Soon after Ryan Day took over the Ohio State football program he surprised most by hiring two defensive assistants from Jim Harbaugh’s staff.
It didn’t take long for Ohio State head coach Ryan Day to make coaching changes on defense after Urban Meyer handed him the whistle. I think it was a surprise to most though he could lure two assistant coaches away from Michigan.
Buckeye fans are elated, not only because Greg Mattison and Al Washington are excellent coaches, but that coach Day could pull them away from his rival. But what are Michigan fans thinking about the situation?
I decided to reach out to our FanSided Expert Chris Peterson at GBM Wolverine to get his thoughts. I think you will find what Chris had to say about the coaches leaving to join the Ohio State staff and his thoughts on Jim Harbaugh’s situation interesting.
Q: I know when Greg Mattison chose to leave Michigan to take over the defensive coordinator position for Ohio State it had to come as a surprise to Wolverine fans. After all, he had served two stints at Michigan in different capacities for a total of 13 seasons. Your thoughts on the situation?
Chris: The loss of Mattison was a killer just because he had always talked about being a Michigan man. He was Brady Hoke’s defensive coordinator and stayed on under Harbaugh to coach the DL.
He has had a lot of success and he helped a bunch of guys into the NFL such as Rashan Gary, Chase Winovich, Taco Charlton, Chris Wormley and Maurice Hurst. And that’s not even all of them.
At the same time though, it surprised me that Ohio State would want him as the co-defensive coordinator. He’s a good D-Line coach but I don’t know that I would want him coordinating my defense.
His units were sound but always seemed to struggle against the spread. Certainly, coach Day will have some ideas and it won’t be just him, but that caught me off guard. The worst part about it was the betrayal.