Tag: Greg Mattison

Co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison to retire at end of month

Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison will be retiring at the end of this month according to head coach Ryan Day.

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Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison will be retiring at the end of January after two-years with the Buckeyes. The news came during a Zoom press conference head football coach Ryan Day had with media members on Friday.

“He’s (Mattison) going to be retiring here after an unbelievable career at the end of the month,” Day told reporters. “He’s a special guy. He and Ann — his wife — have been so gracious to Nina and I in helping us in our first two years as head coach. His career speaks to itself. What he’s done and accomplished on the field, but more importantly, it’s what he’s done off the field. The relationship and respect he has around the country as one of the best coaches, and the impact he’s had on so many people. So I can’t thank him enough. I know he’s gonna really miss it, but he’s gonna have an opportunity to spend some time with his grandkids and his children after an unbelievable career in coaching football.”

Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison criticizes Michigan
Mandatory Credit: Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

Mattison has a long and distinguished career. Though most Buckeye fans will remember him as a Michigan coach that came over to the good guys, he’s had a high level of success — 49 years all told — in high school, the NFL, and college. He was hired to Ohio State by Day and spent both seasons as co-defensive coordinator. He helped quickly improve a defense that struggled in 2018 and make it one of the best in the country in 2019.  And at age 71, it is apparently time to hang it up.

With Mattison leaving, it opens up a defensive assistant position with OSU. Day acknowledged that on Friday and said the staff will get to work figuring out where to go with the position.

“We’re working on replacing Greg,” Day said. “It will not be easy. But we’re gonna get to work on that here.”

It’s really anyone’s guess where Day will go with any hire, but it could be a very important one with the defensive culture being questioned after a pretty poor showing in defending the pass this past season. We’ll have more as any news develops.

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Four Ohio State football assistants will make more than $1 million this season

According to compensation numbers released by Ohio State, four football assistant coaches will be paid in excess of $1 million this season.

According to compensation figures released by Ohio State on Monday, and a subsequent report by the Columbus Dispatch, four Buckeye football assistants will be paid over $1 million this season.

Based on over a decade of tracking by USA TODAY, it’ll be the first time four assistant football coaches at a public university will pay seven-figure salaries to that many assistants on one staff. With where assistant salaries are today as opposed to ten years ago, it’s not a stretch to believe that’s never happened in the history of public universities, but that cannot be confirmed.

Those four coaches that will break the $1 million barrier are defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs ($1.4 million), offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson ($1.2 million), and both co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison and defensive line coach Larry Johnson ($1.113 million each).

Prior to this year, the salary of Ohio State’s assistant coaches ranked the third highest in the country according to USA TODAY, with a total of $7.25 Million — trailing only Alabama and Clemson. The new total will now be $7.94 Million. It’s too early to tell if that puts OSU in the same ballpark or more than where the Tide and Tigers were last season.

I guess if you want to win these days in big-time college football, you have to pay not only your head coaches, but the guys that surround them. The teams winning everything are doing just that.

Ohio State assistant Greg Mattison criticizes former employer Michigan while recruiting

Ohio State co-defensive coordinator and former “Michigan man” Greg Mattison slammed the Wolverines when out on the recruiting trail.

To say many were surprised when new Ohio State head coach Ryan Day lured long-time Michigan assistant Greg Mattison away from Ann Arbor would be an understatement. It’s not every day a guy that had put so much blood, sweat and tears into a program moves on to an arch-rival.

But move on to Columbus he did. He replaced his maize and blue wardrobe with one with the clashing color palette of scarlet and gray. So far, the move appears to be paying off.

Mattison experienced a win in The Game while prowling the Ohio State sideline after he had been on the wrong end of it for seven-straight years under Brady Hoke, then Harbaugh.

He’s also won some recruiting battles the Wolverines likely would have lost in years past to the Buckeyes. He got to head to the desert and the College Football Playoff. Yes, the colors and change in scenery fit just fine thank you very much. So much so that Mattison has been as honest as the day is long when hitting the recruiting trail against his former employer apparently.

According to a story appearing by 247Sports, 2021 four-star defensive tackle J.C. Latham had some interesting things to say about what Mattison told him when out recruiting and comparing the two programs — a position he is unique and qualified to discuss having experience at both places.

“When I first went to Ohio State back in the spring time for practice, [Coach Mattison] was the first guy I talked to because I knew him right off the bat,” said Latham to 247 Sports. “He was telling me how different Ohio State’s program was and how their facilities, practices, culture, all that was a lot better at Ohio State than Michigan. He was really telling me at their school, it’s a business and they ran it strict to a T.”

Mattison went on to try and seal the deal apparently with how much time the coaches will take to develop him.

“He was telling me, ‘If you’re here, I can see you getting developed ten times better than I could see at any other school.’ So he was kind of really just breaking the ice with me when I first visited.”

