Ryan Day called Harbaugh before extending offers to Mattison
Thought this was very interesting.
February 12th, 2019 at 7:23 PM ^
What part of Mattison was just a position coach for Harbaugh do people not understand? If he had called Harbaugh and said, "Say, I'm looking for a defensive coordinator and just to let you know, I'm thinking about hiring Don Brown." Now that is something you could be and should be upset about. But when employer B calls employer A about hiring a guy and giving him a promotion as well, usually employer A is good with it because, let's be honest here, if employer A valued employee X the way employer B seems to, then A would have already given X the raise and promotion.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:08 AM ^
Weak sauce on Day's part. He is already no Meyer.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:15 AM ^
So you're saying Meyer would have just claimed prima nocta without calling?
I'm upset Meyer left because I wanted Harbaugh to beat him. Confident Harbaugh will beat Day and looking forward to Meyer taking over ND in a couple years so we can get our revenge. Meyer is a great coach, but he walked into a sweetheart situation at OSU (and made it better.) Hate that guy.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:21 AM ^
That's exactly what I am saying about a man that has no soul.
February 12th, 2019 at 4:33 PM ^
I was talking to an OSU friend about Meyer's departure and how most of the state of Florida STILL hated him. He said most Buckeye fans aren't upset by his departure, they understand. I asked "What if he took another coaching job in 2020, at say, Notre Dame?" He said, "OK, then we'd hate him."
February 12th, 2019 at 9:17 AM ^
True. Meyer would stab someone through the heart and not think twice.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:21 AM ^
Meyer would have clubbed a baby seal, ate a papa johns pizza...then made the offers, and claim Mrs. Meyer knew nothing.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:13 AM ^
If Harbaugh would have said no, what happens? "Oh, ok, well I'm going to offer them anyway, but thanks."
February 12th, 2019 at 9:30 AM ^
I’m thinking this wasn’t phrased in a “asking for permission” kind of way. Probably more like “hey coach, just wanted to give you a heads up that I’ll be offering both Mattison and Washington positions on my new staff.”
Now, what I really want to know is why Harbaugh didn’t just challenge him to a duel in response. Winner gets the coaches. Harbaugh is slipping.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:38 AM ^
Exactly.
You don't ask for permission unless it's in their contract. Which it wasn't.
This was a common courtesy...ESPECIALLY in athletics where coaches change jobs like the Phillip Rivers family changes diapers.
A simple "heads up" is a reasonable gesture when you're trying to poach someone. I don't care if you're a DL coach or an Asst. Director of Marketing, you at least make the call to the person's boss.
And Mattison and Washington are grown effing men. If they didn't WANT to go to Ohio State they wouldn't have. Just because they had an offer...nobody MADE them accept it.
That decision is on them, not Day or Harbaugh.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:13 AM ^
Respect the move by Day. As for Mattison, get fucked.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:17 AM ^
I'm fine with Mattison's move. He wanted to coordinate and Coach Harbaugh wasn't going to fire Brown.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:24 AM ^
Mattison is free to do what he wants. But all that talk about being home, being near his daughter and grandchildren, having his wife work with his daughter at her store in Ann Arbor...just so much crap. The man has made eight figures coaching and tried to sell us that it's now about family. It's not. It's about the money. His right to do it. My right to consider him a phony.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
You know, one of the things that I thought about after the initial "WTF?" over this move were all those stories about coming back to the Ann Arbor area and being close to family and all that, underscoring how it is, in the end, about the money in coaching. I am fine with that, but my thing is that, if you're a coach, don't pretend like it isn't about the money and the opportunity.
February 12th, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
It wasn't about money. It was about being the coordinator. Mattison doesn't go to OSU if they offer him a DL coach position for more money.
I hate the move because I liked Mattison and liked what he stood for in many ways. But I also don't blame him for doing it.
February 12th, 2019 at 12:56 PM ^
so he'd rather be a 'co' coordinator at osu when he most likely could have been a defensive coordinator at another school?
ain't buyin' it
February 12th, 2019 at 6:31 PM ^
You're getting caught up in titles. Mattison is 70, he's not looking to build his resume or feed his ego with a title, he wants to do the work of being a coordinator.
No one-- absolutely no one-- believe that a young defensive backs coach that has never been a coordinator before is an equal voice in the room with Mattison.
This is the deal: Mattison is the defensive coordinator. He listens to input form Hafley, because that's what you do when you have a young, smart staff member. Hafley takes notes and asks questions and learns from Mattison all the every day details of how to do the job that you don't get to see when you're busy being a position coach. Two or three years from now, Mattison retires and Hafley becomes DC in fact as well as title.
It's a reasonable question to ask why they're going to all that trouble, when they could have just hired a young, sought-after coach who's already a DC. But as for what Mattison gets out of it, he's the defacto DC until he retires, which is what he wanted.
February 12th, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
Mattison said it was good to be back in Ann Arbor and with family. He never said he would stay forever (although he did imply it). He certainly didn't say he would stay forever after being replaced by an inferior DC. I suspect that Mattison wasn't allowed to bring in his recruits or as many of them as he wanted. He may have also wanted to do something different against OSU, you know, something that might have worked. It was Mattison that brought in many of the players that were drafted 2 years ago.
