Gattis was named college football’s best assistant in 2021.
Maryland Football announced Thursday the hiring of Josh Gattis as the program’s new offensive coordinator.
“Josh and I have a strong relationship and a proven track record of working together to produce a strong offense,” head coach Mike Locksley said in a press release. “He and I share many of the same philosophies and it should be a very smooth transition.”
In the same press release, Maryland also announced the hiring of Texas State Defense Coordinator Zac Spavital as the team’s new safety coach. Spavital replaces Wes Neighbors, who left to take the same job at Ole Miss.
Gattis joins Kevin Sumlin, who was recently hired as Maryland’s co-offensive coordinator, associate head coach and tight ends coach in February. The duo replaces former offensive coordinator Dan Enos, who has assumed the same position in Arkansas.
Gattis was last Miami’s offensive coordinator but was fired in January after the Hurricanes went 5-7, averaging 367.1 total offensive yards per game — just inside the nation’s top 100 (No. 97).
Prior to that, Gattis enjoyed great success as an offensive coordinator at Michigan from 2019-21 and won the Broyles Award for Best Assistant Coach in College Football in 2021 after helping propel the Wolverines to a Big Ten championship and a berth in the college football playoffs respectively . Michigan averaged 443.1 total rushing yards this season, good for 16th best in the country.
Locksley and Gattis worked together throughout the 2018 season, serving as co-offensive coordinators at Alabama. The two have publicly clashed over who deserves credit for this team’s success, but seem to have buried the hatchet.
Gattis was only 39 years old and had a successful playing career as a security guard for Wake Forest. Gattis was a 2006 first-team All-ACC pick and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. His professional playing career did not last long and he began his coaching career in 2010 as an assistant under Butch Davis in North Carolina.
Gattis and Sumlin inherit a talented offensive line-up from Maryland highlighted by the return of All-Big Ten quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. Roman Hemby, a rising star who had a breakthrough in the 2022 season, will join Tagovailoa on the starting grid.
Transfers Kaden Prather (West Virginia) and Tyrese Chambers (Florida International) lead a receiving corps awaiting official news on whether Jeshaun Jones will return for a sixth year; Jones is on the spring 2023 list but hasn’t made a public announcement following speculation throughout the season. Tai Felton and Octavian Smith Jr. are also emerging as rising stars in the Maryland wide area. Maryland’s offensive line, which has lost four of five starters, is viewed as a question mark but has been replenished via the transfer portal.
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