It has to be interesting and a somewhat bitter-sweet for Mattison to recruit against a place he was so entrenched at for so long, but if anyone knows the difference between the two, it’s him.

He’s now taking a lot of heat from Michigan fan forums and boards, but the evidence is on the Ohio State co-defensive coordinator’s side. The Buckeyes continually out-recruit and outplay Michigan. They have also sent a ton more guys to the NFL that have been successful.

If that doesn’t speak to development and culture, I don’t know what does.

Be angry if you want Wolverine nation, but the proof is in the pudding. In fact, Mattison isn’t the only one that sees it. Director of recruiting at 247Sports Steve Wiltfong also had some very eye-opening comments about the difference in the two schools that he sees when out on the recruiting trail. We’ve also seen former a former Michigan videographer tell the scathing truth when comparing the two programs from the inside.

Look, the rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan is better when the Wolverines are good. In fact, the Big Ten and college football is just more fun when Michigan is competing for really big things. The reality though is that the two programs have splintered far apart ever since the end of the Lloyd Carr days.

Michigan downplays two former coaches coming to town with Ohio State

If there’s any ill-will towards the two Wolverines coaches defecting to OSU, you wouldn’t know it this week.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — You’d think with Michigan set to play its arch-rival on Saturday that there would be a war of words, especially given some of the circumstances.

However, there’s been a level of cordiality leading up to The Game against Ohio State, if not outright willful ignorance in some regard.

Yes, Michigan has acknowledged that it’s been a long while since it has beaten OSU, as has it regarded what happened last year in Columbus. Perhaps it’s an attempt to avoid bulletin board material for a team it doesn’t want to get any more fired up, particularly because the Wolverines already have a quiet reason to be angrier than usual heading into the final Saturday of November.

That’s because two former Michigan coaches inexplicably left the program this offseason in favor of joining the Buckeyes. It’s not unprecedented — famed head coach Bo Schembechler was once an assistant there, and Gary Moeller was an Ohio State team captain. Current offensive line coach Ed Warinner won national championship in Columbus in the same role, and that’s the hope for two former Wolverines coaches who are now coaching under Ryan Day.

Former linebackers coach Al Washington’s lateral move made all the sense in the world. He was the son of a former Buckeyes captain himself and grew up in Columbus revering all things scarlet and grey. But Greg Mattison, the former defensive line coach turned OSU co-defensive coordinator? His turn of the coat shocked the college football world when WolverinesWire broke the news back in January.

So, if Michigan has any hard feelings — and it indicated it did back in the spring — it’s being awfully quiet about it now.

Jim Harbaugh was asked what it would be like to face his two former assistants wearing enemy colors on Saturday and he quickly demurred, praising the job Day has done since taking over the program this offseason.

“I think Ryan Day has done a tremendous job and I think his coaching staff has done a tremendous job coaching this team,” Harbaugh said. “They’re one heckuva good football team. It’s a challenge, in terms of the preparation during the week. We’ve been doing it and attacking it and feel confident right now, feel good. Excited to get on the field and practice.”

That attitude was reflected by the players as well.

Defensive tackle Carlo Kemp has to face his former mentor in Mattison on Saturday, having played for him for three years before watching him join his archenemy. But, like Harbaugh, he isn’t taking any of the bait.

“Nothing really changes except they’ve got very good coaches, but at the same time, we’ve got very good coaches as well,” Kemp said. “Everybody in that meeting room and everybody that’s been with us — since January, since camp, since spring ball — they’ve been working for this, they’ve been thinking about this game. It’s a huge opportunity. Everybody in there is ready to go.

“Being able to be a part of this with the coaches I have in my room and the coaches that I have every day at practice, going out there and playing for them, that’s what gets you excited to this game. Getting to go out there with everybody that’s been here and is ready to go for this game.”

Fellow team captain Khaleke Hudson is in similar territory.

Washington was the Wolverines linebackers coach a year ago, and now Hudson has to see him on the opposite sideline this time around.

He harbors no ill-will towards the former Wolverines coach, and is more focused on the task at-hand rather than sending some kind of message.

At least, that’s what’s being said publicly.

“Ultimately, it’s their life, it’s their decision,” “I don’t hold anything against them. They decided to go to there. They had to make decisions for themselves and for their families. I got nothing but the most utmost respect for both of them guys. It’s gonna be good — it’s gonna feel good playing against them. They went to Ohio State — I’m not really focused on that. I’m just focused on the team, what we’ve gotta do. How we’re going to practice and how we’re going to prepare to get ready to get a victory on Saturday.”

Certainly, this Michigan team won’t be without motivation when the Buckeyes enter The Big House on Saturday, even if it is downplaying some of the key storylines in that regard.

Kickoff is slated for noon EST and the game will be broadcast nationally on FOX.

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