8A — Friday, January 11, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Gattis picked to be OC
After a season of ambiguity,
the Michigan football team has
an offensive coordinator, and a
designated play-caller.
The Wolverines have hired
Josh
Gattis
—
Alabama’s
co-offensive
coordinator
and
wide receivers coach — to fill
the job, the team announced in
a statement. Bruce Feldman and
Chris Vannini of The Athletic
first reported the news. Gattis is
expected to call plays, according
to Feldman. A spokesperson for
the team did not immediately
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.
“The offense and passing
games under Josh’s direction
have achieved at a very high level
throughout his coaching career,”
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
said in a statement. “Josh will
provide leadership to our offense
while being a great mentor to
our student-athletes and an
outstanding addition to our
coaching staff. Michigan football
looks forward to having Josh,
Tesa, and their children, Jace
and Reece, join our University
family.”
The news comes as a shock, not
just because it means Harbaugh
cedes control of the offense, but
because Harbaugh said after
the Wolverines lost in the Peach
Bowl that he didn’t anticipate
any changes to his coaching staff.
There
had
already
been
two — Greg Mattison and Al
Washington leaving for Ohio
State — but those departures
seemed
out
of
Harbaugh’s
control. Moreover, both were
defensive coaches. An offensive
hire, at a time when Harbaugh is
under fire for the way his offense
performed in big games against
Ohio State and Florida, could
represent a deliberate shift.
Designating
a
play-caller
certainly
does
just
that.
Harbaugh
had
previously
refused to say who was calling
plays when asked, though it
seemed to be a mix of himself
and passing game coordinator
Pep Hamilton.
Gattis, who had a one-year
NFL
playing
career,
played
college football at Wake Forest
and has been a coach since 2010.
Most notably, he coached wide
receivers at Penn State before
going to Tuscaloosa.
“Josh is a very good coach,”
Alabama
coach
Nick
Saban
said of Gattis in October, per
AL.com. “He’s a very bright guy.
He’s been in some good systems.
He has a good understanding
of the big picture offensively.
He’s very technical in terms of
how he coaches and teaches his
players and they have a good
understanding.
“He
has
a
really
good
personality.
But
he’s
also
demanding. He can confront
and demand guys when they’re
not doing things the way they’re
supposed to do them and I think
that’s created a lot of consistency
in our receivers and it’s also
improved
their
toughness
and their mental toughness to
sustain.”
In Gattis’ lone year with the
Crimson Tide, Alabama led the
nation in passing S&P+, thanks
in large part to quarterback Tua
Tagovailoa. Gattis also helped
receiver Jerry Jeudy to a 1,315-
yard season in which he won the
Fred Biletnikoff Award for the
nation’s best wideout.
After a week in which things
seemed to be falling apart for the
Wolverines, this hire seems like
an attempt to start righting the
ship.
“I am deeply humbled by the
opportunity to serve as your
offensive coordinator,” Gattis
said in a statement. “This is
the leadership challenge I’ve
coveted. The football tradition
at the University of Michigan is
among the very best in college
athletics. My family and I
couldn’t be more excited to
arrive in Ann Arbor.”
New hire shows Harbaugh willing to evolve
T
here are lots of myths
about Jim Harbaugh.
One such myth, a sen-
timent that has gained traction
following the tumultuous end to
Michigan’s season, is that he is
unwilling to
adapt. This
caricature of
Harbaugh’s
offensive
philosophy
— a relic of a
bygone era,
too proud
to conform
to modern
football, too
stubborn to
adapt to his personnel — is largely
unfounded. But it persists and
is only amplified with every loss
in a big game — every lackluster
offensive performance.
The hiring of former Alabama
co-offensive coordinator Josh
Gattis to become the offensive
coordinator (yes, the sole offen-
sive coordinator) at Michigan is
the latest and most discernible
proof of Harbaugh’s willingness
to evolve.
