2019 Spring Practices, Game, and Tidbits

[buchtelgrad04]

Oh by all means.....nuance it for me. Let me know how Michigan's 'guy who can coach the hell out of linebackers' makes sense, while also adding Michigan's actual linebacker coach.

Greg Mattison, by all accounts, is one of the best teachers of football around the country. He's consistently been around good to great defenses. How is that a negative? Because of his age?

And you can search my posts on here. I'm not even the biggest Greg Mattison fan. When it was announced, he was the guy, I was underwhelmed. Not because of what he cannot do, or an inability to coach, but because I just wanted someone younger. Hafley satisfies that and also having Greg's knowledge around is a plus.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

Greg Mattison, by all accounts, is one of the best teachers of football around the country. He's consistently been around good to great defenses. How is that a negative? Because of his age?

And you can search my posts on here. I'm not even the biggest Greg Mattison fan. When it was announced, he was the guy, I was underwhelmed. Not because of what he cannot do, or an inability to coach, but because I just wanted someone younger. Hafley satisfies that and also having Greg's knowledge around is a plus.

Yes. His age means he's not going to be around for very long. I wouldn't be surprised if he's 1 and done. LJ already satisfies the role of old guy who knows how to coach defense. He also already satisfies the role of DLine coach. He's actually better at it. He satisfies the role of good recruiter. He's better at it. Every "positive" from Mattison is already satisfied by LJ. So.....fine, bring in a transitional guy to help our hopefully long term DC learn how to be a DC. But make him the highest paid person on the staff? That money couldn't have gotten somebody who was already a DC somewhere else?

 

[AirForceBuck15]

I think another way to look at it is the total number of coaches allowed now. What is the number? 10? He's a co-defensive coordinator, in charge of no position group but he will be mentoring Hafley and helping Washington because he has expertise there too. Johnson is the DL coach period (for emphasis) but he is on a one year contract and could go/retire whenever he feels like it (pray it never happens). GM has been around forever and fielded some very good defenses. He is a good to great recruiter of talent and was stolen away from scUM. I see all positives from this hire.

 

[jwinslow]

That's just half of it, though. I get the reasons the fanbase has decided are good enough for the hire. But we're paying this guy more than anybody else? To be the transitioner for a year or two? It's not complicated. It's not exactly wise, either.

The staff just got napalmed and you're worried about a mild excess in salary? If he were getting $700k, would you be fine with this?

Or is this not actually about the money?

Yes. His age means he's not going to be around for very long. I wouldn't be surprised if he's 1 and done. LJ already satisfies the role of old guy who knows how to coach defense.

Speaking of lacking nuance.

He also already satisfies the role of DLine coach. He's actually better at it. He satisfies the role of good recruiter. He's better at it. Every "positive" from Mattison is already satisfied by LJ. So.....fine, bring in a transitional guy to help our hopefully long term DC learn how to be a DC. But make him the highest paid person on the staff? That money couldn't have gotten somebody who was already a DC somewhere else?

That assumes money fixes all searches. They didn't bring in a rock star to coach the offense either.

p.s. The last superstar they shelled out for led to the worst defense I've ever seen (and cost them a playoff run).

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

The staff just got napalmed and you're worried about a mild excess in salary? If he were getting $700k, would you be fine with this?

Or is this not actually about the money?

Yes, because that means he wouldn't be the highest paid assistant to do basically nothing.

 

[jwinslow]

Yes, because that means he wouldn't be the highest paid assistant to do basically nothing.

Naturally, because once you have one old, or recruiter, those needs are filled.

Gutting Michigan during a huge transition is a significant factor here. Day is a rising star but has little to his name yet. Michigan's D just turned out some very nice talent, and now instead of having Washington and Mattison recruiting against OSU, they are on their payroll.

Also Day has a lot less to offer on defense to counter Washington/Mattison in Maize.

If he's bad at his job, then there's a problem. (that goes for Hafley too)

If it's slightly redundant, in an era with a 10th coach that wasn't available before, that's not really a real world problem.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

Naturally, because once you have one old, or recruiter, those needs are filled.

