Luke Fickell and Jeff Grimes may have found the perfect offensive line coach for Wisconsin. He's unhinged in all the right ways; he's obsessive in a uniquely chaotic way; he's a teacher of young men, and he knows how to unlock potential. Yet, Eric Mateos' definition of a successful offensive line may be what actually brings Wisconsin back to the mountain top of having the best offensive line in college football.
Mateos said, it's never good enough. He's never happy with things, and he's obsessive about making his team and his players better. This seems to be exactly what he is doing; Mateos is elevating the Badgers' offensive line in spring and fall compared to anything that was happening last year. Yet, Wisconsin fans will hold their breath until they see it on the field.
He acknowledged that completely and told reporters that as an offensive line, you realize it's "Five against the world." And that if you aren't performing well, "Even your home crowd will hate you." Yet, the question at the very end of the media presser is when Wisconsin fans will think, "He may truly get it."
A reporter leaned in to Mateos and asked, "How do you measure success?" Mateos stopped for a moment, which is rare for a man with as many words as he usually has. He took a breath, rubbed his face, and said, "I don't know. I mean, it's a bad question for me because I'm never happy."
Eric Mateos is literally never happy and will continue to raise the bar for his offensive line
Related: Joe Brunner is embracing a role at Indiana that Wisconsin wished he had
He thought a bit more and continued, "I think if an O-line coach is really doing it how he's supposed to be doing it, when you drive home, you're not thinking about all the good stuff you did that day; you're thinking about the things that you need to get better at. And the bar is just going to always rise. The goal is always going to be the next step up from where you were before."
This may be the first time in the Luke Fickell era that the offensive line coach gets it. He's saying the right things. He not only declared the goal of the Wisconsin offensive line to be nasty and mean. He speaks about breaking them like a wild bronco and developing depth through the entire unit, but he adds in this gem. A Wisconsin offensive line coach cannot be content with "decent" or "gets by" or even "well, we won." If Wisconsin is going to get back to where it needs to be, the offensive line needs to be pushing the entire team.
Talk about raising the bar? The bar is raised by the offensive line. That's the Wisconsin way, and Mateos seems to get it. He said he came to Wisconsin because he understood the assignment, and he likes that he "holds the cards."
This man gets it; now can he rebuild it unit? Can he get these boys to win in the trenches, to pave the way for four-yard runs, and make sure no one touches the quarterback? That remains to be seen, but it sure feels like Mateos has the juice that Wisconsin needs in an offensive line coach.
Add us as a preferred source on Google