Gattis is going to run the
offense. He’s going to be call-
ing plays. And the subtext isn’t
hard to see here: He’s coming to
change the entire offense. Har-
baugh’s offense.
To say Michigan’s offense
didn’t change in 2018 would be
wrong. After 2017, a year in which
Michigan’s three quarterbacks
combined for just nine touch-
down passes and less than 2,300
passing yards, the offense reflect-
ed and rebounded. This past
season, junior quarterback Shea
Patterson threw for 2,600 yards
and 22 touchdowns. The Wol-
verines had three wide receivers
exceed 500 yards. While that
figure might seem uninspiring,
it comes after a year in which no
receiver exceeded 307 yards.
And it wasn’t just that the
offense opened up, but the way
it did so. Harbaugh ostensibly
ceded run-game responsibilities
to offensive line coach Ed Warin-
ner this season. In turn, the team
implemented more zone-read
looks and more run-pass options.
There were new formations and
an emphasis on getting Patterson
on the move to best utilize his
athleticism.
Harbaugh adapted in 2018, no
doubt, just as he has his entire
career. But hiring Gattis and
relinquishing all play-calling
duties isn’t mere adaptation. It’s a
complete offensive overhaul, and
a welcome one at that.
From 2012 to 2017, Gattis
worked under James Franklin at
both Vanderbilt and Penn State,
where he quickly developed a rep-
utation for his recruiting prowess.
In his lone season at Alabama,
Gattis led an offense that aver-
aged 522 yards over 45 points
per game. Quarterback Tua
Tagovailoa averaged 11.17 yards
per attempt, narrowly behind
Heisman Trophy-winner Kyler
Murray for tops in the nation.
Tagovailoa also finished with an
adjusted completion percentage
of 63.4 on throws of 20-plus yards
downfield. When presented with
that information on Twitter, Gat-
tis provided a response sure to be
music to Wolverines fans’ ears.
“Well we sure do see who is
on this list and not! “ he tweeted.
“No dink and dunk offense here!”
No dink-and-dunk offense,
you say?
And while to an extent Ala-
bama is Alabama, and Michigan
is decidedly not, the Wolverines
would be wise to take lessons
from the Crimson Tide’s offensive
evolution in the last five years.
Michigan will bring back
Patterson, along with talented
sophomore wide receivers Dono-
van Peoples-Jones, Tarik Black
and Nico Collins next season. It
retains most of its offensive line
and brings in a talented run-
ning back, Zach Charbonnet, to
an already versatile group. The
group has the potential to be the
Wolverines’ most talented offense
in years. And with Gattis, it has
added the most important ingre-
dient: a fresh, forward-thinking
offensive mind necessary to
reaching new heights.
This is all, of course, contin-
gent on Harbaugh truly handing
the keys over. Any team coached
by Harbaugh is going to maintain
some elements of the pro-style
offense he’s run his entire life.
The working marriage of Har-
baugh and Gattis now serves
as perhaps the most important
offseason development. If the
offensive collaboration remains
the convoluted bureaucratic
entanglement it has been the past
few years, criticism will rightly
follow.
But Harbaugh had no choice
to broadly evaluate the short-
comings of last season. He, too,
watched his offense wilt at Notre
Dame in the season opener. He
saw it thoroughly outpaced and
outclassed at Ohio State. He had
a front-row seat to the 26-point
Peach Bowl drubbing.
To his credit, it now appears,
Harbaugh adapted.
Marcovitch can be reached
at maxmarco@umich.edu or on
Twitter @Max_Marcovitch.
CHAMPAIGN
—
Almost
exactly two years ago to the day,
the Michigan men’s basketball
team lost 85-69 at Illinois,
allowing the Fighting Illini to
shoot a scorching 65 percent
from the field and the 3-point
line.
But in the eyes of Wolverines
fans, Jan. 11, 2017 is more
notable
for
Illinois
center
Maverick
Morgan
dumping
a
truckload
of
salt
into
the
wound
with
his
postgame
comments,
in
which he called
Michigan
a
traditionally
“white-collar”
team.
