247 Article on Josh Gattis
Quick article, doesn't have a whole lot of new info. But what I hadn't heard before is great - Jim Moorhead is a primary influence on him. Maybe obvious given Gattis' PSU days, but I hadn't heard him called out directly. Sounds like there's going to be a lot of emphasis on reading defensive players instead of just blocking them. Patterson will probably be very comfortable doing this.
“[Moorhead] showed me a different way,” Gattis said. “He’s a brilliant offensive mind, one of the smartest coaches I’ve ever been around. He had a great impact and teaching me about how to gain a plus-one number on the defense. You have to continue adapting.”
I like what I'm hearing
I'm hearing what I like.
D line depth will be alright once all the true freshman arrive on campus 4 weeks before the first game!
Another reason not to be so disappointed about seeing Mattison's taillights on his way to Columbus.
I'm like, I hearing what?
I'm hearing like what
This is all great stuff, but we've been burned a lot in recent years. I'm cautiously optimistic because Harbaugh and Gattis have been saying all of the right things, but recent history makes me want to put the emphasis on 'cautiously'.
I keep the aloe vera close, to lessen the pain from the burns.
Eh, I figure it'll happen or it won't. No use worrying over it. Might as well just get excited and enjoy.
It took three (3) posts for someone to go all "I'LL BELIEVE IT WHEN I SEE IT!" w/r/t Gattis.
Which might or might not mean something.
Probably because we've been seeing run into the line, run into the line, TE screen, punt since Lloyd's last few seasons.
That's a lot of years to talk, excuses, and September Heismans to overcome.
Anyone who uses “September Heisman” is an obvious troll
Harbaugh has been really good with his "out of network" hires. It's the guys like Drevno and Pep that he has a lot of history with that seem not to work out (save Frey, who... wasn't great here) and then stick around too long.
If I had never seen the atrocious O line play of Clappy's teams led by Funk, I would think Drevno was the worst O line coach I've ever seen. Absolutely awful, and nobody ever got any better under this clown. Topped it off by being worthless as a recruiter.
Frey wasn’t great here because Drevno didn’t want him here and wanted control over everything.
You happen to catch any FSU games last year? Their Oline was worse than Michigan's 2017 line. The numbers/dead QBs point to him being a sub-par hire.
Frey was good at UM under RichRod and put together an O line that ran all over UM's vaunted D line a few years back at Indiana. I'm not sure his experience at FSU wasn't a fluke.
Having said that, it was incredibly stupid to split O line coaching duties between one guy who favors gap schemes and another who is a zone guy.
This time it's real, I'm buying all the way in. Pep is gone, the WR and QB have already shown to be a hair from elite and are rising. The OL is big and experienced. No bellcow RB, defense will have taken a small step back. It's going to be explosion this season.
This is finally the year to peel your eyelids back and just take it in.
::sneaks in, steals Brad's Kool-Aid, drinks it all down::
WOOO!!!!! What I'm hearing and believing is something new, and very different from the last time we had 'new'. Looking at your version of 'new', Rich Rod...
You beckoned, VA? I'm even blue...
This Is happening. People are are skeptical just have BPONE and that she understandable. There has never been any talk like this from an OC under Harbaugh at UofM. Hell, there has not even been an OC.
Two words: show me.
Two more words: the money.
Don't get the negativity when most Wolverine fans have been dreaming about this style of offense for years. It's only great news. Period.
We're skeptical because we only get great news in the OFFSEASON for the better part of 2 decades
We're skeptical because until they actually demonstrate this great new offense on the field, all we have to go on is talk.
Talk is easy and talk is cheap.
And anyone who's been a Michigan fan longer than 2 weeks has seen years and years of all talk and zero results to show for it when all the dust settles...just season after season of what could have been if only....
I'm excited about the hire and the potential to finally get a high caliber offense, but I'm holding out until this new offense actually shows up on game day and doesn't shrink in the face of high caliber opponents.
This is the first time in recent memory where I am way more excited for our offense than our defense. In recent prior years, I felt that our offense would be competent and could grind out points, but that our defense would shut down whomever we face. This year, I know that our defense will not be as dominant, but that we are going to be able to score a crap ton of points.
The philosophy is simple: “If we can’t block them, we’re going to read them.”
Be still my heart. My only question is why, at $8M+/year, Harbaugh didn't see this much, much sooner.
My only question is why, at $8M+/year, Harbaugh didn't see this much, much sooner.
I think the first, and perhaps only, appropriate response is why does it matter? Further, what difference does is compensation make?
More to the point, every coach, in any sport, has their comfort zone, their "way" if you will. Changing that method wasn't necessarily first on the list of things Harbaugh needed to do upon taking the helm. Harbaugh's first job was to yank the program back from edge of the abyss, to stop the bleeding, change the culture and find an identity -- 3 of 4 years with 10 wins accomplishes that. It's not where we want to be, ultimately, and certainly not where Harbaugh wants the program to be. But, it's not as if Michigan was horrible -- we were a 50/50 (rigged) call away from the B10CG and a likely playoff berth in year 2.
