Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison still remembers trying to be in two places at once in South Bend, Ind.

With one eye on the practice field as a member of Notre Dame's coaching staff in the early 2000s, Mattison often found himself sneaking an ear to the softball field from time to time each spring.

Not necessarily because the defensive line was boring him, but because his daughter Lisa -- a former All-Big East performer on the Notre Dame softball team from 2000-2003 -- was up to bat.

"It was like 100 yards from the softball field to the practice field where I had the defensive line, and the game would be going on and they'd know that I was listening to see if No. 25 would get a hit or not," Mattison recalls. "Finally, after a while, the defensive line would say 'Coach, let's just stop for a second and see if she gets a hit or not.'

"And if she got a hit, it'd be over the loud speaker and they'd say 'OK, you're going to have a really good practice now, let's go.'"

Mattison has sat on both sides of the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry fence, and he’ll hop back to the maize and blue side at 8 p.m. Saturday when Michigan hosts the Fighting Irish for the first night game in Michigan Stadium history.

From 1992-96, Mattison served as a member of Michigan’s defensive coaching staff, the final two as defensive coordinator. From there, he departed for Notre Dame in 1997, where he would remain for eight years through 2004.

While at Michigan in the mid-90s, Mattison helped guide the Wolverines to a Rose Bowl win following the 1992 season and was instrumental in helping build the defense that would eventually lead Michigan to a split national title in 1997.

He only got to see that title-winning defense once, though. And that opportunity came while standing on the visitor sideline in Michigan Stadium, on the wrong end of a 21-14 Notre Dame loss during Michigan's perfect season.

"I was watching the 1997 (Michigan-Notre Dame) game (Tuesday on the Big Ten Network)," Michigan junior receiver Roy Roundtree said. "It was kind of funny seeing coach Mattison on the other side.

“It was kind of weird."

During his time in South Bend, Mattison was a member of four bowl teams in eight seasons and participated in a high-profile sibling rivalry. He recruited and coached former Notre Dame defensive lineman Grant Irons, the brother of former Wolverine All-American linebacker Jarrett Irons (a player Mattison mentored earlier in his career at Michigan).

"I'm fortunate to be very close to that family,” Mattison says. “It's a wonderful family.”

The decision to leave Ann Arbor for South Bend all those years ago was a difficult one, Mattison admits. But it’s not a choice he regrets.

As he says, it was a move that ultimately left him with a greater feel for the rivalry -- something he says he never really understood before standing on both sidelines.

And, more importantly, it allowed him to be a proud father.

"I don't know if I really even knew (at the time) what a big rivalry that was," he said. "I didn't grow up being a Notre Dame fan or anything, I'm a Lutheran, I'm not Catholic.

"And then when you make that decision based on family, once you make it you kind of go, 'Whoa, I had no idea.' But I had a great eight years there, I got to see my daughter through school and that made it a really good deal.

"That was the greatest part about that. To be there, with your daughter on a softball scholarship and her have the career she had there -- you got to go to every game, you got to be right there and hear everything."

Mattison won’t have to worry about being in two places at once Saturday.

His feet will be firmly planted on the Michigan sideline, and both ears will be glued to the headset he wears as the Wolverines’ defensive play-caller.

It’s a job he’s thrilled to have once again, and Saturday’s game is a rivalry he says he’s glad to again be involved in.

"It's a great rivalry," he said. "You're talking about two of the greatest schools in college football, in athletics.

"I don't think there are any (two that are) better. I know it's a huge rivalry for everybody involved in it - it's Michigan and Notre Dame, that's what it is."

Nick Baumgardner covers Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2514, by email at nickbaumgardner@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @nickbaumgardner.