At
the
time,
Morgan’s
statement marked a nadir for
the Wolverines. But since then,
Michigan’s gone 64-14, with
two Big Ten Tournament titles
and a Final Four appearance.
Thursday
night,
the
Wolverines returned to the
State Farm Center for the first
time in two years. They left
with a 79-69 win over the Illini
and a 16-0 record — tied for the
best start in program history.
At the same time, though, it
wasn’t a dominant win. Illinois
(4-12 overall, 0-5 Big Ten)
outshot Michigan and forced
14 turnovers, never letting the
game get out of hand as the
records would suggest.
If there was a time where it
could have gotten out of hand,
it was right after tip-off. The
Wolverines (16-0, 5-0) came out
of the gate looking every bit the
second-best team in the nation,
scoring the game’s first eight
points.
Sophomore forward Isaiah
Livers missed the previous two
games with back spasms, but if
one was watching Michigan for
the first time Thursday night,
they would have no idea. The
sophomore
forward
scored
an early seven points with a
soft turnaround jumper, a left-
handed and-one layup and a
leaping offensive rebound and
putback, helping the Wolverines
go up 20-10 after eight minutes.
“We obviously missed him,”
said
Michigan
coach
John
Beilein. “ … Having Isaiah come
over to defend, do different
things
and
just
have
him
coming off the
bench is huge
for us.”
But
Illinois,
thanks
to
its
signature
high-pressure
defense,
hung
around
throughout the
first half. The
Wolverines
coughed it up 11
times, and Ayo
Dosunmu — who scored 19 first-
half points — banked home a
deep 3-pointer to cut the Illini
deficit to 39-34 at the half.
“Our coaches got on us about
our turnovers,” said junior
point guard Zavier Simpson. “ …
Just told us to pivot better, find
the open guy, make the extra
pass and just stay disciplined.
With them pressuring, they’re
going to try to wear us down.
You’re going to get tired as the
game goes on, but it’s important
that you just stay mentally
disciplined.”
Michigan
heeded
these
words in the second half.
Despite being unable to pull
away entirely, the final 20
minutes were a different story,
as Dosunmu scored just two
points, the Wolverines turned
it over just twice and scored 10
points in transition.
They have Simpson — who
had 16 points, eight assists, five
rebounds and two steals — to
thank. In the second half, he hit
two key fast-break layups and a
3-pointer with five minutes to
play, a crucial stiff-arm after an
Illinois three sliced the lead to
63-56.
Beilein stated that Simpson’s
firm hand on the steering wheel
allowed Michigan to adapt to
the Illini pressure, in spite of
most of the Wolverines’ normal
offensive sets breaking down.
“The way that Illinois plays,
you’re not going to be able to
run a lot of plays anyhow, you
gotta just get guys in formations
and attack,” Beilein said. “As a
result, when we did settle down
I thought they got the message.
Any other time that they got
close — I look at Zavier, and
I got as good a point guard as
there is in the country running
our team.”
Illinois
didn’t
seriously
threaten
again.
Michigan,
hitting just 65 percent of its
foul shots coming into the
game, nailed six free throws
in the final minute as the Illini
resorted to fouling — icing the
contest away.
When the buzzer sounded,
the
Wolverines
equaled
a
historic start at the site of one
of the biggest embarrassments
of the Beilein era.
And the fashion they did it in
— responding to adversity with
clutch plays down the stretch —
was decidedly not white collar.
CHAMPAIGN — For 35 minutes
on Thursday night at the State Farm
Center, Illinois would not go away.
Every time the Michigan men’s
basketball team threatened to silence
the Fighting Illini, they responded
with a pair of stubborn baskets,
serving solely to prolong a game with
a seemingly inevitable outcome.
Thanks to junior point guard
Zavier Simpson, the last of these
insurgencies culminated at the 5:26
mark, when a fastbreak basket cut
the Illinois deficit to seven. Simpson
collected the ball off the ensuing
inbounds, calmly dribbling up the
court as he typically does before
running the Wolverines’ offense.