Harbaugh said he has had his eye on Gattis for a while now and since he obviously knew Gattis was influenced by Moorehead, it's clear Harbaugh has had this [#SpeedInSpace] on his mind for a while. For whatever reason, Harbaugh waited until he could get Gattis. Could he have found someone else? Sure. But, maybe Harbaugh didn't want anyone else, maybe he only wanted Gattis. IIRC, I read that Sabin wasn't immediately sold on changing, and it took several seasons some different types of QB recruits to push him to make them.
Maybe the $8M is being paid to Harbaugh specifically because the AD wants someone who will change with the trends of CFB, but will err of not making a hasty decision and trying to fix something either out of order or that isn't necessarily broken. I am not saying it's right or wrong, only that fans seem to obsess about the why and how much for some reason, and I think we should just let it go.
Well put.
This is a good post. I think Harbaugh came to Michigan to do what he's done basically everywhere - run a mashing pro style offense predicated on ball control. The first two seasons it worked pretty well, given that he walked into a dumpster fire.
It was only last season when we had a team capable of elite offensive play, that we saw the limitations of what Harbaugh was trying to do. Now, he's trying to do something else and hopefully it works better.
Thanks!
It’s always easier to watch and criticize than it is to act and face the results and consequences.
Harbaugh, though a flawed human, is fearless in that he never shys away from DOING. Regardless of what happens, as long as he doesn’t go nuts and run these guys off, I’m impressed with his willingness to shake up the staff in search of something better. Ironic isn’t it that he’s labeled by many as just the opposition site. Maybe it’s the minute by minute news cycle and this type of forum. But I think he had a plan and stuck to it into he was proven wrong. But his wrong— thus far — is as high as Michigan has really ever trended except for short bursts.
As I said below ... he high winning percentage highs that hadnt bee sniffed in twenty years. Good, not great because greatness runs through Columbus.
We When you pay a coach top 5 money, you expect top 5 results. Fans have a right to complain when we are the ones paying 115 per season ticket...
saban has the cache to not adjust. Dude has won 5 NCs. He can get away with it.
im more venting than bitching but it’s fucking time, it’s fucking time harbaugh.
It is time. The perfect time. His system has worked really well everywhere he's applied it. It looked like it was going to work at Michigan too, but for whatever reason (probably because B1G teams play real defense) there's a definite cap to it. That seems clear to Harbaugh, and now he's doing something else.
$115 per season ticket isn’t going to cover squat. Maybe you mean per game?
If Harbaugh was just a coach making $8M without his history at Michigan he would have been pilloried. His decision to have two guys coaching the offensive line with diametrically opposed philosophies was simply asinine. The offensive play calling against both OSU and then UF in the bowl game was befuddling. Broehm gave UM the roadmap for attacking OSU's defense and it's as if nobody on the staff was paying any attention whatsoever.
Had he not hired Don Brown his tenure would have been an unmitigated disaster and the bloom is coming off that rose now, too.
I'm not a member of the cult of personality and am not content with seasons where we get beat up by both ND and OSU. He's being paid a lot of money to coach a blue blood program and the results thus far have been pretty uninspiring IMO.
I've had former players tell me the "meritocracy" is pure BS and favoritism is endemic in the program. We have seen that front and center in a lot of his hires and it has set us back immensely. Drevno? He totally sucked but was here for three years? Pep? What had he ever done in his career to deserve to be a member of a three-headed OC monster at UM?
Look at how UM has closed the last two years and tell me that it points to good, or even solid, coaching.
Sorry, I'm not fond of cults of personalities.
Say "cult of personality" once more.
IM...THE...CULT...OF...PER...SON...NAL...ITYYYYYY
IAMTHECULTOF
IAMTHECULTOF
IAMTHECULTOF
IAMTHECULTOF
IAMTHECULTOF
IAMTHECULTOF
IAMTHECULTOF
IAMTHECULTOF
PERSONALITY
*ask not what your country can do for you...*
I would embed the video if this forum software wasn't shit
Look at the number of 10 win seasons and tell me that’s a sign of poor coaching. It’s also stupid to talk about what would’ve happen had he not hired don brown, since he did and it’s worked out well. Devno seemed to do an okay job the first two years, and after the third year where it was obvious he sucked he was canned. Pep was also canned after it was clear he was shit.
I’m not a member of the cult of personality that is okay with being beat by Rutgers (which is where we were before Jim), but I hate to break it to you... you’re in a cult of personality that diminishes relatively successful seasons. Your argument against Harbaugh is the same one I’ve seen a thousand times on this board.
And I've seen yours just as many times.