Gutting Michigan during a huge transition is a significant factor here. Day is a rising star but has little to his name yet. Michigan's D just turned out some very nice talent, and now instead of having Washington and Mattison recruiting against OSU, they are on their payroll.


If he's bad at his job, then there's a problem. (that goes for Hafley too)

If it's slightly redundant, in an era with a 10th coach that wasn't available before, that's not really a real world problem.

The 2015 season should have been a layup National Championship.
The 2018 season should have been a layup Playoff appearance.

Those seasons were given away because of major deficiencies on the coaching staff.....I'd argue because of a single staff member in each case. Now we've got another iteration of not hiring the best man for the job....but rather a hand holder. We can pretend this is just the 10th coach who has boatloads of experience and is nothing but sunshine, or we can acknowledge the 10th coach doesn't show up first on a sorted list of highest salary, and we already have experience and recruiting and defensive brainpower that churns out very nice talent....and maybe that million could've gotten a better option for our "10th coach". So far, here are Mattison's positives:

Great DLine coach :: We already had a better one
Decades experience :: See above
Guts Michigan's recruiting :: We took Washington...Mattison was on the way out the door at Michigan
Can coach LBs :: Washington

Experience is always good. It usually doesn't hurt to have a recruiting stud on staff *cough*Beck*cough*. But these things aren't worth over a million dollars to a guy who wasn't even a DC at his last stop. His biggest selling point is to teach Hafley how to be a DC......and he wasn't one for the last 4 years. That doesn't scream top paid staffer to me, which is where this conversation came from.

Not a fan of paying our biggest ? the most money.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

The 2015 season should have been a layup National Championship.
The 2018 season should have been a layup Playoff appearance.

Those seasons were given away because of major deficiencies on the coaching staff.....I'd argue because of a single staff member in each case. Now we've got another iteration of not hiring the best man for the job....but rather a hand holder. We can pretend this is just the 10th coach who has boatloads of experience and is nothing but sunshine, or we can acknowledge the 10th coach doesn't show up first on a sorted list of highest salary, and we already have experience and recruiting and defensive brainpower that churns out very nice talent....and maybe that million could've gotten a better option for our "10th coach". So far, here are Mattison's positives:

Great DLine coach :: We already had a better one
Decades experience :: See above
Guts Michigan's recruiting :: We took Washington...Mattison was on the way out the door at Michigan
Can coach LBs :: Washington

Experience is always good. It usually doesn't hurt to have a recruiting stud on staff *cough*Beck*cough*. But these things aren't worth over a million dollars to a guy who wasn't even a DC at his last stop. His biggest selling point is to teach Hafley how to be a DC......and he wasn't one for the last 4 years. That doesn't scream top paid staffer to me, which is where this conversation came from.

Just curious, on a scale of 1 to 10, what is your level of discontent with this hire?

 

[jwinslow]

The 2015 season should have been a layup National Championship.
The 2018 season should have been a layup Playoff appearance.

Those seasons were given away because of major deficiencies on the coaching staff.....I'd argue because of a single staff member in each case.

He is teaching a class at OSU now.

Now we've got another iteration of not hiring the best man for the job....but rather a hand holder. We can pretend this is just the 10th coach who has boatloads of experience and is nothing but sunshine, or we can acknowledge the 10th coach doesn't show up first on a sorted list of highest salary, and we already have experience and recruiting and defensive brainpower that churns out very nice talent....and maybe that million could've gotten a better option for our "10th coach". So far, here are Mattison's positives:

Great DLine coach :: We already had a better one
Decades experience :: See above
Guts Michigan's recruiting :: We took Washington...Mattison was on the way out the door at Michigan
Can coach LBs :: Washington

Experience is always good. It usually doesn't hurt to have a recruiting stud on staff *cough*Beck*cough*. But these things aren't worth over a million dollars to a guy who wasn't even a DC at his last stop. His biggest selling point is to teach Hafley how to be a DC......and he wasn't one for the last 4 years. That doesn't scream top paid staffer to me, which is where this conversation came from.

