Matt Weiss (American football)

In Week 12 of 2020, the Baltimore Ravens had a COVID outbreak within the team. With Ravens personnel testing positive for 10 days straight, Weiss did not travel with the team for their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Over 16 Ravens players were placed on the COVID list, which at the time was a 10-day quarantine period, with star players such as quarterback Lamar Jackson featuring on this list. Weiss ultimately did not feature on the coaching staff for the Ravens in the Week 12 matchup against the Steelers due to illness.

Weiss left the Ravens following the 2020 season to join the Michigan Wolverines, the winningest program in college football history, as their quarterbacks coach. Weiss reunited with former Stanford coach and John Harbaugh’s brother, Jim Harbaugh. According to author Pete DiPrimio, Weiss was joining a side that showed “offensive flaws” in 2019. In the season prior to Weiss' arrival the Wolverines did not win a game the season at their home stadium for the first time in their history and did not feature in a postseason bowl game, with their final 3 games of the season being cancelled due to COVID-19. In his first season with the team, the Wolverines were the second seed in college football with a 12-2 record. With Quarterback, Cade McNamara throwing 2576 yards, 15 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in 14 games. In 2021, The Wolverines were able to win the first Big-Ten championship since 2003 with wins over the Ohio State Buckeyes, 42-27 and a 42-3 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes. A similar route to 2003 as they had beaten the Ohio State Buckeyes 35-21. The Wolverines ultimately lost in the College Football Championship semi-final 34-11 against the eventual champions, the Georgia Bulldogs. In May 2022, number five overall high-school quarterback, Dante Moore, visited the Michigan University campus as part of his selection process. Moore stated that he had spoken to both “Coach Harbaugh and Coach Weiss” during his visit to the campus. Four-star, high-school Quarterback recruit, Elijah Brown, the 34th rated player in his class, also revealed that, “The quarterback coach (Matt Weiss) has been keeping in contact with me and we've just been going from there." Michael Van Buren, a four-Star Quarterback, also visited the University of Michigan in May 2022, he stated, “I had a nice conversation with coach Harbaugh and coach [Matt] Weiss (offensive coordinator) when I was down there.” Weiss’ role as Michigan Quarterback’s coach and co-offensive coordinator at the Michigan Wolverines means that he plays an important role in recruiting new talent to the university through providing advice and information towards these recruits.

Whilst Weiss was the Baltimore Ravens running back coach in the 2019 and 2020 NFL seasons, the Ravens adopted a triple-option playbook under head coach, John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator, Greg Roman. With a triple-option playbook adopting philosophies such as, “Put speed in space—all factors considered, the more you do, the more points your team will score” and “Attack a speedy defence slow and a slow defence with speed; outrun a slow defence and counter a fast defence”. Matt Weiss’ role as the running backs coach was to adopt these principles and instill them into running backs, Mark Ingram II and J.K Dobbins as well as quarterback, Lamar Jackson.

Weiss was the running backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens in 2019, in this season the Baltimore Ravens broke the NFL’s single-season rushing yards total with 3296, beating the previous record by the New England Patriots in 1978 of 3165 yards. As well as two ravens players featuring in the top five for yards per attempt, those being quarterback Lamar Jackson and running-back, Mark Ingram II. During that same season, running back Mark Ingram II averaged a career high 5.0 yards per carry, was selected to the Pro Bowl, and tied a franchise record with 15 touchdowns. Weiss aimed to minimise fumbles in order to maximise yards, with Lamar Jackson also breaking the record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single season as well as reducing his fumbles from ten to eight. This being important as a fumble provides the other team with the ball. With Lamar Jackson and Mark Ingram II becoming only the seventh pair of teammates to rush over 1000 yards in a season playing only 15 games out of the 16 possible. In 2020, running back J. K. Dobbins led all NFL running backs in yards per carry and became the first running back to average 6.0 yards per carry or more since Alvin Kamara in 2017. Lamar Jackson was also the unanimous 2019 NFL MVP in that season, becoming only the second player to ever achieve this, joining Tom Brady in 2010, with all 50 voters on the panel placing Jackson in first place.

Weiss was the assistant in charge of linebackers in 2014. In that season, Raven linebackers, Elvis Dumervil and Terrell Suggs had the most sacks as a duo in the NFL, with 29. Dumervil also broke the franchise record for sacks in this season with 17 as well as reached the pro bowl in the same season. Inside Linebacker C. J. Mosley also became the first rookie in franchise history to be selected to the Pro Bowl. Weiss’ role as the linebackers assistant coach possessed importance as NFL linebackers on average had 0.27 injuries per years of their career. This is the highest out of any other position in the NFL, meaning that Weiss would need to coach his players effectively in order to reduce the high risk of injury to the Ravens linebackers as their position also had the shortest average careers in the NFL, ranging from 3.06 to 4.04 years.

