The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, January 19, 2011-7A
Ravens' Mattison named'D' coordinator
By TIM ROHAN players.
Daily Sports Editor "Everyone who is going to touch
this program and deal with these
Michigan Athletic Director kids are going to have a fanatical
Dave Brandon wanted a defensive- love for the University of Michi-
minded coach to take the reigns gan, or they won't work in the
when he was looking for a replace- football office, I can tell you that,"
ment for Rich Rodriguez. Brandon Hoke said at his introductory press
joked he even wanted the ball boys conference.
to be defensive minded - so he That shouldn't be an issue for
hired Brady Hoke. Mattison, who coached at Michi-
Then Michigan's new coach gan for five seasons under Gary
needed someone to coordinate his Moeller and Lloyd Carr.
Wolverine defense - someonewho The Ravens ran a 3-4 defense
could turn around a unit that fin- during Mattison's three seasons
ished last season ranked 110th in in Baltimore - he coached the
Division-I football. So Hoke hired linebackers during his first season
Greg Mattison. there. But Hoke ran a 3-3-5 defense
Who, you may ask? during his tenure at San Diego
The coach who served as the State, and the Aztecs jumped from
Baltimore Ravens defensive coor- a one of the worst defenses in the
dinator for the past two seasons, nation pre-Hoke to 43rd in the
in which his units finished 3rd and country in 2010.
10th in the NFL in total defense. Former Michigan defensive
He coached Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, coordinator Greg Robinson used
Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata - a 3-3-5 in 2010 and the Wolver-
those Baltimore Ravens. ines struggled to stop opponents
Once upon a time, Mattison was all season. On average, opponents
Hoke's superior when Hoke first scored 35 points and racked up
came to Michigan in 1995. Mat- 450 yards of offense, and the best
tison was the Wolverines' defen- of the Big Ten did the most dam-
sive coordinator in 1995 and 1996 age against Michigan. Ohio State,
seasons while Hoke coached the Wisconsin and Michigan State
defensive linemen. beat the Wolverines by an average
"Greg loves Michigan, -loves of 22 points.
recruiting and is excited about Season-ending injuries to
coming back to Ann Arbor and defensive backs Troy Woolfolk
the University of Michigan," Hoke and J.T. Floyd forced younger and
said on Tuesday. "Greg is one of less experienced players to step in.
the top defensive coordinators in Michigan's primary scheme called
football, and his defensive units for five of those defensive backs to
have always prided themselves on be on the field at one time.
stopping the run. He will be a great It's unclear at this point what
asset to our program and an excel- scheme Mattison and Hoke will
lent addition to our staff." decide to implement for next sea-
When Hoke was hired, he son. The new Michigan defensive
stressed the need to surround the coordinator brings a reputation
players with people and coaches though - he continued the Balti-
who were going to "work for" the more tradition of stopping the run
(94 yards allowed.per game) and
preventing opponents from scor-
ing (17 points per game).
But throughout the coaching
search after the firing of Rodri-
guez, who is known as a pioneer of
the spread-option offense, Bran-
don said it was important that the
schemes maximized the players'
talents and strengths.
The Wolverines return depth on
the defensive line with defensive
linemen Mike Martin, Ryan Van
Bergen and Craig Roh. And the
secondary should improve, with
younger players taking their lumps
in 2010.
Hoke answered critics of the
3-3-5 defense during his press
conference and sounded a lot like
Rodriguez did when the former
Michigan coach was questioned
about his defensive scheme - they
both preached its flexibility.
"You can talk about the 3-3-5,
you can talk about a 4-3, you can
talk about a 3-4, you can go back
and play a 6-2," Hoke said last
week. "I mean, people need to be
educated on what (the 3-3-5) is,
because there's multiple ways to
play that with depending on the
personnel that you want to have on
the field.
"We played with four guys on
the line of scrimmage, five guys on
the line of scrimmage, three guys
on the line of scrimmage. It just
depends. It's flexibility thatit gives
you, is something that was good
for us."
Mattison hasn't had any short-
age of high-profile coaching
experience. He won a National
Championship during a three-year
stint as co-defensive coordinator
at Florida, he coached for eight
seasons in South Bend - serving
in various defensive capacities for
Notre Dame - and he also spent
time at Texas A&M and Navy.
