The Miami Hurricanes are hiring Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis for the same position according to Bruce Feldman of the Athletic. Gattis was named the 2021 winner of the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in college football. Gattis was the OC and wide receivers coach at Michigan from 2019-2021.
Hiring Gattis away from Michigan is a huge addition for Miami Cristobal and the Miami Hurricanes. Gattis was widely considered as a potential successor to Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh when he interviewed with the Minnesota Vikings this week. Hiring Gattis follows new defensive coordinator Kevin Steele.
Steele was hired earlier this week after taking a year off from coaching in 2021. Gattis and Steele should balance each other well. Gattis first became a co-offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2018 before spending the past three seasons at Michigan. Steele has over 40 years of experience as a college football coach.
The 38-year-old Gattis began his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at North Carolina under Butch Davis in 2010. In addition to time at Alabama and Michigan, Gattis was a wide receivers coach at Western Michigan, Vanderbilt and Penn State. Gattis was a safety at Wake Forest from 2002-2005.
Worth noting on the Josh Gattis hire by Miami: a big influence on Gattis was his time working with Joe Moorhead (Cristobal's OC at Oregon) at Penn State.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 6, 2022
Gattis is a fit for how Cristobal wants to play on offense. Michigan was ninth nationally averaging 223.85 rushing yards per game, was 18th averaging 5.22 yards per carry, first allowing 2.43 tackles per loss and fifth allowing one sack per game. Cristobal has frequently mentioned the need to be physical at the line of scrimmage.
Hiring Gattis is part of Cristobal fulfilling his statement on National Signing Day that the Miami Hurricanes will fill all or most of the staff positions on the football team by the end of this week. Gattis seems likely to replace Bryan McClendon as the Miami WRs coach after he left for Georgia earlier this week.