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 2:32 PM ^
It has all the hallmarks of an emotional decision than a rational one. Reading his tweet it's clearly written by someone venting himself, and he points at the administration. He feels slighted by the fact he wasn't given serious HC consideration.
If he were making a rational decision, he would bite his tongue, hang on one more season, then jump to a HC job afterward. Unless he pulls off a miracle with the Miami offense he's likely delayed his HC options for a couple years by making this move.
February 6th, 2022 at 3:12 PM ^
Agreed. This pushes his HC options back a couple few years. He'd have done better to bite his tongue.
Or at least it would've in prior eras. Absolutely no telling anymore...
February 6th, 2022 at 4:26 PM ^
He didn't say anything about HC consideration in that statement to players. All of that is coming from fans. For all we know he was looking for a new contract and sizeable raise, and Michigan wasn't giving it to him.
February 6th, 2022 at 5:40 PM ^
He didn't say he was looking for a raise either, but we are all allowed to hazard a guess. With "the last couple of weeks" timeframe, MY guess is he felt like if Harbaugh was gone the administration wasn't too high on his being the next HC and didn't like that. I would have preferred a better written and classier exit, however truth be told I've never been very happy for lateral moves away from Michigan. (fwiw, I don't see Mike Macdonald as a lateral)
I'm also of the opinion that while Gattis has a lot going for him, there was A TON of collaboration between Gatis and Harbs regarding this offense. It benefitted each of them, and it benefitted the team, and I'm less concerned with the OC leaving this team than the DC. That being said, Successful teams tend to not hold on to their coordinators indefinitely.
February 6th, 2022 at 2:39 PM ^
Why does anyone do anything...Ego
February 6th, 2022 at 10:39 PM ^
I don't think it's lateral at all. I think he's in a worse position in Miami. Miami is a continual disappointment. His head coach is an offensive guy who might have his hands on the offense more than we perceived Harbaugh to have.
I can't imagine Miami can afford to match salaries with Michigan, otherwise they'd have had better coaching than they've had in recent years.
To me, that spells it out pretty clearly- He wanted out of Dodge! Sucks!
February 8th, 2022 at 3:31 AM ^
HC here is an offensive guy too....one way or another. ;)
February 6th, 2022 at 12:57 PM ^
Agree this is a risky move for Gattis in many respects. Regardless of how he explains it we are unlikely to ever know or agree with his calculus in making such a move, if this is even true. Hope Michigan hires a great coordinator that is better than Gattis. Michigan's running game and overall team chemistry contributed significantly to his recognition this year, just as he deserves some credit for being part of that. It remains to be seen whether he will ever Coach another team with comparable chemistry. Even though its his career, it kinda stinks.
February 6th, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
Who says he wasn't given the "go looking for a job" speech by Harbaugh?
It's telling he ended up at a lesser program.
Not going to be hard to upgrade this position.
February 6th, 2022 at 11:49 AM ^
It has to be a boatload of money, or spite over Harbaugh, or both, for him to parachute into that tire fire from the stacked offensive situation he's leaving at Michigan.
February 6th, 2022 at 11:49 AM ^
What the fuck Josh lol. Makes 0 sense. Don't let the door hit you, never thought he was really a very good playcaller.
February 6th, 2022 at 11:49 AM ^
The biggest damage will be in recruiting. In terms of X&O, I believe, Harbaugh and Weiss had as much influence as Josh during 2021 season. In other words, I do not think the offense's performance will be affected much if recruiting holds up.
February 6th, 2022 at 12:17 PM ^
Fortunately, Ron Bellamy seems like a logical replacement as WR coach, given that he played the position himself. (Of course, then we'd have to replace him in the secondary.)
February 6th, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
You don’t have to play the position to coach it. Josh Gattis played safety in college for example. And I happen to think Bellamy is a pretty good fit as safety coach. We got some good flashes back there from players not named Dax Hill or Brad Hawkins.
Id actually prefer for Bellamy to stay at Safety and bring in someone else, such as Wilcher maybe, as WR coach.
February 6th, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
Yes, I'm aware. But it would presumably be a pretty easy transition for him if we needed him to do it.