Now, with more than 30 years
of coaching experience, Matti-
son returns to Ann Arbor with a
tall task - to help Hoke restore
the respectability of Michigan's
defense.
"We will miss him because he's
a great coach, but also an even bet-
ter person," said Baltimore Ravens
coach John Harbaugh. "The stu-
dents there are the lucky ones. Not
only will he teach them football
to the highest level, he will influ-
ence them to be the best persons
they canbe. Greg is one of the good
people you are fortunate to meet
in your life. We are disappointed
that he will not be coaching our
defense, but we know thathe is fol-
lowing a true love by returning to
the Wolverines."
MEET THE STAFF: Along with
Mattison, Michigan announced
the hiring of six new staff mem-
bers and the re-hiring of another.
Fred Jackson, who has coached
Michigan's running backs for the
past 19 seasons, will be back for his
20th.
Hoke brought six members of
his San Diego State staff with him
to Ann Arbor, including his offen-
sive coordinator Al Borges, who
will serve that role and work with
the quarterbacks.
The Aztecs' offense was just
seven spots lower than Michigan's
as far as offensive yardage output
- and they scored more points
than the Wolverines.
And Borges previously served
as Auburn's offensive coordina-
tor from 2004-2007, guiding the
Tigers to a 13-0 record in 2004
with running backs Cadillac Wil-
liams and Ronnie Brown and
quarterback Jason Campbell at his
Greg Mattison helped the Baltimore Ravens to two playoff victories in as many sea-
sons as the team's defensive coordinator.
disposal on offense.
Additionally, Dan Ferrigno
(special teams/tight ends), Darrell
Funk (offensive line), Jeff Hecklin-
ski (wide receivers), Mark Smith
(linebackers) and Aaron Wellman
(strength and conditioning) will
come to Michigan after spending
both seasons at San Diego State
with Hoke.
"We have hired some great foot-
ball coaches who will represent
the University and Michigan foot-
ball with great pride and respect
for the tradition of this program,"
Hoke said.
"They are great teachers and
mentors for young men and will
work -hard to help our players
reach their goals."
Hogan's groin recovery
wtimetable still uncertain
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ady after being "It's pretty much me and Rick
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urt in Big Chill have to listen to whatever he has
to say."
warmups Last week, Hogan put on equip-
ment for the first time since The
By MARK BURNS Big Chill while working on mov-
Daily Sports Editor ing from post-to-post and fielding
a series of shots from a few Wol-
h the Michigan hockey verines.
'unning through a series of "It's week-to-week now,"
ng and passing drills Tues- Michigan coach Red Berenson
fternoon, one individual said last Tuesday of the timetable
out from among the rest. for Hogan's return. "We think by
he wasn't even on the ice. the end of the month, he'll be skat-
the near endzone stands, ing and practicing. Until he starts
goaltender Bryan Hogan practicing, there's no chance
oving laterally up and down (he'll see game action). And he's
:e Arena's steps, testing the going to need about a week of
injury he suffered in the practice before we even think
me warmups at The Big about putting him ina game."
t the Big House. Sporting a Michigan hock-
hasn't been fun at all," ey T-shirt and running shorts
said on Tuesday. "I'vebeen instead of his usual equipment
ag with (athletic trainer) in the Michigan coaches lounge
Bancroft) with every little yesterday, a slight look of mod-
He comes up with so many erate optimism was apparent on
nt techniques to work on, Hogan's face in spite of his cur-
I had no idea you could do rent situation.
k the groin. The Highland, Mich. native
've been trying to get in said that a return might be pos-
now while trying to help sible against Michigan State
oin, so that's the biggest on Jan. 29 at Joe Louis Arena,
right now ... We just had but considering he hasn't fully
practiced yet and is only at "60
percent" according to his assess-
ment, the timetable for a return is
lengthier than initially expected.
"Right now, I'm kind of at a
point where - I was progressing
so quickly, and now I've kind of
flatlined a little bit," he said.
Regardless of Hogan's status,
Berenson said that he'll leave it
up to Hogan and Bancroft to tell
him when Hogan is ready to par-
ticipate in a full-fledged practice.
"Once he gets into practice
mode, then we'll start think-
ing about even dressing him as a
backup or when he mightbe ready
to play ina game," Berenson said.
