Report: Josh Gattis to Accept Miami OC Job
A week ago Michigan fans were wrapping their heads around the idea of Josh Gattis as Michigan’s next head coach (or telling lies to prevent it). While Jim Harbaugh was interviewing for NFL jobs, however, his staff couldn’t be expected to sit around waiting to see if they’d get his. Evidently, Josh Gattis connected with Mario Cristobal, and Bruce Feldman now reports that Michigan’s Broyles Award-winning offensive coordinator is leaving for Miami.
BREAKING: Michigan OC Josh Gattis is accepting the Miami’s offensive coordinator job, per source. The 38-year-old Gattis who helped the Wolverines to the Big Ten title in 2021, won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach. Big addition for the Canes.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 6, 2022
That’s a blow. Gattis was the blueprint for the youth takeover on Harbaugh’s staff, and a leader in the cultural turnaround toward positivity that fueled their run to a win over Ohio State, a Big Ten Championship, and the program’s first-ever playoff appearance. Gattis also built an incredible, and incredibly fast, young receiving room, with Ronnie Bell, Cornelius Johnson, Mike Sainristil, AJ Henning, Roman Wilson, and Andrel Anthony set to form one of the deepest and speediest groups in Michigan history.
On the other hand, Michigan was already preparing for life beyond Gattis, who just three years into becoming an offensive coordinator in his own right was a top candidate for several open Power 5 jobs this offseason, and almost certainly would have been again in a year. Keeping him in Ann Arbor was likely going to take an Associate Head Coach designation, perhaps with a succession plan.
His choosing to leave to be the OC of another school is what sticks, and therefore I look forward to seeing the details of his Miami contract. How much money he receives, what title he gets, and most of all whether any other assistants leave could swing perceptions of how much Gattis was drawn to Miami or repelled by Ann Arbor. Michigan was set to have a breakout offense next year, with a battle between two excellent quarterback options, that receiver room, a pair of star running backs, three parts of an excellent offensive line, and two great TEs returning. Unless the money is considerably higher, it would have seemed that Michigan was a better stepping stone than the rebuilding Canes to Gattis’s future goals, and that those goals were already very close.
It’s hard, then, not to certain elements of the fanbase and the flow of false rumors as contributing factors. Harbaugh too is rightfully going to be criticized, since by all accounts he did a terrible job keeping his assistants informed of his plans, a breach of trust that’s more relevant now that he’s going to have to get them to work for him again. It also didn’t help that Michigan fans often wondered aloud if it was Harbaugh running Gattis’s offense, or if Ed Warinner was secretly teaching them how to run the ball, claims that always had more than hint of that old “Martelli is secretly running Juwan’s program” flavor of bullshit. However Cristobal is an offensive guy as well, and the Hurricane fanbase isn’t going to be any better than Michigan’s, so it’s not like that situation, at least, is changing.
Co-offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, another young assistant who has moved up the ranks in the program, could assume the role himself, or, since the O-Line is basically a coordinator position itself, share it with another. Most expect that to be Matt Weiss, who as of last Thursday was expected to be following Harbaugh to the Vikings. There's also speculation that they'll be moving Bellamy to receivers to open up space on the defensive staff. They also have Mike Hart. I’ve confirmed from several who would know that the report Hart was ahead of Gattis in the Harbaugh replacement sweepstakes was a complete fabrication, but Hart had nothing to do with that, and is still regarded as future head coach material inside the building. Harbaugh will probably first look around at outside options. But he should probably look to shoring up the rest of his staff first.
February 6th, 2022 at 5:10 PM ^
I stand before you because Jim Harbaugh took a risk...I'm forever grateful to Coach Harbaugh because he believed in me. And when you have that type of support from your head coach that means the world.
Josh Gattis December 8, 2021, Broyles Award acceptance speech.
After that speech it was almost two months to the day that Gattis accepted a lateral position. In the past, Gattis has always said this isn’t his offense, "it’s Michigan’s offense". Gattis has said that Co-offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, Jim Harbaugh and others formulates opinions and ideas in the meeting room. I have no doubt that the show will go on.
Remember that last year, there was a whole group of people with torches and pitch forks who wanted to run Harbaugh and Gattis out of town. Timing isn't great but let's hope Michigan has a come together moment and has another us versus the world mindset.
February 6th, 2022 at 5:19 PM ^
Both coordinators gone. Head coach failed in his attempt to leave town. Good times!
What a shit show. Really interested to see how this plays out.
February 6th, 2022 at 5:34 PM ^
Gattis was clearly pissed off on his way out, and this doesn't look good for Michigan. But I was never convinced that Gattis was the engine behind last year's success. The fact that he rode his emotion to take a less job says a lot.
February 6th, 2022 at 6:00 PM ^
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out Josh, jeesh
February 6th, 2022 at 6:00 PM ^
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out Josh, jeesh
February 6th, 2022 at 6:05 PM ^
Its was Coach Harbaugh s offense anyway.
Losing Mike was a bigger loss
February 6th, 2022 at 7:25 PM ^
I have a friend who’s son plays for the Ducks, 6th spot on the O line. It sounds like Cristobal has some similarities with Harbaugh - highly intense, expects everyone to make sacrifices, tendency to be conservative, emphasizes winning in the trenches. In contrast to Harbaugh he’s not a great motivator and has a bit of stoic personality. So Harbaugh without all the fun.
February 6th, 2022 at 7:31 PM ^
Does this prove or at least add credence to the rumors that Hart was going to jump Gattis?
