Sam Webb says that Gattis would’ve been under consideration for HC had Harbaugh jumped to the NFL
Listened to The Michigan Insider this morning on WTKA and Sam Webb stated that rumors about Gattis floating around the internet were completely false(I’m assuming that is including the one about inappropriate behavior on the recruiting trail). Even mentioned that if Jim had a choice in who would’ve been selected as his successor, he would’ve endorsed Josh for the job. Mentioned that Gattis’ beef might have more to do with compensation and the fact he was not making the amount of money that Don Brown or Mike Macdonald made when they were Coordinators at Michigan.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:28 AM ^
One of those situations where there is gray area for both parties to be right. Just because Gattis “would have been under consideration” doesn’t mean that Gattis didn’t have the expectation to be told proactively by Warde that, yes, he will offered if Jim leaves. Not getting that call could have been considered a slap in the face. Sometimes silence let’s one imagine the worst. Likewise with salary. Because Gattis wasn’t automatically given a big bump in January doesn’t mean it wasn’t going to happen now that HC is sorted out, but maybe Gattis didn’t interpret it to be a ringing endorsement.
It’s also possible Gattis wanted some very specific guarantees and may have been told by Warde that he first needed to see what happened with Harbaugh before he could have that talk with Gattis.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:45 AM ^
I've talked to two people who are very much "inside" when it comes to knowing what is - and what isn't - happening. Everything they've told me in the past has turned out to be true.
As it regards Gattis, I was told by source #1 that Harbaugh wanted Gattis to get the HC job if he left for the NFL. Warde apparently told Gattis that he wasn't going to get the job, however. Which ties in to the next point.
According to source #2, the rumors regarding Gattis are true...and the issues are not limited to just a possible dalliance with one recruit's mother.
I realize that I'm just another random internet guy, so feel free to disregard the above if you choose to do so.
February 7th, 2022 at 10:57 AM ^
This makes some sense if you consider Sam as a sometimes message reinforcer for the athletic department. If Gattis was up to something at all sketchy you probably don’t want it flying around, because it may raise questions about why you kept him around, didn’t take action at the time, etc.
February 7th, 2022 at 11:10 AM ^
The problem I have with this is that Harbaugh is not the kind of person to look the other way if a member of his staff had an extra-marital dalliance with a recruits parent, and that recruit had to go elsewhere because of it. I find that hard to believe...
February 7th, 2022 at 11:13 AM ^
If the dalliance part, I don’t understand why that wouldn’t be immediate grounds for firing. Look at how fast Schlissel was fired.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:33 AM ^
The swim lanes in Harbaugh's office must be crazy now. DC swim lanes, OC swim lanes, swim lanes all over the place.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:43 AM ^
To quote Magnus over on his site, "Even in this season of success, his offense was #24 in toatal offense, #22 in yards per play, and #16 in scoring. That represents a peak in each category during his three seasons in Ann Arbor."
I was happy for Gattis when he won the Broyles' Award, but I was certainly surprised.
February 7th, 2022 at 11:15 AM ^
No worries - his daughter is on the water polo team. He has good inside knowledge about swimming lanes...
February 7th, 2022 at 9:36 AM ^
Apparently, Gattis interviewed for a few HC jobs in the past few weeks per what I just heard on WTKA when Sam had Scott Bell on.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:37 AM ^
Sam is a company line guy. I respect it, go make that money. With that said his job is to quell The Talk of the fan base and also give you some nuggets of truth. If some of the Gattis off-field rumors are true sam would be the very last guy to tell you that they're true.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:38 AM ^
Holy shit, the revisionist history by the UM fandom is killing me.
- A year ago: this site's crowd was calling for JH's head, then lamenting his extension.
- Past december: JH is the future of UM forever, Manual was an idiot for low balling him
- A week ago: Screw JH, if he wants out so bad, good riddance
- This weekend: Fuck yeah, JH is back just like we always wanted
When it comes to Gattis:
- A week ago: He's a well deserved Broyles award winner, we'll be great with him as HC when JH leaves
- This week: He's trash, JH was running his offense, no one liked him anyway
When people talk about legacy powerhouse program that can't adapt to the reality of the current game, this is a prime example.
Thinking that if you're in our jersey, you're amazing, and if you're not, you're suddenly trash is ignoring the reality that we need to make sure we have top talent at all coaching positions. Not just claiming someone's amazing when they're here and then saying "we didn't like them anyway" when they bolt.
February 7th, 2022 at 10:17 AM ^
People wanted Gattis before the year. You left that part out.
February 7th, 2022 at 11:01 AM ^
The people who wanted him out complained about how he was calling all the plays.
The people who wanted Harbaugh out complained about how he was calling all the plays.
February 7th, 2022 at 11:14 AM ^
Shit, a big chunk of people still wanted Gattis out after that clunker of a second half against Rutgers, and that was at the end of September
February 7th, 2022 at 10:57 AM ^
Not that surprising, though. Some people get too emotionally involved in what is simply a game. I used to be the same way. Then I just learned to accept the lows with the highs and root for my team no matter what.
