It’s been quite the busy day for Nick Saban on the coaching personnel front.
First, Alabama confirmed the hiring of Karl Scott as secondary coach. Then, reports surfaced that Saban was swiping newly-hired Michigan assistant Dan Enos to be his new quarterbacks coach to replace Brian Daboll, the offensive coordinator who left his jobs at ‘Bama to take the same positions with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
To cap off the single-day staff shuffle, the Crimson Tide also confirmed previous reports that Josh Gattis has been hired as the new wide receivers coach. Gattis replaces Mike Locksley, who was promoted to coordinator as the replacement for Daboll.
“Josh Gattis is an outstanding addition to our coaching staff,” Saban said in a statement. “He is a sharp, young coach who did a great job at Penn State and Vanderbilt before that, and we believe he will bring great energy to our program. He is an excellent recruiter and knows what he is doing in terms of coaching wide receivers and building relationships with the players. We are happy to welcome his wife Tesa and their son Jace to the Crimson Tide program.”
Gattis had spent the past six seasons on James Franklin-led coaching staffs, the first two at Vanderbilt and the last four at Penn State. In addition to receivers coach, Gattis held the title of passing-game coordinator and assistant special teams coordinator with the Nittany Lions.
Prior to joining Franklin at Vandy, Gattis, who played his college football at Wake Forest, was the receivers coach at Western Michigan in 2011. His first job in the profession came the year before as an offensive graduate assistant at North Carolina.