Only this time, his trip up the
court ended just beyond the 3-point
line, where he stopped on a dime
and fired up an ambitious 3-pointer.
A 26.5 percent 3-point shooter
on the season, it seemed like an
uncharacteristic
mental
mistake
from Simpson — until the ball
splashed through the hoop, grazing
nothing but net on its way in and
silencing the Illini crowd one last
time.
“Any time you hit a three when a
team’s chipping back at the lead, I feel
like it’s good,” Simpson said. “I just
wanted to step in and just knock it
down.”
On a team with five rotation
players shooting over 33 percent
from deep, Simpson might have been
the last player expected to ice the
game with a three. But that ability
to get contributions no matter who it
turned to is what allowed Michigan
to
overcome
a
strong
Illinois
performance and win, 79-69.
Just 36 seconds into the game,
redshirt junior forward Charles
Matthews bowled into an Illini
defender, committing his first foul of
the evening. Wolverines coach John
Beilein responded by turning to his
bench, glancing over his options,
and summoning sophomore forward
Isaiah Livers.
It’s a luxury that Beilein hasn’t
had in nearly two weeks, but Livers
took full advantage on Thursday,
opening the scoring with a jumper
from the elbow and scoring seven of
Michigan’s first 17 points.
“We
obviously
missed
him
(when he was injured),” Beilein said.
“Especially when Charles (fouled)
like 50 seconds into this game. So
having Isaiah come over, defend, do
different things, and just have him
coming off the bench is huge for us. …
We need him on this team, he’s been
a real secret to our success.”
After Livers’ initial spurt, Illinois
adapted, holding him scoreless for
the next 30 minutes. In his stead,
Matthews returned with 11 second-
half points — one of five Wolverines
to finish in double figures.
Junior center Jon Teske was
Michigan’s most impressive player
for much of the evening, finishing
with 13 points and 11 rebounds. When
the Illini got within four points early
in the second half, Teske — a 21
percent 3-point shooter — was the
one who replenished the Wolverines’
advantage with a pick-and-pop three.
Three minutes later, he used a three-
point play to stymie a mini-Illinois
run.
Even freshman forward Ignas
Brazdeikis — flummoxed by the
Illini’s high pressure defense early on
— finished with 15 points, including
six in a four-minute stretch midway
through the second half. After an
early three, his last three field goals
all came inside the paint, as did 42 of
Michigan’s 79 points.
“This team has four or five guys
that just scare the tar out of you with
dribble drive,” said Illinois coach
Brad Underwood. “And that causes
matchup problems.”
As usual, though, it all ran through
Simpson, who added eight assists and
just two turnovers to his 16 points.
“Yeah, they didn’t take the ball
out of Zavier’s hands,” Underwood
said, when asked to explain the
Wolverines’ second half offensive
improvement.
“Find the open man,” Simpson
added. “If they’re personal like
that, they’re definitely gonna try to
wear you down, get in the gaps. It’s
important that your decision making
is precise. But at the same time, teams
like this, you gotta just go, you gotta
just play. … And I feel like we’re a very
unselfish team, so if everyone just
plays the right way, finds the open
man, we’ll get quality shots.”
Ask Beilein and he’ll tell you that it
doesn’t matter who those open shots
fall to. But the answer from the other
sideline might be more revealing.
“I think they showed tonight
why they’re such a good basketball
team,” Underwood said. “They had
everybody in double figures.”
Pop Champaign!
Michigan takes care of Illinois, 79-69, winning 16th-straight game to tie school record for undefeated start to the season
ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
MAX
MARCOVITCH
FOOTBALL
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh adapted his offense by hiring Josh Gattis away from Alabama to be offensive coordinator.
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Editor
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily
Junior point guard Zavier Simpson was one of five Michigan starters to score in double-digits in a win over Illinois.
“I got as good a
point guard as
there is in the
country.”