February 6th, 2022 at 2:07 PM ^
Bellamy is a much better fit at WR. That was the position he was supposed to coach but was reluctantly switched to safeties when Jean Marie left> Helow from Safeties to LB> Ron to safeties.
February 6th, 2022 at 4:31 PM ^
I don’t think you can say that without knowing who you can bring in as the other coach. Bellamy has shown to be a solid safeties coach and I’d certainly have no issue keeping him there. “Better fit” is somewhat of a guess. Just because he played the position doesn’t mean it’s where he fits best as a coach.
Now if you go out and you find a wide receiver coach that you like more than a potential safety coach, why would you move Bellamy? Now that obviously goes the other way, if you find a safety coach you like then Bellamy likely has the versatility to switch to WR.
February 6th, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
Actually, I never thought Josh was a great WR coach. Most of our WRs did not get better significantly while he was the WR coach.
February 6th, 2022 at 2:09 PM ^
Gattis was a lights out WR coach at both PSU and Bama. Maybe being OC plus WR was too much for him (which is why they originally gave the WRs to Bellamy). But there is no doubt that he can coach WRs.
February 6th, 2022 at 2:18 PM ^
That is a valid point. I think a better combination for an OC is to be QB coach as well. I wonder how much time he could spend with WRs while handling OC's job.
February 6th, 2022 at 2:28 PM ^
Really? I mean I won't go so far as to say Gattis was an amazing WRs coach, but he did a pretty good job.
As for receivers not improving during his tenure... I mean, Ronnie Bell took a BIG step forward when Gattis first arrived and then looked primed to be dominant this year before his injury. Cornelius Johnson has steadily improved into a very reliable outside receiver with some nasty double moves. Roman Wilson had a great freshman year to sophomore year leap. Erick All, while he is a TE, improved his catching (receiving) ability significantly after a sophomore season plagued by drops.
So I would say Gattis did a pretty damn good job in both recruiting talent and coaching that talent in the receivers room.
February 6th, 2022 at 11:50 AM ^
Actually pretty surprised with this...
I get leaving; coaches often have to to build their resumes...leaving for the same position at Miami though? That's disappointing.
I'd definitely be interested in what the offer was however. It goes back to the NIL discussion to a degree. Michigan needs to pay assistant coaches well too - not saying they didn't. I know in past years Michigan did pay pretty well, and Gattis was reupped last year.
Change isn't always a bad thing...its just the shift horizonatally, and to Miami of all places, that makes this a head scratcher for me...
February 6th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
Yeah, but Miami has some weird pull on coaches. Cristobal underwhelmed at Oregon but he wasn't going to be fired and yet he bolted to Miami. And then Kevin Steele wound up there despite what I assume were other options, and now Gattis.
I don't think Miami will ever quite be what they were in their heyday, but there's always that allure and if you don't see a long term future at Michigan I can see the desire to make it happen at a place with potential.
February 6th, 2022 at 1:15 PM ^
I’m curious, in what way did Cristobal “underwhelm” at Oregon in your mind?
In his first season they went 9-4 and he notched a win over a top-10 Washington team.
In his second season they went 12-2, won the PAC-12 over a top-10 Utah team, and beat a top-10 Wisconsin team in the Rose Bowl.
In his third season, the 2020 COVID season, they went 4-3 and again won the PAC-12, this time over a top-15 USC team.
In his last season they went 10-4, won their division but lost the PAC-12 to Utah, and managed to beat a top-5 Ohio state team in Columbus.
Doesn’t seem like an underwhelming tenure to me.
February 6th, 2022 at 10:41 PM ^
In 2018 he did net a 3-point win over Washington, but he also lost at home to an okay Stanford team after blowing a 10-point lead with under 5 minutes to play, and followed up that aforementioned win over Washington (who was #7 at the time but finished 10-4 and #23) with 2 straight losses to WSU (who was good that year) and a 15-44 loss to 5-7 Arizona. Oh, and he also beat 7-6 MSU by the score of 7-6 in the Redbox Bowl, one of the worst games I ever remember seeing in college football.
