Michigan Football: Why departure of Josh Gattis could be a good thing

Josh Gattis is leaving the Wolverines to become the next offensive coordinator for the Miami Hurricanes. Gattis who was hired in 2019 received the Broyles Award this year for the best assistant coach. 

While there are always pros and cons to a coach leaving, to me this seems like it could possibly be a really good opportunity for the Wolverines. While Josh Gattis did a pretty good job this season, it’s tough to forget how rough the beginning of the year was with kicking field goal after field goal.

While Gattis for sure was a better fit for a J.J. McCarthy-esque QB and not Cade McNamara, nonetheless Gattis still found a way to win but at times his offense was predictable. In the Ohio State game, Gattis’s game plan was just to run the ball with the occasional play-action and trick play.

While that may work one time, and credit to him for not changing something that wasn’t working, we’ll have no idea how that game could have played out if Ohio State stopped the run. Take the Georgia game, for instance, his offense got eaten alive and he was unable to establish a running game with two of the best backs in the Big Ten.

Personally, I do believe that Mike Macdonald was the coach responsible for such a turnaround this year as he probably should have won the Broyles award over Gattis, but what’s done is done.

Michigan football’s breakout freshman receiver Andrel Anthony had this to say on Twitter, eluding to the possibility of Harbaugh bringing in a big name. With Harbaugh’s plethora of connections and insane platform at Michigan, he could pick up some serious candidates in the near future.

Josh Gattis leaving could be a good thing

Michigan football needs to keep progressing forward with the times. You saw how effective it was bringing in young guys and analysts that can relate to the players. Michigan needs to continue that and keep as many of its assistants and analysts as it can because to me that’s the foundation of creating a new type of culture similar to what we just saw last season.

I don’t think Gattis’s departure is going to exactly change the recruiting dynamic. Gattis really has two major pickups, A.J Henning and Tyler Morris, unlike Macdonald who had 3-4 major recruits coming in. I do believe Tyler Morris is going to stay at Michigan, especially with the McCarthy connection.

However, A.J Henning could choose to transfer elsewhere but with his expanding role on the offense regardless of who’s coordinator is seems too good to pass up. While he may not exactly be an NFL-caliber guy right now he’s a very good college athlete who can take Michigan football’s offense to another level if used correctly.

From what it sounds like QB coach Matt Weiss could be the front runner for Gattis’s job, not exactly sure how I feel about the hire, but it for sure could be an interesting hire.

The Wolverines have a ton of work to do to gather up new coordinators, but I have faith in Jim Harbaugh’s ability to bring in the right guys.