Mattison worked wonders while the offense faltered in epic ways. Durkin did slightly better with an offense that actually ate some clock and gave him time to coach the defense in between times of possession. Mattison had to send guys back onto the field before he had a chance to tell them what plays were probably coming at them next.
That said, I am annoyed at the departure for ND as well OSU.
February 12th, 2019 at 1:39 PM ^
I would be very curious to know how much of Mattison's input was in the last two defensive game plans. Mattison may have left because his input was being disregarded, and we got shredded, or maybe he was already on the way out and simply didn't give much input, contributing to the catastrophe.
For that matter, Washington too. I know he was viewed mostly as a recruiter, but we don't know that was entirely the case. What about our analysts, did they all quit after November 1st?
I do know it appeared to me the last game plan anyone actually spent time on was Penn State, everything else looked the same, the results differed only based on the caliber of our opponent.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:35 AM ^
With his resume, if Mattison simply wanted to coordinate, there are plenty of good programs that would've loved to have him. In other words, he could've told OSU to piss off and been fine.
February 12th, 2019 at 1:39 PM ^
But how many would have paid them what Ohio State is going to pay him too?
February 12th, 2019 at 6:03 PM ^
So it is about the money.
February 12th, 2019 at 9:17 AM ^
Offseason/slow news day. Moving on.....
February 12th, 2019 at 9:19 AM ^
The most interesting thing to me is that neither one of them mentioned working for Don Brown on defense (if they did forgive me because I never read it). Don Brown on the cuff seems like a decent guy but he does appear extremely stubborn in his system. Coach Harbaugh has made some great leadership decisions showing his growth by hiring a true OC/allowing Pep to move on BUT I hope that he makes Don Brown incorporate more zone coverage into his system. I was really disappointed in the bowl game when Michigan locked up man again and LB's were covering vertical routes against slot receivers. It is dead obvious that when Michigan plays a team with a dynamic QB and receivers that Michigan cannot stop them. They do not have the coverage athletes to play man the entire game and he stubbornly stays with it. I really felt sorry for the kid in the OSU game they picked on because he was torched on national TV over and over again
February 12th, 2019 at 9:45 AM ^
Yeeeeup.
The whole this is the way we play...period thing is old.
You have to be flexible.
Look at the Patriots, they had a completely different scheme on offense AND defense in every game of the playoffs.
Meanwhile, they knew the Chargers were going to run the same Dime defense they played against Baltimore and NE TORCHED them. When they played KC, they switched it up again.
Then in the Super Bowl, Wonder Boy McVey flat admitted he was outcoached and they never adjusted to what NE was doing...New England was actually playing the Lions' defense after Belicheck called Patricia who had success against the Rams for 3 quarters.
February 12th, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
1) Brown's playbook has tons of zone schemes. They ran zone during the OSU game. They didn't emphasize zone enough this season, but it's not about a) Brown not knowing it; b) Brown being unwilling to run it. Brown clearly needs to rep some new things, new coverage checks, tweak game planning and season planning. But for the love of everything, can this blog stop acting like Brown is unfamiliar with the concept of zone coverage.
2) You can't ask a college defense to do what the Patriots did. The Patriots are ridiculously multiple, more than even most NFL teams. You don't have the practice reps, film time, or talent to do that at the college level.
3) You can't just say "You have to be flexible". MSU had one of the best defenses in the last decade in 2013 and ran basically two coverages. Granted, within one of those coverages, they had lots of tags, but it wasn't an extremely multiple defense. Bama and Clemson are extremely multiple. Brown is somewhere in the middle, leaning toward more multiple. He can run Cover 3, Cover 2, Trap, Cover 1, Cover 0, Doubles, etc. He has a very flexible blitz package. He basically doesn't have Quarters and doesn't play a bunch of Rip/Liz (Cover 3 match) if you are looking for gaps in his playbook. But he has schemes that basically replicate those in certain situations, it's not like he's running out there calling "City" and calling it a day. What he needs is more emphasis on other parts of the playbook and self-scouting/modifications in-season to prevent him getting forced into known checks.
February 12th, 2019 at 1:24 PM ^
Never said that Brown does not know zone coverage. I simply stated that he needs to mix it up so the kids playing coverage are not expected to play on an island every snap. Michigan does not have the athletes at those positions to play man every snap against the top programs. Just imagine what Clemson would have done to them had they made the playoffs. I think the results of his unwillingness to do this speaks loud and clear when playing top tier offenses. Football coaches are notorious for being stubborn and arrogant when it comes to schematics and many of them get stuck in the "It's our way" mode. It's clear that Brown does the same thing or he would have changed when it mattered the most and that was against OSU (Penn State the year before) and Florida this year. Also, playing man coverage against South Carolina helped the Gamecocks score on big plays to win the game. Brown is without a doubt a very good coach, however, the elite coaches are willing to explore and change what best fits the type of players they have when it comes to scheme. You mentioned he has used zone! He has but very sparingly and he sat in zone the first possession of the second half against OSU and they had to punt. Then he went back to blitz blitz blitz which opened up the middle of field for underneath crossing routes and Michigan was in man coverage and the ass kicking got out of control. It was clear they had practiced very little in zone and Ryan Day knew that and had an answer. An elite DC would have his defense already familiar with BOTH schemes and mix them up accordingly. Brent Venebles is a much better coordinator when it comes to game planning and unit readiness. I hope Harbaugh makes that very clear to Brown this year so I don't have to hear how stout the Michigan defense is while playing the softer part of the schedule.
