Advice for Greg Mattison?

Michael Lomardi of the National Football Post wrote a column about the Ravens yesterday.  Specifically, he focused on the transition from Rex Ryan to Greg Mattison as defensive coordinator.

As Lombardi writes, the Ravens “don’t get too excited or too depressed” when dealing with change.

In fact, the Ravens have dealt well with previous transitions (from Mike Nolan to Marvin Lewis to Rex Ryan).

Lombardi points out that the veteran leadership (Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, etc.) on the Ravens’ defense should enable a smooth transition on the field.  But he lists five recommendations to make the off-the-field transition easier for Mattison.

Here are his five points of advice to Mattison:

1. He must build trust with the players.
2. He must not fear conflict.
3. He must get everyone to commit to the program — everyone.
4. Everyone, coaches included, must be accountable.
5. Everything that’s done must be about team results, not individual results.

I agree with the advice suggested by Lombardi, but that advice could apply to any coach for any team.

Mattison has known Ravens coach John Harbaugh for a long time. Mattison was defensive coordinator at Western Michigan in the ’80’s under Jack Harbaugh, John’s father, and John Harbaugh was a graduate assistant and assistant coach at WMU during that time.

While last year was Mattison’s first in the NFL, he was defensive coordinator at places like Notre Dame, Michigan and Florida.

Here’s what Harbaugh said in January when Mattison was named as Ryan’s replacement:

“Greg is a guy that I have full trust and belief in, and not just because of his track record.  He’s been successful at every stop, but the job he did this year with our guys, I think he established himself as a premier coach in the NFL. If you talk to our players, they’ll tell you the same thing.”

“Rex did a tremendous job of getting the most out of his players, having them believe and trust what they’re doing and to be accountable for what they’re doing.  Those are the strengths that I’ve always felt Greg had as a coach.”

So, as Harbaugh has said, some of the things that Lombardi advises are the things that Mattison already does well.

While Ryan will be missed, I expect Mattison to carry on the tradition of a smooth transition.

Tags: Greg Mattison, Rex Ryan