8 — Thursday, January 17, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Notebook: Coaching hires, Gattis contract and offering a seventh grader

Minutes 
after 
Michigan’s 
Peach Bowl loss to Florida 
last 
month, 
a 
reporter 
asked 
Wolverines 
coach 
Jim Harbaugh whether he 
anticipated any changes to his 
coaching staff.
The 
answer, 
perhaps 
predictably, was a simple “no.”
Three 
weeks 
later, 
that 
prediction 
has 
proven 
incorrect, as Michigan has 
already seen three assistant 
coaching jobs change hands.
The 
Wolverines 
were 
unexpectedly thrust onto the 
coaching carousel on Jan. 7, 
when Greg Mattison — who 
had spent eight seasons in 
Ann Arbor, including the last 
four as defensive line coach 
— was hired as Ohio State’s 
co-defensive coordinator. Less 
than 24 hours later, Mattison 
was 
joined 
in 
Columbus 

by 
linebackers 
coach 
Al 
Washington, who left to take 
the same position with the 
Buckeyes.
After a week of uncertainty, 
Michigan 
has 
filled 
both 
holes, 
quickly 
replenishing 
its 
defensive 
coaching 
staff 
to 
the 
five 
assistants 
it 
had 
before 
Mattison 
and 
Washington’s 
departures.
The 
Wolverines’ 
first 
defensive 
addition came last week, when 
they 
hired 
Boston 
College 
co-defensive 
coordinator 
Anthony Campanile, as first 
reported by 247Sports and later 
confirmed by the University 
Athletic Department.
“Anthony 
has 
a 
strong 
reputation for developing all-

conference 
performers 
and 
future NFL players,” Harbaugh 
said in a news release. “Our 
student-athletes will benefit 
greatly from his mentorship. 
Anthony 
is 
an 
excellent 
addition 
to 
our 
coaching 
staff 
and 
provides 
great 
flexibility with 
his 
experience 
working on both 
sides of the ball 
and at multiple 
positions.”
Campanile 
worked as the Eagles’ defensive 
backs coach for the past three 
seasons, including one when 
Washington was there, after 
two as the tight ends coach at 
Rutgers. Michigan already has 
two defensive backs assistants 
— safeties coach Chris Partridge 
and cornerbacks coach Mike 
Zordich — meaning it could 

move 
Campanile 
to 
work 
with linebackers. Harbaugh 
could also opt to shift one 
of Partridge or Zordich, and 
assign Campanile to one of the 
defensive back groups.
Then, 
on 
Wednesday, 
247Sports reported that the 
Wolverines filled their second 
vacancy by hiring defensive 
line coach Shaun Nua from 
Arizona State. Nua spent the 
past season with the Sun Devils 
after five seasons at Navy, all as 
defensive line coach, making 
him a direct replacement for 
Mattison.
Now, 
three 
weeks 
after 
Harbaugh’s 
proclamation, 
the Wolverines may actually 
be done with their coaching 
changes. The one remaining 
void in the coaching staff is 
at wide receivers coach, after 
Jim McElwain left to become 
the head coach at Central 
Michigan before the Peach 
Bowl. 
However, 
Michigan 
is currently at its NCAA-
restricted 10-assistant limit, 
meaning any hiring would have 
to coincide with a departure or 
firing.
Gattis contract finalized
Michigan’s biggest offseason 
splash through three weeks has 
been its hiring of Josh Gattis 
from Alabama, where he was 
co-offensive coordinator and 
wide receivers coach. Gattis 
was hired as the Wolverines’ 
offensive 
coordinator 
and 
play caller — a first under 
Harbaugh, who had previously 
forgone a traditional play-
calling offensive coordinator.
Gattis has brought an air 
of excitement to Michigan’s 
offseason, promising a high-
flying modern offense, similar 
to what he left behind in 
Alabama.
Gattis’ contract, obtained 
by The Daily via a Freedom 
of Information Act request, 
runs three years with a base 
annual salary of $900,000, 
making him the Wolverines’ 
third-highest 
paid 
assistant 
after passing game coordinator 
Pep Hamilton and defensive 
coordinator Don Brown. He 
will also receive a signing 

bonus of $200,000 and could 
earn up to $400,000 per year in 
bonuses.
If Gattis leaves for another 
assistant coaching job before 
Jan. 10, 2020, he owes Michigan 
a $400,000 buy-out. That figure 
drops to $250,000 if he leaves 
between Jan. 10, 2020 and Dec. 
1, 2021. However, the buy-out 
will be voided if Gattis — who 
has never previously been a 
head coach — leaves for a head 
coaching job. The contract also 
permits him to freely interview 
with NFL teams.
Harbaugh offers seventh 
grader
One month after Michigan 
signed 25 players to its 2019 
recruiting 
class, 
Harbaugh 
extended another offer — this 
time to a quarterback who 
won’t graduate middle school 
until 2020, making him the 
first offer of the Wolverines’ 
2024 recruiting class.
Isaiah Marshall is just 13 
years old, making him the 
youngest recruit — and the 
second seventh grader — that 
Michigan has ever offered. 
He is the son of former 
Northwestern running back 
Brian Marshall, who currently 
coaches at Southfield A&T 
outside of Detroit.

“He’s pretty laid back and 
humble, we keep a controlled 
environment for the most part,” 
Brian told the Detroit Free 
Press. “He’s pretty grounded. 
My brothers and I have all 
played 
Division 
I 
football, 
we’ve been there. We have 
experience on our side. We 
control the social media thing.
“But I still remember the 
(recruiting) process. And we 
coach the kids through it now. 
He grew up watching Sam 
Johnson play high school and 
youth ball, he was the first 
middle school kid in Michigan 
to get an offer. So he’s seen the 
process. He’s not your normal 
kid when it comes to the 
distraction factor.” 
Because Marshall still has 
more than five years before he 
can graduate high school, this 
offer carries little practical 
meaning. 
The 
Wolverines 
offered 
linebacker 
Owen 
Pappoe — then an eighth 
grader — in 2015, but were not 
among his final choices when 
he ultimately committed to 
Auburn last month. However, 
it does show early interest and 
generate media and fan interest 
during a quiet time of year 
before National Signing Day in 
February.

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has now made three changes to his staff.

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer

“Anthony is 
an excellent 
addition to our 
coaching staff”