February 7th, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^
The problem with Gattis is the way he's leaving. If he got a $2mil a year deal, you can let that do all the talking.
I always pull for UM guys at award season, so I was happy for him. But that offense before the Maryland game was pretty average. He won that award based on a three game stretch in late November.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:42 AM ^
Two months of reading tea leaves and deciding which rumors to believe, and everyone has somehow completely forgot that there are three sides to every story. Quit living on the extremes, the story is most likely somewhere right down the middle. And the truth is probably very simple. It has something to do with respect and money. How deep it goes remains to be seen.
The logical conclusion (hang on, this isn't a hot take) is pretty basic. Harbaugh thought he was leaving and didn't get the contract he thought he was getting in MN offered to him. In the meantime, UM was having conversations with current staff (and most likely outside possible staff additions) while this was going down. Gattis was told he would be considered for the HC job, or that he wasn't. If he was told he wasn't, that started him looking around. If he was, everything was good to go until Harbaugh called back saying, uhhhhh, if you still have that job I'll take it. UM went to Gattis and said Harbaugh is coming back, didn't offer him enough money that a guy that won the Broyles award and was being considered for a HC position should earn, so he looked around.
Everyone is looking for that scorching hot off-season story to villainize and victimize. Sometimes the truth isn't a movie script. Sometimes people just move on when they feel disrespected (regardless of if they are justified or not). Maybe we get a movie script out of this one, maybe there is some dark villain lurking in the shadows that will be exposed. But it doesn't mean we have to repeatedly write our own movie scripts when all we have is a fictional story to start with. Sometimes, we don't have to be the writers, sometimes we don't have to be "first".
February 7th, 2022 at 9:51 AM ^
Ha, funny our posts are back to back. This is it.
People love the hyperbole of either "everything's perfect" or "something totally sinister happened".
Clearly all the JH stuff from the last two weeks rocked the boat, and a lot of waves means a lot of moving pieces, which means a lot of chances for change.
Just because a guy left doesn't need to mean he did a lot of the terrible stuff people are gossiping about.
February 7th, 2022 at 10:08 AM ^
We were basically typing the same thing in different ways at the same time haha. Had I read yours, I wouldn't have been so inclined to type my comment.
Just because a guy left doesn't need to mean he did a lot of the terrible stuff people are gossiping about.
Sometimes, it's even ok to cheer for a guy when he goes elsewhere hoping that he does well in his career.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:45 AM ^
Company mouthpiece tries to limit the damage
Story at 11
February 7th, 2022 at 10:08 AM ^
If Webb is a "company mouthpiece trying to limit damage," why did he say repeatedly during Harbaugh's dalliance with the Vikings that if he ended up coming back to Michigan he'd have to shore up and repair relationships?
If he was trying to "limit the damage," why did he say well before the Gattis news came out that we shouldn't be surprised if other assistants left besides McDonald?
February 7th, 2022 at 11:07 AM ^
Because assistants leave major college programs every single year? Saying “don’t be surprised if other assistants leave” is UMBIG11 style ‘insider’ talk
February 7th, 2022 at 9:46 AM ^
Sam's predictions:
Matt Weiss to OC
Sherrone Moore to Co-OC.
Grant Newsome to TE coach
Bellamy to WR
Jay Harbaugh switching to defense?
February 7th, 2022 at 10:07 AM ^
Curious move for Jay, setting him up to make a big jump in responsibility in a year or two.
Love, love seeing Newsome take on an active coaching role. Will he be any good? TBD, but super happy to see him take this on.
February 7th, 2022 at 10:20 AM ^
I'm wondering if moving Jay to defense means Mike Hart is staying.
They said Newsome has been working with Sherrone Moore. Sounds like he's a decent recruiter too.
February 7th, 2022 at 10:39 AM ^
Interesting - Hart gets RBs and Special teams?
February 7th, 2022 at 10:21 AM ^
Gotta wonder what Jay's career aspirations are. He certainly seems to have proved himself here to the point that he could probably get a coordinator job at a G5 or lower P5 school, but he seems content to work for his dad and bounce around as needed
February 7th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
His "career aspirations" has been 'Football Coach' since he graduated HS. I mean, the guy went to college to study coaching under Mike Reilly. He got his first job as towel boy for his uncle in Baltimore. He parlayed that junior analyst position into a QA job, to the point where he was regularly updating/briefing the Ravens senior coaches. He followed Dad to UM and began a steady ascension as an on-field coach to the point where he's coordinated the best Special Teams units in college football for two years in a row.
Dude can coach.
But I've said this before, many times - he needs to get out of his family's shadow and operate on his own for a bit. Until he does this, he'll never be taken seriously as anything more than a nepotism hire. Hell, a lot of UM fans still think this - as stupid as the thought is.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:45 PM ^
As I read this career trajectory he sounds like what a young Bill Belichek was,l. I’m excited to see how JayBaugh turns out as he ages and gets more seasoned as a coach.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:51 AM ^
Would have been considered.. not named Interim for a season and a season to prove he's the head coach. Huge difference and why he was so upset. He felt he earned it. Going to guess if MacDonald was still here he would have been named Interim if not Head Coach...