Had they kept everyone else, not hired Greg, and hired some lower level defensive coach for $500k to help with LBs, would your complaint disappear?


In a perfect world, you spend 1.4M on a superstar DC, except now that is your guideline to keep Hafley when he is ready for the position, or to hire the next DC if this experiment fails. Paying an extra 500k for redundancy/mentoring might not actually cost them long term.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

He is teaching a class at OSU now.
Had they kept everyone else, not hired Greg, and hired some lower level defensive coach for $500k to help with LBs, would your complaint disappear?


In a perfect world, you spend 1.4M on a superstar DC, except now that is your guideline to keep Hafley when he is ready for the position, or to hire the next DC if this experiment fails. Paying an extra 500k for redundancy/mentoring might not actually cost them long term.

Frame the question much? No, I wouldn't have advocated for keeping the former defensive staff....but that's not the only alternative. But they didn't kick the tires on too many people, and they're paying a guy who is on the downswing of his career to be the top paid assistant at Ohio State. Does that not scream red flag? I want a robotic vacuum to pick up all the food my kid leaves on the dining room floor every night. The current setup of dust busting every day isn't exactly working out. That doesn't mean I'm going to pay $2,000 for a 10 year old model that isn't even being used as a vacuum anymore.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

Just curious, on a scale of 1 to 10, what is your level of discontent with this hire?

6.5

For comparison's sake...Beck was a 0

edit: I probably read this wrong. I grade the hire 6.5 out of 10. Not disastrous like Beck or Davis by any stretch, but we could have and should have done better.

 

[jakenick06]

He is teaching a class at OSU now.
Had they kept everyone else, not hired Greg, and hired some lower level defensive coach for $500k to help with LBs, would your complaint disappear?


In a perfect world, you spend 1.4M on a superstar DC, except now that is your guideline to keep Hafley when he is ready for the position, or to hire the next DC if this experiment fails. Paying an extra 500k for redundancy/mentoring might not actually cost them long term.

This

 

[buchtelgrad04]

Yes. His age means he's not going to be around for very long. I wouldn't be surprised if he's 1 and done. LJ already satisfies the role of old guy who knows how to coach defense. He also already satisfies the role of DLine coach. He's actually better at it. He satisfies the role of good recruiter. He's better at it. Every "positive" from Mattison is already satisfied by LJ. So.....fine, bring in a transitional guy to help our hopefully long term DC learn how to be a DC. But make him the highest paid person on the staff? That money couldn't have gotten somebody who was already a DC somewhere else?

Which coach on this staff do you see being around for “very long?”

If he’s here for two years, he matched Chris Ash. What’s the issue? And Ash didn’t even coach a lights out defense in 2014, just a super improvement over the year before. A simple scheme that allowed the kids to play fast. Exactly what Day has said he’s looking for, he got a rising star and a veteran to implement it.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

Which coach on this staff do you see being around for “very long?”

If he’s here for two years, he matched Chris Ash. What’s the issue? And Ash didn’t even coach a lights out defense in 2014, just a super improvement over the year before. A simple scheme that allowed the kids to play fast. Exactly what Day has said he’s looking for, he got a rising star and a veteran to implement it.

Right. Let's pretend him leaving after 2 years to retire and Chris Ash leaving after 2 years because he was outstanding are even in the same ball park. Shit....what's the difference between Herman and Beck? Not much....they were both here for a couple years and then left.

You guys need to be honest with yourselves. This is just silly.

 

[buchtelgrad04]

Right. Let's pretend him leaving after 2 years to retire and Chris Ash leaving after 2 years because he was outstanding are even in the same ball park. Shit....what's the difference between Herman and Beck? Not much....they were both here for a couple years and then left.

You guys need to be honest with yourselves. This is just silly.

Your assumption is based around the thought that he’s going to stink and retire. That isn’t mine.

What’s the difference in him bringing back the defense to respectability and then retiring? There’s literally no difference.

It kind of seems like you’re just angry because he’s old. Not about his actual ability to do the job. He was offered an extension to stay at Michigan, by the way. You saying he was on the way out isn’t true.