MARCH 2022
THE WOLVERINE 9
INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS
Mike Macdonald Left The Bigger Shoes To Fill By Chris Balas
Last year's offensive boss, Josh Gattis, won the Broyles Award
as the nation's top assistant and did a great job for Jim Har-
baugh. He helped mold the offense in Harbaugh's image —
outstanding run game, very physical, limited turnovers — but
it was really Harbaugh's offense. It resembled those he ran at
Stanford, only he used tight ends as lead
blockers instead of fullbacks.
Defensive boss Mike Macdonald
should have been considered for the
Broyles, too. He took a unit that finished
95th in scoring defense (34.5 points per
game) to eighth (17.4), developed a
versatile attack with multiple looks and
played to his players' strengths.
Yes, it helped that he had a pair of elite
edge rushers in Aidan Hutchinson and
David Ojabo, but he picked his spots on
the blitzes perfectly. More than anything, though, Macdonald
brought a game plan to beat Ohio State, and the Wolverines
executed it beautifully. They held the Buckeyes to 27 points by
limiting them in the red zone, a huge part of his defensive suc-
cess during the year. Michigan was 11th nationally in opponent
red-zone touchdown percentage (45.71).
Macdonald will be missed, but new defensive boss Jesse
Minter is familiar with his system. That helps.
Josh Gattis Will Be Missed The Most By Clayton Sayfie
While we're not discounting what Mike Macdonald did in his
one season at Michigan, Josh Gattis will be tougher to replace
after the Wolverines ran his system for three seasons.
Once his offense was off and running in 2019, the squad
threw for more than 300 yards in three straight games to
conclude the regular season. The 2020
campaign was abysmal across the board,
thanks in no small part to a lack of prac-
tice time, injuries along the offensive line
and wide receiver Nico Collins' opt-out.
The system bounced back to really
flourish in 2021, culminating in Gattis
winning the Broyles Award. The Wolver-
ines averaged 35.8 points per game and
scored 42 in two of the biggest tilts of
the campaign — wins over Ohio State to
end the regular season and over Iowa in
the Big Ten championship game.
U-M's prolific run attack, which averaged 214.4 yards per
game, allowed Gattis to get creative with flea flickers, end-
arounds and the like. That kept opponents guessing and re-
sulted in 17 plays of 50-plus yards (second-most in the country).
The Maize and Blue can absolutely thrive post-Gattis, but it's
going to take a lot of work to get the unit to the level at which
he had it humming in 2021.
POINT ❙ COUNTERPOINT
WHICH COORDINATOR IS THE TOUGHEST TO REPLACE?
MACDONALD GATTIS
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