February 7th, 2022 at 9:53 AM ^
“I know that I know nothing.”
—Michigan football fans
and I guess Socrates too.
February 7th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
"I know despite having zero evidence to support it"
-Fans everywhere
Fixed it.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:53 AM ^
Let's move on.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:57 AM ^
Another thing to consider: Sam is to some extent, in competition with Balas. We (myself included), put much more stock in Sam because of his relationship with the Blog and our greater exposure to him. Balas is not without his supporters though and I would not in anyway lump him in with say: a chatsports. The fact that he and Sam seem to be so far apart on some key issues including whether Gattis was under consideration for head coach, or behind Mike Hart is interesting.
Gattis' actions and words though not proving the Balas view, are at least very consistent with it. Alternatively, Gattis's actions are at a minimum, unprofessional and immature (at worst they could be seen as a precursor to tampering with players not in the portal).
February 7th, 2022 at 12:39 PM ^
Sam Webb vs Chris "Just a Formality" Balas...
February 7th, 2022 at 10:04 AM ^
Suuuuure
February 7th, 2022 at 10:09 AM ^
I listened to it too. It would appear that Gattis didn't do such a great job of negotiating (or didn't really do so at all) and got offended that Michigan just didn't up the ante without him having to ask for it. If his ego got bruised and if he acted emotionally, he definitely burned an important bridge, especially with an ill advised tweet to players.
People need to remember that Harbaugh took a big risk in hiring Gattis. He put a whole lot of trust in Gattis. This wasn't a good look for Gattis in how he left Michigan, imo.
February 7th, 2022 at 10:19 AM ^
I think a simpler explanation comes down to Matt Weiss. Weiss engineered the Vikings connection, prepped with Harbaugh, travelled to MSP with Harbaugh, and was probably in line to be Harbaugh's OC in Minnesota which was pretty close to happening. I have to imagine Gattis didn't appreciate being left out of Harbaugh's NFL plans. That ascension of Weiss plus maybe Sherrone being a 'co-OC' and rumors of Hart being a favored son could've pissed off Gattis to the point that he would take a step down just to be out of the situation.
And I know people are saying he may make a ton of money at Miami...but it's Miami. It's hard to be successful there. Gattis is putting himself further from HC gigs by taking that job
February 7th, 2022 at 3:38 PM ^
Miami has 4 national titles in my lifetime, is super easy to recruit to, gets to compete in the ACC and they just hired a big name HC. It is a downgrade but this isn't Rutgers.
February 7th, 2022 at 5:05 PM ^
When was Miami's last national title? It's a small school with a small alumni base that doesn't sell out it's smaller stadium. Florida is a talent rich State but you're competing with FSU, Florida, Alabama and Georgia and the rest of the SEC, not to mention OSU and Clemson for that talent. I also don't think that rich dude with the yacht and the hookers and blow is still an active booster. It's not that great of a job.
February 7th, 2022 at 8:05 PM ^
2001 was there last NC. I don't think that's quite the "dunk" you were looking for, considering NC history.
With NIL and the transfer portal, Miami could very well be one of those programs that pops back onto the national radar in the near future. Coral Gables isn't exactly a bad place to spend four years of your life. Gattis may not have made the mistake you seem to think he did.
February 7th, 2022 at 10:27 AM ^
This is fishy. Why would someone leave over this? I’m worried about 2022 because the program seems dysfunctional right now.
Something happened beyond Harbaugh NFL interest, although that have added more fuel to this madness.
February 7th, 2022 at 10:52 AM ^
You're just mad because your handle is now obsolete. hehe
February 7th, 2022 at 12:41 PM ^
Millions of people change jobs for better money.
February 7th, 2022 at 10:50 AM ^
Gotta ramp up the ol propaganda machine on a Monday morning.
February 7th, 2022 at 10:53 AM ^
have brinks back a truck up to Tom Herman's house sign him up, knowing he's only around for 1 or 2 years. Have either Hart or Moore (whomever JH deems most suited to be the next OC) work closely with him for the time he's in A2..... Would be beautiful.
Can you imagine the next barrage of Zach Smith tweets it would spur?
February 7th, 2022 at 10:59 AM ^
100% PR spin, nothing more
February 7th, 2022 at 10:59 AM ^
Business as usual at Schmbechler Hall; SNAFU. They need to stop the all of the drama over there. Harbaugh should hold a press conference to clear all of this mess up. Hopefully soon.
February 7th, 2022 at 11:11 AM ^
Who cares why he was upset?
His tweet was inappropriate and immature. He was being paid $900 K per year to be an assistant football coach. That's probably in the ball park of the highest paid neurosurgeons.
And he felt slighted?
Give me a break.
February 7th, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
900K plus bonuses.... and he still had a year under contract.
do you want to be a whiney bitch?
cuz that's how you be a whiney bitch.