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The life of a college football assistant coach is often far from glamorous.
You work incredibly long weeks. You’re almost constantly recruiting, and if you don’t see immediate success fans are calling for your head.
Take, for instance, (former) Miami offensive coordinator Josh Gattis.
Gattis rose to prominence as the wide receiver coach under James Franklin at Vanderbilt. He then followed Franklin to Penn State where he developed into one of them most-coveted young offensive assistants in the country.
Gattis parlayed that into a job as the wide receiver coach and co-offensive coordinator for Nick Saban and Alabama. He spent one year with the Crimson Tide before bouncing to become the offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh.
That move translated into immense success. While it didn’t come immediately, Gattis helped transform the Wolverines back into a power run team and one the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach in 2021 when Michigan went 12-2 and won the Big Ten.
He turned that into yet another move, this time to the University of Miami where he became the offensive coordinator under Mario Cristobal.
But that’s where things began to fall apart. The Canes were horrendous on offense in 2022. Miami went 5-7 on the year and Gattis’ offense scored just 23.6 points per game, which was barely good enough to land in the top 100 in the nation.
Miami Hurricanes Fire Offensive Coordinator Josh Gattis After Just One Season
That won’t cut it. Which is why Cristobal made a bold move on Friday, cutting ties with Gattis just one-year into his stay in Coral Gables.
#Miami has fired offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. Won the Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant at Michigan in 2021.
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) January 27, 2023
Fans were surprised by the news.
Woah 😳 https://t.co/z1G3QLSlGV
— Lance Barton (@LanceBarton15) January 27, 2023
Josh Gattis is OUT AT MIAMI
Is this performance related or something else?? The timing of this firing is off https://t.co/s5aQSqXIkL
— Saturday Gameday (@SaturdayGameday) January 27, 2023
Dang, just one year and that’s it?! https://t.co/eyDEaWGjzC
— Josh (@onlyonejj22) January 27, 2023
Really weird timing. Is Kliff coming back from Thailand? https://t.co/dmzf8AIFuv
— Bayou Billy Butler 🌾 (bayoubillybutler.bsky) (@BayouBillButler) January 27, 2023
Though Michigan fans seemed not particularly surprised with Gattis’ struggles.
What's funny is that Gattis won the most prestigious award for an assistant coach … yet there were rumblings last year at Michigan that Harbaugh had become more hands-on with the offense — especially late in the season. https://t.co/IzKQr0VpyB
— Jesse Simonton (@JesseReSimonton) January 27, 2023
& now you see why Michigan willingly let him walk 🤡 https://t.co/dlpuXWkvXg
— Kyleshow (@Kyleshow23) January 27, 2023
Gattis will likely land on his feet. He’s still young as coaches go and has quite the resume. But the lack of stability isn’t the best look and he’ll now be on his fifth team in seven seasons. College coaching, y’all.