Harbaugh has been firmly in charge of the offense -- the defense has largely been outsourced to first Durkin and now Brown. Personally, I expect any CEO to have a strategic vision of what he wants to do and to hire competent people to get it done, We haven't gotten that from Harbaugh. As I pointed out earlier in this thread, having the Drevno/Frey combo coaching the O line was perhaps the worst coaching decision I've ever seen. Not to mention, having four people involved in play calling over the last few years was incredibly bad management.
Pep was a friggin' disaster who made $1M+ a year. His value was so high that he went to a league that lasted about a week.
Hey, I'm hopeful that Gattis is given the keys and allowed to do his thing but am not convinced it will happen yet. What's going to happen when Jack Harbaugh leans in and says "why aren't you running more power?"
That has actually happened.
You saw Durkin/Frey coach the O-Line? No wonder you’re conflicted. Your eyes aren’t the only things that have concurrently deceived, YOU!
Look at the number of 10 win seasons and tell me that’s a sign of poor coaching. It’s also stupid to talk about what would’ve happen had he not hired don brown, since he did and it’s worked out well. Devno seemed to do an okay job the first two years, and after the third year where it was obvious he sucked he was canned. Pep was also canned after it was clear he was shit.
I’m not a member of the cult of personality that is okay with being beat by Rutgers (which is where we were before Jim), but I hate to break it to you... you’re in a cult of personality that diminishes relatively successful seasons. Your argument against Harbaugh is the same one I’ve seen a thousand times on this board.
Speaking of asinine, claiming that the first coach to lead Michigan to back-to-back 10 win seasons since 2003-2004, and 3 of 4 10 win seasons since 1997-2000 would be pilloried for this performance if he hadn’t play for Michigan is asinine. So doing something that the “blue blood” program had not done in over 20 years is now considered uninspiring? Are you serious?
Would 3 of 4 10 win seasons be easier to accept if Harbaugh was only making what Brady Hoke made? What’s the cutoff compensation in your mind?
I call bullshit! You’ve not had former players tell you anything, at least nothing of substance, and certainly not that the meritocracy is a fraud. You rant like a person who doesn’t fully grasp the complexity and present tense responsibilities of a big time CFB coach.
Theres not a single Michigan fan in the world who is content with losing to ND and OSU — least of all, Harbaugh. Why do you think he’s made the changes that he’s made? I know, I know ... you would have made the changes ages ago because you are so smart and forward thinking, and Harbaugh is so stubborn and stupid ... not to mention overpaid.
To me, it sounds like you’re jealous of the money he makes and your entitled expectations are out of whack because you have no idea how hard becoming an elite CFB program is. Harbaugh, more than any other person on the planet is working to bring Michigan back among the elite while all you do is whine and talk about cults of personality.
Lol -- that was quite a rant.
I'd be fine with him making that kind of money if his record in big games didn't absolutely suck.
39-62 against OSU and the team looked like complete dog crap against a very mediocre Florida team.
I've been a UM football fan for 40+ years and, no, I am not happy with the results under Harbaugh so far.
Which Michigan coach’s result were you happy with? The only times any Michigan fan can point to in which has been better is early in Bo’s tenure, 1997, and the Cooper years when Michigan beat OSU above 50%.
Other than those years, Harbaugh is right at Michigan’s historical high, and is 8th in P5 wins since 2015 — incidentally, two of those ahead of Michigan are in the B10. Everything runs through Columbus, but other than so-so years highlighted by Cooper’s inability to best Michigan, they’ve always been hard to beat.
Be unhappy, but you might be less so if you realized that, after 40+ years of nothing consistently better, that maybe it your expectations.
Harbaugh, for the most part, beats bad teams and loses to good teams.
After all the pre-season fanfare about RPO's we saw just more of the same out of Harbaugh's offense last year and wasted some very good offensive talent. It really hit home for me during what I believe was our second drive against UF when we has a 3rd and two on their 45 and ran right into a stacked box twice and turned the ball over on downs. We have a QB who is great at running the zone read but only ran it, what, twice in the game?
Yeah, I expect better. UM had some great talent on both sides of the ball last year and got b-slapped against ND, OSU, and UF. I expect more for $8M+/year. So maybe he'll get it right this year but I'll continue to maintain a healthy level of skepticism.
Honestly, I think the issue people have isn't so much the dollar amount he's paid but the reputation and hype he carried with him into the program when he was hired.
Like it or not, and fairly assigned or not, Harbaugh was basically given Nick Saban level coaching status, reputation, hype, and expectations as soon as he was announced as Michigan's next HC. So fans came into this new coach era and expected really big results, and so far he hasn't really beaten anyone worth mentioning, let alone the record against OSU, or the bowl record.
I honestly think people just expected far too much from the man. He's a very good coach, and three 10 win seasons in four years is nothing to sneeze at, but at the end of the day, the man probably will never achieve Saban or Urban results on the field and the sooner people realize that, the less angry and frustrated they will be. The bar was simply set way too high and needs to be lowered in order to correct fan expectations.
Just my humble opinion.
I'm not a cult of fans of personality.
Witty repartee is clearly not your thing.