Greg Mattison (born November 15, 1949) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach, and former player. He spent most of his career in

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

as a defensive coach. Mattison coached at

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

for eleven years, at Notre Dame for seven years, at

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

for three years, including the 2006 national championship team,

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, where he served two years. He also served as a defensive assistant for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

of the NFL.

Coaching career

At Florida, he served as co-coordinator of the defense with

Charlie Strong Charles Rene Strong (born August 2, 1960) is an American football coach who is currently the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the University of Miami. He recently served as the assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach ...

. Charlie Strong also served as assistant Head Coach and Linebackers coach while Greg also pulled double duty working as the defensive line coach. During this time he was a part of a successful defense and team that went overall 31-8 in games played and won a national championship by beating Ohio State 41-14 in the BCS Championship game in 2006. Greg Mattison (2012-09-15)

Prior to his time at Florida, Mattison coached at

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

from 1997 to 2004 as the defensive coordinator under Bob Davie until the Ty Willingham era (during which he served as defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator). Prior to his time at Notre Dame, Mattison coached the defensive line at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1992 to 1996, while also serving at the defensive coordinator in 1995 and 1996. During his time at Michigan, the Wolverines led the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

in rushing defense four consecutive seasons, holding opponents to 78.6 rushing yards per game in 1992, 87.9 in 1994, and 88.1 in 1995. Mattison's charges also led the conference in total defense twice and scoring defense once. He also coached with Coach Davie at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

from 1988 to 1991 while Davie was defensive coordinator. Under head coach

R. C. Slocum Richard Copeland Slocum (born November 7, 1944), is a former American football player and coach. He served as the interim athletic director at Texas A&M University from January through June 2019, and previously served as the head football coach ...

, the Aggies featured the " Wrecking Crew", a nickname for one of the nation's top-ranked defenses. On January 26, 2009, Mattison was promoted to defensive coordinator of the

; he was the successor of former defensive coordinator

Rex Ryan Rex Ashley Ryan (born December 13, 1962) is an American former football coach and analyst. Ryan was formerly the head coach of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL), and also held various coaching position ...

. He was the team's linebackers coach, a job he got in part due to his relationship with

John Harbaugh John William Harbaugh (born September 23, 1962) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). Previously, he coached the defensive backs for the Philadelphia Eagles and served ...

. During his time at WMU, Mattison coached alongside John Harbaugh, who was a graduate assistant and assistant coach. Harbaugh, then head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, hired Mattison to coach the Ravens linebackers. The job was Mattison's first NFL coaching position in 37 years of coaching football. On January 18, 2011, the Ravens announced that Mattison had accepted the defensive coordinator position at the University of Michigan. In returning to Michigan, Mattison reunited with Michigan head coach

Brady Hoke Brady Patrick Hoke (; born November 3, 1958) is an American football coach in his second stint as the head coach at San Diego State University. He was previously the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2011 to 2014. Hoke grew up in O ...

, who is a close friend of Mattison's and was the Wolverines' defensive ends coach during Mattison's previous stint as defensive coordinator at Michigan. His contract at Michigan made him among the highest paid college football assistant coaches in the country.Greg Mattison's contract with Michigan football team
AnnArbor.com, February 27, 2011 He was selected as one of five finalists for the 2011

Broyles Award The Broyles Award is an annual award given to honor the best assistant coach in college football. First awarded in 1996, it was named after former University of Arkansas men's athletic director Frank Broyles. The award is presented in Little R ...

. Mattison was a finalist for the head coaching job at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

following the 2004 season, a job that eventually went to

Bill Cubit William John Cubit (; born October 14, 1953) is an American football coach and former player. Cubit was the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, first on an interim basis in the 2015 season and then promoted t ...

. Mattison had served as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach under

Jack Harbaugh Jack Avon Harbaughhttp://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Ebattle/celeb/harbaugh.htm (born June 28, 1939) is a former American football player and coach. He is known for being the longtime head coach at Western Kentucky Hilltoppers fo ...

at Western Michigan from 1981 to 1986. On January 7, 2019 it was announced that

would be hiring Mattison to replace former defensive coordinator

Greg Schiano Gregory Edward Schiano (born June 1, 1966) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Rutgers University, a position he held from 2001 to 2011 and resumed before the 2020 season. Schiano served as the head coach for the Tampa ...

Early life and family

Mattison is a graduate of the

University of Wisconsin–La Crosse The University of Wisconsin–La Crosse (UWL or UW Lax) is a public university in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Established in 1909, it is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. With 9,600 ...

, where he played football and wrestled. He attended high school at

Madison East High School Madison East High School is one of four comprehensive four-year high schools in Madison, Wisconsin. It was established in 1922, making it the oldest public high school still operating in Madison. The school mascot is "Peppy Purgolder", an animal ...

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

. Mattison's son,

Bryan Mattison Bryan Mattison (born May 15, 1984) is an American football center who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2008, and has also been a member of the Baltimore Ravens, St. Louis Rams, and the ...

, was a senior captain for the 2007 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, and most recently played for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

, but was released on May 2, 2013 and is currently a free agent. He was previously a member of the

and the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

Sources

External links

Ohio State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattison, Greg 1949 births Living people Baltimore Ravens coaches Cornell Big Red football coaches Florida Gators football coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches Navy Midshipmen football coaches Northwestern Wildcats football coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches Western Michigan Broncos football coaches Wisconsin–La Crosse Eagles football players National Football League defensive coordinators Wisconsin–La Crosse Eagles wrestlers Sportspeople from Madison, Wisconsin Players of American football from Wisconsin Madison East High School alumni