Mattison was lured away from Michigan by the opportunity to be a major part of drawing up the defense after having been relegated to defensive line coach when Jim Harbaugh became the head coach of the Wolverines in 2015. The plan was for Mattison to coordinate the front with Hafley handling the back of the defense. They kept the 4-3 front Ohio State has run some variation of since the mid 1990s but made more pronounced changes to the secondary. Hafley brought a unique version of Cover 3 defense with him from the 49ers, where then-defensive coordinator Robert Saleh had installed the man-zone hybrid system he learned from Pete Carroll in Seattle. When Hafley left to become head coach at Boston College, Day confirmed that bend-but-don’t-break style of defense was what he found to be the best for today’s college football. He hired Kerry Coombs, a former Ohio State assistant…
Continue Reading: Ohio State Buckeyes: Staff opening creates more options for Ryan Day to fix defense