February 7th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
well, maybe he was going to steal on him if not jump him.
February 6th, 2022 at 8:30 PM ^
As soon as I read the topic title, I flashed back to Gattis shaking his head while the Michigan offense was on the field. I'm assuming his play calling duties were either taken away or curtailed in 2021 as Harbaugh/Weiss/Moore assumed more control. Viewed that way, this isn't much of a surprise.
Harbaugh rubs people the wrong way anyway, and if Gattis' influence in the offense was reduced, it makes sense that he would go somewhere else.
February 6th, 2022 at 8:53 PM ^
This off-season has my head spinning I don’t know what to think anymore
February 6th, 2022 at 9:37 PM ^
We are going to need a whole John U. Bacon novel to chronicle Gattis @ UM. He came in with a lot of expectation as an Alabama "coordinator" although nobody really knew what was his vs Mike Locksley's doing. Then, the "speed in space" thing excited, before it became a running joke. The team then cratered and died as the Joe Milton Era took shape. Then, the team was resurrected to the point where Gattis wins the Broyles, endears himself to the UM fanbase with his heartfelt acceptance speech, and becomes said fanbase's (non-unanimous) #1 choice to replace Harbaugh upon JH totally leaving for the NFL. Then, very suddenly Gattis leaves to take the same position at a lesser school (YTM) with some apparent hard feelings on the way out.
???
February 7th, 2022 at 9:15 AM ^
I think there was some drama with his exit from Alabama as well. If JUB wants to write another book has has plenty of material to work with.
February 6th, 2022 at 9:54 PM ^
Gattis did well this year and silenced a lot of doubters, but this was clearly JH's offense, although I'm sure Gattis contributed to the modernization.
I think the offense being primarily designed by Harbaugh is so self-evident it's almost difficult to argue about, it's just clearly his Frankenstein's monster.
February 6th, 2022 at 10:00 PM ^
I will say that with Harbaugh coming back, I think we dodged a massive bullet. I do not think, even if Gattis is the wunderkind play-caller/Broyles-caliber coordinator that some believe to be true, that he was remotely ready for HC at a place like UM. Maybe you could convince me he'd do ok at a G5 school while learning the trade there, before taking on a beast like a major P5 HC gig. But it is a huge step up in ability from being OC, and collaborating with maybe 3 other guys in doing that.
February 7th, 2022 at 5:53 AM ^
There is NO way this move puts him in a better position to become a HC...Michigan >>> Miami. The talent returning on O for UM is exactly what you want if you are auditioning for a HC spot so...that plus the sour grapes message to the players tells me that this is not a strategic move on his part. You don't burn bridges like that and ever expect to get a positive reference from your former employer.
Its more likely that he was told to look elsewhere and get out before some other shit comes to light and they might have to fire him. I mean the idea that your OC stopped recruiting during the season is pretty much pointing in the direction of something else being behind this move.
February 7th, 2022 at 7:58 AM ^
The talent that scored 3 points in non-garbage time in its last game? He shouldn’t accept a presumptive significant pay raise because of an offense that clearly lacked elite players (save Edwards) and an OL that was woefully overmatched and overrated.
He shouldn’t migrate to working in a region of the country with access to way more elite talent for a head coach, with whom he had worked before, with a track record of elevating recruiting results significantly at his prior job?
While the state he is leaving has economically stabilized, it is at a fraction of its output in prior decades, with public services reduced significantly. The city he is going to was just written up as the best city in America by the FT. You may not like or understand his decision, but to suggest it is without logic is pretty narrow minded.
February 7th, 2022 at 11:47 AM ^
Honestly, I feel a little bit gaslit by the recent constant praise of Gattis by Seth. I mean, yes, he is the architect of the offense that beat OSU and won the B1G. He's assembled what appears to be an excellent receivers room. But he's also the guy that got Seth himself to hang a cyan circle on Cade for the first half of the year because he was constantly lighting downs on fire with fake reads. And he's the guy that thought we shouldn't throw deep to Nico Collins more than once a game, or a wheel route to Chris Evans more than once a season.
It's not that I don't think Gattis is a capable coach - I do - or that having to replace him right now is going to be potentially painful - it probably will be. It's just that MGoBlog seems to have done a complete 180 on the guy over the span of a couple months and not really acknowledged the fact, or gone into more detail on why. A year ago, hell half a year ago, everyone wanted him to follow Harbaugh out the door and now Seth won't say his name on the radio without appending "Broyles award winner".
And the dark hints of racism are uncalled for:
It also didn’t help that Michigan fans often wondered aloud if it was Harbaugh running Gattis’s offense, or if Ed Warinner was secretly teaching them how to run the ball, claims that always had more than hint of that old “Martelli is secretly running Juwan’s program” flavor of bullshit.
People were griping about "Harbaugh running the offense" not because they thought Gattis was incapable due to his skin color, but because they were annoyed that the new "speed in space" coach seemed to be eschewing RPOs and quick passes to speedsters in favor running concepts that seemed very "Harbaugh-esque" without much success. It was a request for more Gattis, not less! The assumption that Gattis-critique was racially motivated never made much sense (I mean, I'm sure there was some because people suck on the internet, but I doubt it was a significant contingent).
February 7th, 2022 at 1:31 PM ^
He left because they doubled his salary (approx).
He left because he wants to actually have control and freedom to run "his" offense.
He tweeted select players in a sympathy attempt at transfer hopefuls.
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