NOTES: Sophomore forward
A.J. Treais didn't practice on
Tuesday. Berenson said he's cur-
rently a little banged up and isn't
"100 percent" quite yet after suf-
fering a hit in Michigan's 3-2 vic-
tory against Ferris State on Friday
... Former Wolverine Tristin
LIlewellyn - who was removed
from the Michigan program
after "violating team expecta-
tions" on Jan. 12 - played his first
game with the Elmira Jackals of
the East Coast Hockey League
this past Sunday. He tallied zero
points and plus-2 ratingin 16 min-
utes of playing time. The Jackals
lost to the Toledo Walleye, 6-5.
Senior Ben Baldus-Strauss helped Michigan to a national title in 2010.
ANNA SCHULTE/Daily
Baldus-Strauss perseveres
through injuries for Blue
By MATT SPELICH
For the Daily
Ben Baldus-Strauss, as a gym-
nast at Michigan, sustained five
career-interrupting injuries in the
past three years including multi-
ple stress fractures - a broken left
ankle, a torn MCL and a broken
thumb, which he sustained mid-
skill at the NCAA Championships
last year. But even with the break,
he managed to not only finish the
routine, but he also won the round.
It was later revealed that Bal-
dus-Strauss's contribution had
put the Wolverines just over the
top to win their first NCAA title in
11 years. He celebrated that night
with his arm in a sling - some-
thing he was all too used to as "the
comeback kid."
And to think, Baldus-Strauss
almost gave it all up after an ankle
displacement he suffered at the
NCAA Preliminaries his freshman
year.
"I was seriously questioning
whether or not I was going to be
able to come back," Baldus-Strauss
said. "My parents advised me to
consider quitting the team ... but
I just couldn't let it go, I couldn't
leave my teammates, so I just
pushed through it."
"Pushing through it," meant
surgery a week later, crutches, and
a walking boot for 12 weeks before
Baldus-Strauss was able to begin
physical therapy to prepare for the
next season. On top of that, he con-
tinued to attend every practice in
support of his teammates.
His recovery was not devoid
of problems though. He ended up
dropping out of his spring semes-
ter cla
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Seni,
Strauss
friend,
role in
asses, and required assis- multiple recoveries. Cote believes
with even the most routine that Baldus-Strauss' first injury
- moving about the dining ended up helping him through the
ralking to class and going rest.
s to his room. "Without experiencing that
was a very dark time for me first injury he might not have
y ankle injury ... it changed pushed through (his champion-
rception of the sport and ship routine) like he did," Cote
viewed my body," Baldus- said. "Our team title would not
said. have happened without Ben. He's
one of the most crucial members
of the team and yet is not always
recognized for it."
couldn't leave Assistant coach Geoff Corrigan
paints a similar picture of Baldus-
y teammates, Strauss.
j p h "He's a perfectionist, almost
I dust pushed to a fault," Corrigan said. "He's
extremely dedicated, consistent,
:hrough it." always on time and is always
studying hard while other people
are taking a break. He has a tre-
mendous work ethic that he trans-
is first comeback competi- lates well into both school and
uring his sophomore year, gym."
y struck again. Balduss- Now, Baldus-Strauss is taking
partially tore his MCL some time off to rehab his shoul-
peeling off the high bar. der, but is looking forward to mak-
immates and coaches were ing yet another comeback when
re what this meant for his the Wolverines face off against
but after five short weeks, Illinois in February. In the mean-
nced back and went on to time, he is working hard to get
'ute to ateam tie for the Big back in competing shape.
hampionship and second Corrigan is confident that Bal-
nthe NCAA Championship. dus-Strauss will be able to come
ry major moment (in my back strong and make more strong
has revolved around an contributions to the team - poten-
Baldus-Strauss said. "I tially to yet another title shot.
ppy to give my thumb to "It's going to be more difficult
NCAA Championship - it than last year," Corrigan said.
once in a lifetime experi- "(Our competition) has more
experience and more depth than
or Devan Cote, Baldus- last year, but the team thatcan pull
's roommate and best it all together at the right moment
on the team, played a large will be the team to beat, so we're
helping him through his working toward that every day."
Senior goalie Bryan Hogan injured his groin during warmups of The Big Chill at The Big House on Dec.11, 2010.