James Franklin coaching against familiar face in former Penn State assistant, Maryland OC Josh Gattis

Whenever James Franklin visits Maryland, he is greeted with a sense of familiarity.

Franklin spent eight years on the Terrapins’ coaching staff over two stints, from 2000-04 and 2008-10. He and current Maryland coach Mike Locksley were assistants together in the early 2000s. Franklin said he got his “first big break” in the profession while coaching with the Terps.

On top of all that, Franklin will see another familiar face when he returns to College Park this weekend: Josh Gattis, Maryland’s offensive coordinator and a former Penn State assistant.

“I know Josh very well,” Franklin said in his Tuesday news conference. “Josh is running the offense, and he’s doing a great job.”

Just as Franklin got his at Maryland, it could be argued Penn State’s coach gave Gattis his first big break more than a decade ago.

Gattis, at the time an assistant at Western Michigan, was hired by Franklin and Vanderbilt in 2012. Gattis was the wide receivers coach for the Commodores for two years. When Franklin took the Penn State job in 2014, Gattis followed him to Happy Valley.

Gattis served as the Nittany Lions’ wide receivers coach for four seasons. He recruited Jahan Dotson and KJ Hamler, mentored Chris Godwin and DaeSean Hamilton and had a hand in Penn State winning the 2016 Big Ten championship. Gattis was a key staffer early on in helping build the program into what it is today with Franklin at the helm.

Gattis left after the 2017 season when Ricky Rahne was promoted to replace Mississippi State-bound Joe Moorhead as Penn State’s offensive coordinator. He spent the 2018 season as Alabama’s receivers coach, linking up with Locksley, who was the offensive coordinator. Gattis helped develop future first-round picks DeVonta Smith, Jerry Jeudy and Jaylen Waddle.

Then, he joined Michigan. Gattis called plays for the Wolverines from 2019-21, winning the Broyles Award as college football’s top assistant coach in 2021. Michigan beat Ohio State, won the Big Ten and reached the College Football Playoff for the first time that season.

Gattis’ one-year stint as Miami’s OC didn’t work out in 2022, leading him to be fired. In March, he was hired by Locksley to run Maryland’s offense. And the Terps are playing well.

Maryland is averaging 32.6 points per game, third best in the Big Ten behind Michigan and Penn State. Taulia Tagovailoa is leading the conference in passing yards (2,200) and passing touchdowns (19). And the Terps have three productive wideouts: Jeshaun Jones, Tai Felton and Kaden Prather, a West Virginia transfer who Penn State pursued in the portal.

Franklin won’t stare across the field on Saturday and see Gattis. He calls plays from the booth. But the two will be plenty familiar with each other when Penn State and Maryland square off.

“We know them, but they know us, as well,” Franklin said, asked if Maryland’s offense is any different with Gattis running the show. “… We have an awareness of who Josh is. I think it’s similar to what Maryland has done. It’s probably one of the big reasons why Locks hired him. There’s familiarity there. They don’t have to change the offense and hire a new coordinator to come in. They can build on what they’re currently doing.

“There’s, obviously, things in Josh’s personality and philosophy that are probably magnified, and other areas that are probably decreased based on the previous coordinators, so on and so forth. So it’s a little bit of both. We know him, and he knows us.”