the Ohio State end. Basically, Ryan Day and Urban fired Schiano without Schiano having any plan, right?
Schiano (who once, like his mentor Joe Paterno and decades later Rick Pitino, was considered a possible head coaching candidate at Michigan) will catch on at some appropriate location. MiamiYTM; UNLV; Louisville; the Ohio Department of Corrections Inter-Institutional League.
He could rekindle the Rutgers-Michigan rivalry.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
?Que?
January 7th, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
Not too bothered by this. Great coach 10 years ago. Not sure he has the chops to do the DC job any more.
Full disclosure - I know him a little bit - He's an asshole.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:16 PM ^
Most football coaches are. At least the higher level ones.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
I’m having a hard time seeing how this is good for Ohio State
January 7th, 2019 at 2:14 PM ^
Well, that sucks. Maybe Harbaugh can lure Jerry Montgomery away from the Packers?
January 7th, 2019 at 2:15 PM ^
Good for us as GM has 2-3 seasons left in him anyway. Get some fresh ideas rotating into our D staff. Can't see Brown leaving for Temple level gig.
Surprised Day went this route for the same 2-3 season likelihood.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:16 PM ^
2019 y’all
January 7th, 2019 at 2:16 PM ^
Warriner for Mattison trade apparently
January 7th, 2019 at 2:25 PM ^
We won that trade, big time.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:36 PM ^
True. Warriner is a hell of a coach and Mattison is 100 years old. That’s what I take out of it.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:17 PM ^
Dear Michigan football,
Can you stop it already? I’m in terrible pain.
Best,
The Pills
January 7th, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
So many weird emotions regarding this.
I'm wildly going back and forth from "Well it makes sense...it's a promotion and it sounds like Harbaugh wasn't going to re-sign him next year anyway" to "WHAT THE FUCK, GREG? You call yourself a Michigan Man? You could have coached literally anywhere else but that cess pool down south and I would have been ok with it. Traitor." Also thoughts of "...wait, is this the best OSU can do? A 70-year-old DL coach who couldn't get his highly-touted DL to generate a lick of pressure on you in the biggest game of the year?"
This is the most bizarre thing.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:33 PM ^
I just think a lot of people remove sports from the real world.
My father has been a professor at Michigan for almost 30 years now, but was interviewed to be the Dean of the professional school that he works in at OSU. He would have taken that job had he gotten it.
It would be a promotion and to go to a rival school. Most people wouldn't take an issue with that except for maybe some co workers that relied on him. It would have been more about leaving his current job than leaving for OSU, considering most people don't really care about that stuff when it comes to "real" jobs.
But now it's football and we want people dead
January 7th, 2019 at 5:56 PM ^
Sports, for most of us, are apart from the real world. They're a pastime, for entertainment.
For the most part, professors at one school don't have anything to do with those at other schools, unless they're collaborating. A football coach's job is to defeat opponents in direct, head-to-head competition.
Professors consider professors at other schools peers. JH (and all of us) consider OSU coaches rivals.
Heck, if anything, UM and OSU are partners due to CIC.
People, lots of people, care about the UM-OSU sports rivalry. That's why this website exists, fergodsake. I don't buy your analogy at all.
You're a self-declared footballguy; how can you not understand this?
Absolutely no one outside your dad's students, family and respective school's departments would care if he took a job at OSU. Your dad isn't part of a sports rivalry. GM is.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:20 PM ^
So many questions, completely out of the blue.
What does Larry Johnson do?
Is the staff fractured?
Did Solomon transfer because of Mattison?leading to internal issues?
is Brown leaving and mattison thought he would get promoted to DC but Harbaugh going with someone else in staff?
What’s going on with schiano?
did NOT expect to be reading this news
January 7th, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^
Schiano and Grinch were both told by Day to look for other work. Schiano has not yet found anything.
Larry Johnson is not impacted by this, he is happy being the defensive line coach and being paid well to do it. EDIT: It is now being reported that LJ has been promoted to assistant HC, while continuing to coach the DL.
I truly don't think Mattison had been contacted before the Peach Bowl was played, but I have no insider knowledge on that; it's strictly my opinion.