Ryan Day and the Buckeyes have found their guy to lead the Ohio State defense and it is a familiar name to Ohio State fans as Greg Mattison has been tapped to be part of Day's first Ohio State staff as a co-defensive coordinator.
Mattison has been part of the Michigan Wolverines staff since 2011 serving roles with the linebackers and defensive line as well as the defensive coordinator for several seasons. The 69-year-old Madison (Wisc.) native has spent time both in the NCAA and NFL ranks during his coaching career that started in the early 1970s.
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In a strange twist, Mattison was part of Urban Meyer's staff at the University of Florida and served as a co-defensive coordinator on the team that defeated Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl in the BCS Championship Game. There was a young graduate assistant on that staff as well. His name? Ryan Day.
Mattison took a bit of a step back in order to have less of a workload at Michigan in 2015 when the Wolverines brought in Don Brown to run the defense but Mattison has held DC roles at Western Michigan, Michigan, Notre Dame, Florida and with the Baltimore Ravens during his career.
Reports that Mattison was not going to have his contract renewed at Michigan have been proven to be false.
He will join Jeff Hafley with the co-DC designation, something that Ryan Day is a fan of.
“I love the idea of having two coordinators on defense,” Day said by way of press release. “I like having a diversity of opinion, but even more I like the expertise and experience that Jeff has in the secondary coupled with the expertise that Greg brings to the front seven."
There is still a lot of uncertainty as to how the Ohio State staff will look in 2019, especially in the 2019. Many have felt that Al Washington might be the guy from the Wolverines that the Buckeyes might go after and that is still uncertain at this point as there are reports that Washington holds an offer from the Buckeyes to join the staff.
Keep it locked in here at BuckeyeGrove as we continue to chart the building of Day's first staff with the Buckeyes.