In 2019 he did go 12-2 and won the Pac-12 title and beat Wisconsin, and as I noted that was a really good year. He also had Justin Herbert, who he inherited from the past administration, turning in a great season. Throw out 2020 if you want but was a year where they started the season #12 and finished 4-3 despite returning a ton of production on defense.
And in 2021 they did have that big win against Oregon but they also blew a game against 3-9 Stanford, go blown out twice by Utah, and then he bolted before they lost badly to Oklahoma.
So yeah, in a Pac-12 that lacks the top-level talent/teams you see in places like the Big 10/SEC (Washington was trending down and USC has finished the season ranked once during his tenure) you'd have assumed Oregon would be better than a team that averaged 3 losses a year and won 1 Pac-12 title.
February 6th, 2022 at 1:18 PM ^
Cristobal didn’t underwhelm at Oregon. But he’s a Miami alum and has a sick mother that still lives in Miami. There’s definite pull for him to go there.
Kevin Steele wound up there despite what I assume were other options
Well, he had just accepted the DC job at Maryland earlier that week. So no, he really didn’t have other options. It came down to Maryland or Miami, which is an easy choice.
February 6th, 2022 at 10:49 PM ^
I didn't realize he had an ill mother, so that makes sense for him. As for Kevin Steele, I just find it weird that Cristobal was hired back in December and only brought in Steele after he had signed with Maryland in late January. And as noted, he was already at Maryland and I guess I don't see how a Miami team that is still filling key roles months after they came open is a great landing spot. I will admit to Miami feels a bit like Southeast Nebraska in that they'll never be quite as good as people remember them because what they used to get away with is way more common across CFB.
February 6th, 2022 at 12:05 PM ^
If I were Gattis, I’d be pissed that Harbaugh left me in the dark while using Weiss as his wingman. It’s insulting.
February 6th, 2022 at 12:28 PM ^
I think this right here is close to the truth. Makes total sense.
February 6th, 2022 at 3:16 PM ^
Analytics Mack!
Analytics!
February 6th, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
just saw on Twitter but Josh isn't leaving without burning bridges. WOW
Per Tom VH - "In a text to some Michigan players, Josh Gattis said, “Unfortunately the past few weeks has told a different story to me about the very little appreciation I have here from administration. In life I would never advise anyone to be where they are not wanted…”
February 6th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
This supports the claims that Hart, not Gattis, would have been promoted to HC. Administration is not Harbaugh. It is Warde et al. If there is any truth to that it does not surprise that he was looking elsewhere. It is certainly bad optics but I am not sure it changes much on the field.
February 6th, 2022 at 9:12 PM ^
Not 100% sure about that wrt to Hart.
Lots of other things were 'heard' in addition to that note on Hart...
- Michigan was going to look outside first and then internally for a HC
- Harbaugh was pushing for Gattis as the new HC if he did leave.
- Harbaugh was bringing Weis with him as OC to Minnesota
None of the above has been confirmed however... The only thing we do know is that Gattis felt underappreciated. Maybe that was because he wasn't first in line to the job. Maybe it was because Michigan wasn't going to match Miami's offer...
Disappointing, but coaches tend to move around...after 3 years as the OC and Harbaugh returning "for as long as he is wanted" means the door to HC at Michigan is closed...so making a jump now made sense to him as well
February 6th, 2022 at 2:20 PM ^
I wouldn't really call this "burning bridges." This is what just about anyone would feel who was in line for a promotion and got word that they weren't going to get the job.
Can't say I blame anyone on any front. I don't blame Gattis - it genuinely hurts when you are the heir apparent and get passed over. I don't blame Warde either - Gattis as head coach would have felt a bit underwhelming.... less "this guy is the MAN" and more "he probably deserves a shot, I guess"
February 6th, 2022 at 3:21 PM ^
Actually Colo, "just about anyone" publicly says Thanks for the opportunity, and moves along, bridges intact...
They don't put gripes about their bosses not appreciating them to the people they supervise in writing!
Just about anyone with any sense or class, anyway!
February 6th, 2022 at 4:20 PM ^
Well, it really wasn't public - it was a text to a few select players. But you have a point that he shouldn't have put it in writing to 18-22 year old kids.
