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Maryland hired former Miami and Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis as the program’s offensive coordinator. Gattis spent the 2022 season at Miami before Mario Cristobal fired him in January, just one year after he won the Broyles Award at Michigan. Reports surfaced last week that Gattis and Maryland were close to a deal, as he worked with Maryland head coach Mike Locksley at Alabama in 2018.
“The additions of Josh and (safeties coach) Zac (Spavital) really bolsters our already strong coaching staff,” Locksley said through a press release. “Josh and I have a strong relationship and a proven track record of working together to produce a potent offense. He and I share many of the same philosophies and it should be a very smooth transition.”
Gattis will help coach quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. A former quarterback at Alabama, Tagovailoa was a second-team All-Big Ten selection last season. He completed 67% of his passes for 3,008 yards, 18 touchdowns and eight interceptions, ranking third in the Big Ten in passing yards and helping Maryland reach seven regular-season wins for the first time since 2014 and tie its high in Big Ten wins. Locksley, though, will take over quarterback coach duties, a source told InsideMDSports’s Jeff Ermann.
Gattis fills the role vacated when previous offensive coordinator Dan Enos left for Arkansas. Locksley hired Kevin Sumlin, former head coach Texas A&M, Houston and Arizona as tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator, in February, but Gattis seems likely to be the play caller, according to Erman.
Under Gattis’ lead, Miami averaged 23.6 points per game in 2022, ranking 91st overall in the country, and averaged 367 yards per game, which ranked 88th nationally. It was the lowest points per game average by a Miami offense since 2007, which was Randy Shannon’s first season. That offense, which was coordinated by Patrick Nix, averaged 20.6 points per game, InsideTheU’s David Lake notes.
“You don’t share certain things out in public,” Cristobal said of Gattis in November. “You always try to work things out within the walls of the program. We have done a really good job of hiring coaches that have had tremendous success in every place they have been at. We have had offensive struggles, but we put that on all of us. You don’t isolate people during the season. That is not it. I think people come together or unravel and you have to be the example to the entire organization.”
Against FBS opponents and ACC competition, the Hurricanes averaged only 19.4 points per game, ranking 113th nationally and 4.8 yards per play, which was No. 105 overall in the country. In ACC play, Miami’s offense averaged 17.8 points per game, which was only better than the 16.7 points per game that Virginia averaged on the year.
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Gattis arrived to Michigan in January, 2019, with high expectations after a successful career at Alabama. Though just 33 at the time of his hiring, Gattis had developed a reputation for developing receivers in his time at Penn State (2014-17) and Alabama (2018).
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