Maryland football hires Josh Gattis as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach

Mar 9, 2023 - 3:08 PM

Maryland football announced the hiring of Josh Gattis as the program’s new offensive coordinator Thursday.

“Josh and I have a strong relationship and a proven track record of working together to produce a potent offense,” head coach Mike Locksley said in a release. “He and I share many of the same philosophies and it should be a very smooth transition.”

In the same release, Maryland also announced the hiring of Texas State defensive coordinator Zac Spavital as the team’s new safeties 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 left to take the same position at Arkansas.

Gattis was most recently Miami’s offensive coordinator but was fired in January after the Hurricanes went 5-7, averaging 367.1 yards of total offense per game — barely in the nation’s top 100 (No. 97).

Before that, Gattis saw plenty of success as the offensive coordinator at Michigan from 2019-21, winning the Broyles Award in 2021 as the top assistant coach in college football after helping lead the Wolverines to a Big Ten championship and spot in the College Football Playoff. Michigan averaged 443.1 yards of total offense that season, good for 16th-best in the country.

Locksley and Gattis worked together during the 2018 season, serving as co-offensive coordinators at Alabama. The two have publicly feuded over who deserved credit for that team’s success, but appear to have buried the hatchet.

Only 39 years old, Gattis had a successful playing career as a safety for Wake Forest. Gattis was a first-team All-ACC selection in 2006 and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. His professional playing career did not last long, starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Butch Davis-led North Carolina in 2010.

Gattis and Sumlin inherit a talented Maryland offensive unit, highlighted by the return of All-Big Ten quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. Joining Tagovailoa in the starting backfield will be Roman Hemby, a rising star who had a breakout 2022 season.

Transfers Kaden Prather (West Virginia) and Tyrese Chambers (Florida International) headline a receiver corps that is awaiting official word on whether Jeshaun Jones will return for a sixth year; Jones is on the 2023 spring roster but has not released any public announcement after in-season speculation. Tai Felton and Octavian Smith Jr. are also shaping up to be rising stars in Maryland’s wideout room. Maryland’s offensive line, having lost four of five starters, is seen as a question mark but has replenished through the transfer portal.