Sugar Bowl - Michigan's Defensive Turnaround Forged by Friendship - NYTimes.com Minutes after Western Michigan named Jack Harbaugh its head football coach in 1982, a stranger knocked on his office door. The man, dressed in a suit and tie, introduced himself as Greg Mattison and announced, "I'm going to be on your coaching staff, and I'll be here until you are convinced I can do the job," Harbaugh recalled. Mattison's bold approach secured him a job after a year away from coaching and salvaged a career at a crossroads. It was also the beginning of his ties to others on that Western Michigan coaching staff, relationships that would go on to shape his career over the next three decades. Foremost among those was a bond with Brady Hoke. Mattison gave Hoke his first big break, helping him get a job at Western Michigan in 1984. Now Mattison, 62, serves under Hoke as Michigan's defensive coordinator. So far, Hoke's reliance on his longtime friend has been rewarded. Since Hoke and Mattison arrived at Michigan less than a year ago, the program's defense has been resurrected. A unit that finished the 2010 season ranked 110th among the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in total defense now ranks 17th entering Tuesday's Sugar Bowl matchup against Virginia Tech. The defensive turnaround is a primary reason Michigan is 10-2 heading into its Bowl Championship Series game, despite coming off a 2010 season in which the Wolverines finished 7-6 and allowed the most points (458) and yards (5,860) in team history. Rich Rodriguez, the former Michigan coach who was fired after that 2010 season, said that "even Vince Lombardi could come in and not fix some of the problems on defense." In many ways, those problems began with a 34-32 loss to Appalachian State at the start of the 2007 season. The fifth-year seniors on this season's defense were true freshmen that day. During their careers, they played five different schemes for four defensive coordinators and three head coaches. When he arrived back at Michigan - where he had been an assistant from 1992 to 1996 - Mattison sensed that, more than another schematic overhaul, the Wolverines needed consistency and a restoration of pride. "I felt what these kids had gone through," he said. Mattison was out of coaching in 1981 and had returned to La Crosse, Wis., where he had played football and wrestled in college. A friend alerted him that Western Michigan was about to hire Harbaugh, so Mattison drove to Kalamazoo, Mich., to introduce himself. Harbaugh was skeptical. After a brief conversation he quickly returned to work. Four hours later he left his office in search of food. "I walked out into the lobby, and there he was," Harbaugh said. "He said, "You think we should have some dinner?" He stayed over the next morning, got on the blackboard a little bit, got into some recruiting. At the end of that second day, I said, "Where do you feel comfortable?" " Two years after Mattison was hired as Western Michigan's defensive line coach, Harbaugh promoted him to defensive coordinator. Mattison then hired Hoke, a young assistant from nearby Grand Valley State who had impressed him as a recruiting rival, to fill his old job. Harbaugh was dismissed after the 1986 season and staff members went their separate ways, but Hoke and Mattison remained close friends. When their families spent time together, Hoke would hit ground balls to Mattison's daughter, Lisa, who went on to become a three-time all-Big East softball player at Notre Dame. "They're like long-lost brothers," Bryan Mattison, Greg's son and a guard with the St. Louis Rams, said of his father and Hoke. They go back and forth, and they know what each other is thinking. They see eye to eye on pretty much everything. They reunited at Michigan in 1995, when Mattison, in his first go-round as defensive coordinator, implored Gary Moeller, then the Wolverines" head coach, to hire Hoke. "I remember Coach Moeller said to me, "We're not hiring friends here," and I said to him, "Oh, of course we're not, but this guy is really, really good." " Mattison eventually moved on from Michigan and, from 2008 to 2010, was the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens under John Harbaugh, one of Jack's sons. And when Michigan hired Hoke as its coach last January, Mattison received another phone call from an old friend. "He said something like, "Would you ever think of it again?" and I said, "As a matter of fact, yes I would," " Mattison said. The decision was not a simple one. He felt revitalized in Baltimore, and enjoyed the added perk of seeing his son, who was then with the Ravens, on the other side of the practice field. But after a playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bryan Mattison sensed his father had made a decision. "I know he did a great job in the pros, but I think he belongs in college, and I know he loves it," he said. Emboldened by the blitz-heavy scheme he learned from Rex Ryan in Baltimore, Mattison made an immediate impact. The Michigan defense has allowed 17.2 points per game this year, less than half the 35.2 points per game it gave up in 2010. Yet, as impressive as that is, Mattison ultimately does not use numbers to measure his success. "All you need to do is look in the eyes of the guys who played here before, and they'll let you know if you're a Michigan defense," he said. That's always been a legacy here. He added, "I don't know if the word is satisfying, but this year I was as proud as I've ever been of this team."