Monday, February 7, 2022

Michigan Monday: Gattis Took His Talents to South Beach

I like Josh Gattis and what he came to Michigan to do.  The problem is, when you work for an offensive guy, you never really know if it was him or Jimmy running the offense.   You don't have to be an insider to see that Michigan was running Jimmy's offense last season.   That offense won Josh the Broyles Award for the top assistant coach in the country.   


That is a bit counterintuitive isn't.  It's sort of like the DC for Alabama, is it the DC or Saban running the defense.  We know the answer to that.  

A college football coach has to be two things: 1 - a great coach that can call plays/make adjustments and develop talent and 2- a strong recruiter.    When we talk about Gattis, #1 is greatly in question and #2 is a known weakness.  That's a bit of a problem. 

To turn this narrative completely on its head.   Josh has been a candidate for many head coaching jobs this off season and might have been hours away from being a candidate for Michigan's head coaching job if Jimmy jumped to the NFL. 

None of this seems to make sense.   So why would Gattis take the same job with a program trying to rebuild?  He sent a text to all his offensive players letting them know he was not appreciated by Michigan's administration:  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…”

This still does not seem to make sense.

Here is what we know:
  • Last year was Jimmy's offense
  • Reports are that Jimmy likes Matt Weiss coaching style
  • Michigan has been preparing for Gattis to leave for a head coaching role
Now what we think:
  • If Jimmy left, Gattis would of course been a candidate as he just won the Broyles
  • After Harbaugh comes back, Gattis questions his role on the team
  • That question is clarified, and Josh doesn't love the answer or lack of raise
  • Josh jumps to Miami
So now what?

Michigan is down both coordinators and Jimmy has some work to do. Does he go outside the program to fill these roles, or does he look internally at guys like Weiss, Hart, or Coach Clink on the other side of the ball? There is a strong rumor that Mike Hart will entertain NFL assistant coaching roles.

First, we don't want to overreact to these departures. When you make the CFP and win a Big Ten Championship, other programs will come for your coaches. Saban has to rehire his entire staff pretty much every year.

From a far, the Gattis departure does not seem like a big deal and something Michigan wanted.    Jimmy thinks about football 24 hours a day and I'm sure he has a plan for these roles.  

  • Michigan's best player in the NBA Caris LeVert got traded on Sunday from Indiana to the Cleveland Cavs.
  • 2023 3-star Dexter RB Cole Cabana committed to Michigan over the weekend. He is known as a speedster with 4.3 in the 40. Welcome!
  • Michigan is losing analyst Ryan Osborn to the Ravens. Ryan was expected to get the DL coach job, prior to Mike Elston taking it.

12 comments:

Goblu said...

Think that text from Gattis is something he will eventually regret. Not sure a program or coach will be excited to bring a guy on who tries to burn down the building when he leaves.

Blue In Ohio said...

Harris never impressed me, and the speed in space BS never materialized....good riddance

Tim said...

I agree, Gattis will regret that text. And, personally, I have never been overly impressed by Gattis. I am not saying I am glad he is gone, but I certainly won't lose any sleep.

Rudy said...

Gattis' comments really run contrary to his speech he gave a couple of months ago after winning the Asst Coach award. He got emotional saying how much JH and UM had done for him. Time will tell what's really motivating him to go to Miami....the next best UM to the real UM. Best of luck. No doubt though that Harbs has some serious work to do. As for Hart, that would be be brutal to lose him. Gattis and McDonald are good coaches, but don't represent the soul of UM football. Hart on the other hand isn't just a good coach, he's a symbol. He's a rallying cry. Truly hope they don't lose him.

Rudy said...

One caveat to the Hart reports; never know when an agent is creating a story to obtain leverage. Would Harbs be scared of losing Hart enough to name him OC? Could be the angle, just saying.

Victor in AA said...

Is Caris the best M player in the NBA? Franz is making quite a splash.

High Sierra Howard said...

Gattis' low key attempt to poach Michigan players, "Most importantly I am one phone call always if you need anything ever."

Blue said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BlueManGroup said...

I'm actually kind of happy that Gattis left. It was no secret that his "speed in space" offense was garbage and that Jim stepped in last off season and told Gattis that we are going to run it down people's throats. A new OC may even bring more new ideas which will help the offense to keep evolving. I'd be ok with Weiss as he's highly thought of, but I would really LOVE to get Joe Brady.

BlueManGroup said...

Bring back Don Brown - said Nobody EVER! LOL

MichiganMan said...

Don't like the idea of giving OC job to Hart...he never called any plays before and will be disaster...How about we bring in Tom Herman former longhorn coach...or Bill O'Brian

Did awesome job with SAVE stock $$$$

Blue for Life...
DJ for DC

Blue said...

Coaches come & go, I for one believe the next offensive coordinator will be an improvement over Gattis, and also believe Mike Macdonald was the coach more responsible for this years turnaround, and should have won the Broyles award over Gattis.
I'm looking for Matt Weiss as Gattis replacement as offensive coordinator, with Sherrone Moore the co-coordinator, with Ron Bellamy moving over to offense to coach the receiver group. On defense I personally would like to see Jesse Minter come in as the defensive coordinator, he's currently the DC at Vanderbilt, prior to that he spent four seasons on John Harbaugh's staff with Mike Macdonald where he worked with the defensive backs, his Raven's background would no doubt help the team in learning a new defensive system that's very similar.