Thought some of Gator and Notre Dame fans would be interested in this. Mattison Said To Be Named Defensive Coordinator of the Ravens
Suprising to say the least. When Davie took over as ND Head Coach and announced he was bringing the Mich DCoord Greg Mattison to ND most people were impressed. Mattison had a reputation as a top recruiter and the Mich D was a very good D. But fast forward a couple of years and Davie took over the responsibility for the defense from him, then when Ty took over he was retained but as a DL coach. By the time he left for UF he wasn't very highly regarded as a DL coach by ND fans. He has certainly resurrected his career since then.
This guy is on the side that is signing his check. He was considered a negative recruiter at Michigan who ruthlessly ripped the Irish. When he left, Michigan fans didn't seem too broken up over it as they felt they had better defensive coaches. He did well for himself at ND, although I wonder how many of his recruiting successes came as a result of him running someone else down? At Florida, he took more than a few swipes at the Irish again and seemed to concentrate on kids that were early Irish commits. Some of the feedback on Mike's premium forum from players always led me to believe that Coach Mattison was the one really trashing ND moreso than Meyer. I think Florida, like ND and Michigan, could make the case that they had better defensive coaches on their staff..so I find this promotion to be interesting to say the least. I guess we'll see.
Beside Matison there are other ND coordinators who found their way to the NFL. Jim Colletto is one who reminds me of Matison. He too was a line coach who, after Mike Martz was let go was elevated to D coordinator by the Lions. He was one of the big contributors to 0-16.
Speaking of the NFL and Notre Dame, I was listening to Mike Francesa on WFAN yesterday between appointments. He had Bob Kuchenberg on, who is on the ballot for the Hall of Fame for his career with the Dolphins. In the middle of the conversation Francesa asked him about his feelings regarding Charlie Weis. Kuchenberg said it was old news and that he really had nothing to add. When pressed though he said that Weis was "inapproriately vulgar" and therefore unsuited for his job at ND. Francesa then asked him if any Kuchenberg's contemporaries liked Weis. He said none that he knew of with the exception of Joe Theisman. Not a mention of his coaching abilities or lack thereof. Interesting comments...
It's hard to get a handle on where the truth lies, Kuchenberg seems to have an axe to grind, but certainly some of what he says could be true. Gip met Charlie at a Detriot ND club meeting after his first year and if I remember correctly came away with a good feeling about him, I know a lady who met him at a non-football function (Austism meeting) who came away impressed with him. But there have been other reports that he's rude to people that he works with and that he's pissed off a couple of HS coaches with his attitude. I have to admit I wish we had a coach with Ara's personality, he's still my favorite ND coach. Not just because he won a lot, but he really was a guy who exuded class. Lou is a different, lots of his players loved Lou and not just ND players, Ark, NCState and probably So.Carolina players as well. But Lou was and is sort of a lightening rod type of personality. He's also disliked by a lot of people. I remember a patient telling me that he used to like Notre Dame till Lou Holtz took over, (he was an Aggie) and said he hated Holtz when he was at Ark and still hates him, thought he was a publicity hound. Charlie did supposedly go to a lot of people after the 3-9 season and asked for advice. The ND people told him to clean up his act, this included supposed visit to Fr. Hesburgh. I also note that when I read recruits and their parents accounts of their visit with Weis, it's almost always very positive. Plus I see unsolicitated support for Weis from Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzja, and Tommy Z amonst others. Hard not to notice also that Joe Montana sent his kid to Notre Dame to be a walkon and I see Montana regularily on the sideline with his wife. Also when you look at the players who have comeback and been honorary coaches for Weis in the Spring game you have to be impressed. Plus the positives that we heard about Tim Grunhard's interview and Bryant Young comming back to coach for Weis. So forgive me if I don't take Kuch's comments as more than just Kuchs's comments. Now about Charlies coaching abilty, 2009 is his make or break year.
Kuch is still butt hurt about Charlie not giving him 'credit' for the recruiting of 2 players that wound up at ND. Of course, doing so would be admitting an NC violation. I think Kuch put his big mouth out there without knowing all the facts and now he has nowhere else to go but continue bad mouthing Charlie. He should just shut up.