Weiss was considered to be a “student of the game” with a desirable analytical prowess. Weiss would provide his players with in-depth PowerPoint on specific plays and other advice on how to improve performance in games. During Weiss’ time as defensive quality control coach in the 2012-13 NFL season with the Ravens, on the last slide of one of his presentations, it stated “I will give $100 to the first person who sees this and texts me”. With hall of fame linebacker, Ray Lewis being the first to respond and winning the $100.

With Weiss being the quality control coach on defense for the Ravens in their Super Bowl winning season in 2012/13, he was one of the coaches that advised head coach John Harbaugh to take an intentional safety in the closing minutes of the game in order to seal the Ravens win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII. Weiss, at the time, possessed a role at the Ravens that was to give Harbaugh advice during the game.

Weiss was given an assistant coaching role for the Baltimore Ravens in 2009 under head coach, John Harbaugh. He was then given the defensive quality coach role in 2012, a role in which he held until 2014 when Weiss became the line-backers coach. He also featured in the Raven's Super Bowl-winning team in Super Bowl XLVII, in which they defeated the San Francisco 49ers 34-31. Weiss was appointed the cornerback coach in 2015, then, in 2016 he became the assistant quarterback coach, and in 2018, Weiss became the assistant wide receiver and free safety coach. His final role with the Ravens was in 2019 when he was given the running back coach role, after the conclusion of the 2020/21 NFL season Weiss left the Ravens to become the Michigan quarterback’s coach.

Weiss was hired by the Baltimore Ravens in 2009 as an assistant to head coach John Harbaugh. Weiss was part of the Ravens' coaching staff that won Super Bowl XLVII. In 2014, with Weiss as assistant linebackers coach, linebackers Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil combined to be the NFL's top sack tandem with 29 sacks combined. Inside Linebacker C. J. Mosley also became the first rookie in franchise history to be selected to the Pro Bowl. In 2015, with Weiss as cornerbacks coach, the Ravens' pass defense improved from 23rd the prior year (337.4 YPG) to 10th overall (233.6 YPG).

Weiss has worked under both Jim and John Harbaugh during his coaching career. First working with the head coach, Jim Harbaugh at Stanford University as a graduate assistant and later the defensive and special teams assistant. Weiss then moved to the Baltimore Ravens in 2009 and worked under head coach, John Harbaugh throughout his whole tenure with the Ravens from 2009-to 2020. Weiss returned to working with the head coach, Jim Harbaugh at the Michigan Wolverines in 2020 as the Quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator. With Jim stating the reasoning behind his hiring of Weiss being, “That was the opportunity to hire Matt Weiss. That was one of the reasons I looked into and thought it was the best thing for our team.”

Weiss was a graduate assistant at Stanford University from 2005 to 2008. He also was the defensive and special teams assistant in his final year at Stanford. After a 12-year stint with the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL, Weiss returned to become the Quarterbacks Coach for the University of Michigan in 2021 and is currently a co-offensive coordinator and Quarterback Coach in a Michigan Wolverines team that was the second seed in the college football rankings in 2021. During Weiss’ time as a graduate assistant at Stanford University between 2005 and 2008 he fulfilled several roles. The first being a defensive backs assistant in 2005, Weiss was then a linebackers assistant in 2006 and a defensive line assistant in 2007. Weiss had other roles including, offensive breakdowns of opponents and tendency and scouting reports, he also worked with the special teams unit through being the positional coach for kickers, punters and long-snappers. During his time at Stanford University, Weiss lived in Menlo Park, California. Whilst at Stanford University, the football team had a record of 5-6 in 2005, 1-11 in 2006, 4-8 in 2007 and 5-7 in 2008, under coach Jim Harbaugh.

Weiss was an assistant coach at Smyrna High School in 2003 and 2004, helping to introduce a tutoring program that supported student-athletes in gaining NCAA eligibility.

Weiss was a walk-on third string punter of the Vanderbilt Commodores from 2001 to 2003. Weiss was not on a football scholarship at Vanderbilt, but joined the team in a tryout. However, Weiss did not feature on the field at all and was not included on the Sports Reference final roster in the years he attended the university. Whilst Weiss was a part of the Vanderbilt Commodores squad, they had a 2-9 record in 2001, 2-10 record in 2002 and a 2-10 record in 2003, whilst being led by Head Coach Woody Windenhofer in 2001 and Bobby Johnson in 2002 and 2003.

Matt Weiss (born March 1, 1983) is an American football coach who is the quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator for the Michigan Wolverines. A native of Connecticut, he played college football for Vanderbilt and then served as a coach in multiple capacities for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL).

Matt Weiss was born in Cheshire, Connecticut on March 1, 1983. He attended Hopkins School in Connecticut, where he graduated in 2001. He played baseball and football for his high school, where as the quarterback, he led his team to a 12-0 record, the first time this had been achieved, as well as winning the school’s first New England Prep School Class C championship in 2001. Weiss then attended Vanderbilt University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics and human and organizational development. While working as a Graduate Assistant at Stanford he earned a master's degree in liberal arts in 2008.