The University of Miami has found its offensive coordinator.
The Miami Herald confirmed Sunday that Michigan’s Josh Gattis, 38, who won the 2021 Broyles Award that goes to the top assistant coach in college football, is being hired by UM coach Mario Cristobal to lead the Hurricanes’ offense. Gattis had been the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the last three seasons in Michigan.
Led by Gattis, Michigan ranked 25th in the nation last year in both yards per play with 6.4 and yards per game with 44.3. The Wolverines also finished 16th in the nation with 35.8 points per game, 15th in rushing offense with 214.4 yards per game, 68th in passing offense with 228.7 yards per game and allowed the fifth fewest sacks in the nation, surrendering just one per game. They also converted 45.8 percent of their third downs — the 16th best mark in the country.
Michigan, which began the season unranked, reached the College Football Playoff for the first time before falling to the eventual national champion Georgia Bulldogs in the 2021 Capital One Orange Bowl. Gattis was also previously the co-offensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide, helping Alabama reach the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship in his lone season in Tuscaloosa.
After starring as a safety for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and playing one season in the NFL for the Chicago Bears, Gattis began his coaching career in 2010 as a graduate assistant for the North Carolina Tar Heels when former Miami coach Butch Davis was in Chapel Hill. After one year, he became the wide receivers coach for the Western Michigan Broncos, then left again after one year to take the same position with the Vanderbilt Commodores. He spent two seasons in Nashville, then three as the wide receivers coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions before he joined the Alabama Crimson Tide for one season in 2018.
Gattis then took over as Michigan’s offensive coordinator in 2019 and had been in Ann Arbor ever since, but now leaves in controversial fashion.
In a text message, Gattis told a group of players, “The past few weeks has told a different story to me about the very little appreciation I have here from administration,” ESPN reported. “In life I would never advise anyone to be where they are not wanted.”
Gattis’ departure also follows Jim Harbaugh’s recent flirtations with the NFL, including an extensive interview with the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday. The Wolverines coach, however, did not get the job.
In Coral Gables, Gattis will replace former offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, who left to become the SMU Mustangs’ coach at the end of the 2021 regular season. He’ll be the Hurricanes’ fourth offensive coordinator in five seasons, following Lashlee, Dan Enos and Thomas Brown.
Gattis is the second coordinator hired by Cristobal hired in the past week. Kevin Steele, 63, has taken over as Miami’s defensive coordinator.