February 6th, 2022 at 6:46 PM ^
Probably just the players he’s going to try to poach. He seems butthurt about it and I would be concerned about tampering.
However, our offense should be way better than Miami’s, so hopefully nobody is dumb enough to follow him there.
February 6th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
Give me Joe Brady
February 6th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
I would like to see Weiss and Moore be the co OC's, I loved the progress of the QB's throughout the season, Weiss did a great job there.
Moore was a beast of an OL coach, need to incentivize and keep him around.
Keep Hart as associate HC, our RB's were fantastic this past season, that doesn't seem like a coincidence.
Now that Harbaugh seems to be here to stay, the program will be stable and things will work themselves out.
I wasn't happy with Harbaugh's dalliance with the NFL but that's in the past now and we need to look forward.
February 6th, 2022 at 11:59 AM ^
Means more money for everyone else!
Still think the likeliest scenario is Weiss becoming OC. I know Seth and others are adamant that Hart is not *officially* head coach in waiting, but it just makes too much sense with the way Michigan operates.
Regardless, our offense will be fine next year.
More interested in confirmation of a Clink-Elston co-DC arrangement.
February 6th, 2022 at 12:19 PM ^
It’s also plausible that, during the moments when Michigan was preparing to replace Harbaugh, it became clear to Gattis that he wasn’t considered a viable replacement.
February 6th, 2022 at 3:27 PM ^
Mack, don't you think that message about not being appreciated means it's more than "plausible"? Like, it's a stone cold lock!
And when he then said "OK, we can agree to disagree about that, but look here Miami is offering me a half mill more to be OC" those same administrators said "Wow! Sounds like a great opportunity!"
February 6th, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
One day, maybe 20 years from now, I'm going to really ask Seth who he talks to when he's able to reveal. I have zero online presence, just an alum who talks to people in the program as a fan and donor. Whether it speaks to how dysfunctional things have been, or whether it is a smokescreen, I swear to God I have heard pretty much the exact opposite of everything Seth has said. And I absolutely trust Seth. Maybe that's the most worrisome part of this whole off-season. Does anyone have a handle on the direction of this program, a program which is basically akin to a hundred(s) million dollar business?
February 6th, 2022 at 1:51 PM ^
I trust Seth as well. He’s been very up front about his sources…in that he has none. If you listen to the MgoBlog roundtable with Sam Webb he’s said many times that he has no insider sources and that he leans on Sam Webb for insider information.
February 6th, 2022 at 3:19 PM ^
I only started listening to the roundtable again more lately but this is a favorite of mine about Seth.
February 6th, 2022 at 12:00 PM ^
If they keep Moore and Weiss (and Hart) then I am fine with the move. Gattis was going to leave eventually and so it's a year earlier than expected. I do think Harbaugh possibly going to the NFL will have repercussions, but that's likely part of the reason we're seeing this move. At the same time, Gattis was also helping to prep for Georgia when the bulk of hiring season was going on, so that likely didn't help his timing.
I do think he's going to find Miami a...difficult place this first year. They have some talent but it's been almost impossible miscoached for years and for all the hullabaloo around Cristobal as a coach he's had one really good year (2019 at Oregon) and otherwise has underwhelmed. Miami isn't a plug-and-play factory anymore and so I wonder if this is a marriage that will work out. Like, I don't think Miami was waiting for Gattis to become available the last 2 months.
February 6th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
If Harbaugh was not guaranteeing Gattis a spot on his Vikings staff, then he was right to consider his job insecure and start looking elsewhere.
February 6th, 2022 at 12:08 PM ^
Employment is a two way street
Gattis was interviewing for head coaching jobs too. So if Michigan didn’t feel the need to throw the bag at someone who isn’t going to be here in 2023, who can blame them
February 6th, 2022 at 12:05 PM ^
Seems like a bad career decision by Gattis. This isnt even a lateral move. No matter how pissed he may have been, all he had to do was ride a good offense this fall into a HC gig somewhere. Now he goes to Miami where coaches go to die to sign on to a multi-year rebuild that at best gets him back to where he’s already at in 2-3 years.
Comments