Spoke with the Second Wiseman regarding the game planning around the Michigan game and the immediate impact afterwards and he had some VERY interesting things to say about the two staffs...
This has been a strange stretch in terms of coaches crossing sidelines with the swapping of ED WARINNER, GREG MATTISON, and AL WASHINGTON all within the past five years or so...
The Ed deal wasn't his choice however, after Urban Meyer literally fired him at the baggage claim after the team landed from the Clemson game in January 2017. Ed made his way to Michigan via Minnesota and hasn't had near the impact people in that organization had hoped...
The Al Washington and Greg Mattison deal was an ENTIRELY different ordeal. Mattison has long been an outstanding coordinator, yet was stuck in a rock and a hard place when Jim Harbaugh took his good friend Brady Hoke's job (they are very very close). Out of loyalty to the kids, he humbly accepted being relegated to defensive line coach after being the DC. Greg isn't getting any younger and his son resides in South Bend, so it seemed like a good deal...
That is, until, he got around Don Brown and his concepts. Mattison has long been known as being extremely sound on defense and letting players play fast. He will get exotic on passing downs, but generally he is in the mode of helping his guys maximize their talents. He learned a ton from his time being the DC for the Baltimore Ravens when he had Ray Lewis, Haloti Ngata, Ed Reed, and Terrell Suggs. Those guys taught him to coach and call a sound defense and when you have outstanding players, they will make you look great. When you are at Michigan or Ohio State, you essentially have the mid-2000s version of the Baltimore Ravens on defense from a talent perspective. Where did it go wrong???
Enter Don Brown, Defensive Coordinator, University of Michigan...
Don has long been a huge proponent of being a little edgier and taking more chances on defense. Some of it comes from having inferior players at most of his stops and having to "swing for the fences" on defense, strikeouts be damned. When he got to Michigan, however, he didn't adjust to having top end talent. This was all cruising along fine for a few years until last year's Ohio State game. Michigan came in as a favorite, and Don Brown's defense was being lauded as the best in the entire nation. The great divide between Don Brown and Greg Mattsion that week regarded how to defend the Ohio State aerial attack. Don had been running mostly COVER 1 (or man free) at a really high clip (like 80%), which is great versus Rutgers and team who aren't good enough to block Gary and Winovich. But Greg Mattison thought that Ohio State's tackles could block those two, and that we should run more zone (Quarters, Halves, and 3) to help out versus Ohio State's speed and crossing patterns that became a staple in 2018...
They had it out, and Don Brown won. He went MAN FREE versus Ohio State, and they proceeded to put up more points than anyone in the history of the rivalry...
That was it for Greg, and when word of his unhappiness reached Columbus, an old friend reached out through back channels. Greg went on to recommend AL WASHINGTON, whom he thinks very highly of but is still very green at coaching LBs. Mattison told the powers that be that Washington would be a superstar on the staff and that Al Washington Sr. (who lives in Grove City) was imploring him to "come home". Greg has done great work teaching Al linebacker play and it is very evident this year that the group has done a 180...
I have to go ice my hand after this nugget, but this one was a good one to pass along. Is it Saturday yet???
This has been a strange stretch in terms of coaches crossing sidelines with the swapping of ED WARINNER, GREG MATTISON, and AL WASHINGTON all within the past five years or so...
The Ed deal wasn't his choice however, after Urban Meyer literally fired him at the baggage claim after the team landed from the Clemson game in January 2017. Ed made his way to Michigan via Minnesota and hasn't had near the impact people in that organization had hoped...
The Al Washington and Greg Mattison deal was an ENTIRELY different ordeal. Mattison has long been an outstanding coordinator, yet was stuck in a rock and a hard place when Jim Harbaugh took his good friend Brady Hoke's job (they are very very close). Out of loyalty to the kids, he humbly accepted being relegated to defensive line coach after being the DC. Greg isn't getting any younger and his son resides in South Bend, so it seemed like a good deal...
That is, until, he got around Don Brown and his concepts. Mattison has long been known as being extremely sound on defense and letting players play fast. He will get exotic on passing downs, but generally he is in the mode of helping his guys maximize their talents. He learned a ton from his time being the DC for the Baltimore Ravens when he had Ray Lewis, Haloti Ngata, Ed Reed, and Terrell Suggs. Those guys taught him to coach and call a sound defense and when you have outstanding players, they will make you look great. When you are at Michigan or Ohio State, you essentially have the mid-2000s version of the Baltimore Ravens on defense from a talent perspective. Where did it go wrong???
Enter Don Brown, Defensive Coordinator, University of Michigan...
Don has long been a huge proponent of being a little edgier and taking more chances on defense. Some of it comes from having inferior players at most of his stops and having to "swing for the fences" on defense, strikeouts be damned. When he got to Michigan, however, he didn't adjust to having top end talent. This was all cruising along fine for a few years until last year's Ohio State game. Michigan came in as a favorite, and Don Brown's defense was being lauded as the best in the entire nation. The great divide between Don Brown and Greg Mattsion that week regarded how to defend the Ohio State aerial attack. Don had been running mostly COVER 1 (or man free) at a really high clip (like 80%), which is great versus Rutgers and team who aren't good enough to block Gary and Winovich. But Greg Mattison thought that Ohio State's tackles could block those two, and that we should run more zone (Quarters, Halves, and 3) to help out versus Ohio State's speed and crossing patterns that became a staple in 2018...
They had it out, and Don Brown won. He went MAN FREE versus Ohio State, and they proceeded to put up more points than anyone in the history of the rivalry...
That was it for Greg, and when word of his unhappiness reached Columbus, an old friend reached out through back channels. Greg went on to recommend AL WASHINGTON, whom he thinks very highly of but is still very green at coaching LBs. Mattison told the powers that be that Washington would be a superstar on the staff and that Al Washington Sr. (who lives in Grove City) was imploring him to "come home". Greg has done great work teaching Al linebacker play and it is very evident this year that the group has done a 180...
I have to go ice my hand after this nugget, but this one was a good one to pass along. Is it Saturday yet???
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