February 12th, 2019 at 3:47 PM ^
" They didn't emphasize zone enough this season, but it's not about a) Brown not knowing it; b) Brown being unwilling to run it. "
If they didn't run it enough - it's because Brown chose not to run it.
The difference between "Brown chose not to run it" and "Brown being unwilling to run it" is nothing but a semantic "rose by another name".
February 12th, 2019 at 9:22 AM ^
Ryan Day has a punchable face.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:05 AM ^
I reserve the right to dislike the guy..... he still looks creepy AF
I hope he's John Cooper's sequel. God do I miss John Cooper. He might be one of my all time favorite college football coaches.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:11 AM ^
I love the John Cooper stuff. He built OSU into a perennial powerhouse, was always in the hunt for the national championship, just lost a lot to a stumbling 8-3 Michigan team (save 1997 and 1999). Tressel just had to come in and make a few adjustments, treat the game like The Game, and Boom, Michigan has been chasing their tail ever since.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:37 AM ^
That's a fun way of characterizing a decade of OSU blowing it to Michigan but you do you.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:08 AM ^
I wouldn't go that far...they were mostly a 3 or 4 loss team, he had 3 really good teams, maybe 4 in you include 1997, and 3 out of 4 blew it to Michigan and the other blew it to MSU.
February 13th, 2019 at 3:26 AM ^
Problem is, Cooper's ignorance about the significance of the game was his downfall...Same thing Rich Rod said "just another game" and no coach on either side of this rivalry will win much with that attitude...
Day spent two years in Columbus learning from Meyer who clearly "got it" when it came to THE Game.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:08 AM ^
Day did what ANY good coach should do. Get credible coaches who can also recruit, and who have experience.
If Harbaugh would have snagged Day, had Meyer not retired, we'd all be "YES YES YES DAY IS THE GREATEST!"
Certainly it is causing angst because it's OSU, but Day is going to do what's best for his team and probably not spend much time worrying about how message board Michigan fan feels.
Too bad Michigan has so much, um, er, class lol.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:13 AM ^
OSU is our new dumping grounds for old washed up coaches.....i like it.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:35 AM ^
Ok. My issue in all this, while somewhat tangential to the main topic, is why did mattison have to go to osu? I mean if he wanted to be a DC, then ok. But there were a good amount of other good schools looking for a DC that he could have just as easily gone.
Also, I have a good inside source that told me Mattison more or less burned his bridge. He’s “not welcome back”. Way to go Mattison.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^
True that Mattson burned his bridge and so did Washington. Michigan could have kept either one and didn’t. Tells you what you need to know. This worked out okay for the good guys.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:00 AM ^
Does that mean the bridge had already been blown up?
We're assuming Harbaugh told Day it was okay to speak with Mattison and Washington, but that doesn't mean we know whether he expected them to turn Day down or whether he had already decided to move on from both.
February 12th, 2019 at 12:29 PM ^
How would we know the answer to this hypothetical? Ask Matty and let us know.
February 12th, 2019 at 6:45 PM ^
Cause he’s a soggy wet cunt who’s done it before and apparently gets off on not being loyal. Dude completely killed the goodwill he’d built back up for a stint as a DC at age 100. Hope it was worth it cause no ones gonna like you when you’re retired Greg. ND and OSU will think of you as a Michigan guy and you’ve been disowned by us.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:33 AM ^
I imagine it was just common courtesy. Day doesn't need Harbaugh's permission to talk to these guys unless its explicitly stated in their contracts, and I doubt it is. Probably just a "Hey, before you find out through the grapevine, I want you to hear it from me that I'm talking to your guys." I don't like Day, but he's definitely being professional about this.
Coaching circles at this level are relatively small, and information between them travels fast. You don't want your colleagues to have the impression that you're a sniveling coward who goes behind people's backs to snatch their people out from under them. As long as you've got the balls to face your competitor and have that conversation directly, there's really nothing wrong in any of this.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:34 AM ^
Perhaps.
But in no way as punchable as our own faces have been every November for the last 7 years. Or for the other 7 years before 2011.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:46 AM ^
what I would pay to listen to Jim answer that phone....and then the whole convo
February 12th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
Like in 2015 when Durkin had one foot out the door, Michigan didn't look like itself.
February 12th, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
Mattison and Washington were integral parts of the defensive coaching staff that gave up 103 points the last 2 games, Who gives s shit if they left? Addition by subtraction,
February 12th, 2019 at 2:32 PM ^
Exactly. B level coaches be gone!
February 12th, 2019 at 1:13 PM ^
eh, seems like common courtesy