Why is Clemson where it is today?

Sure, Dabo Swinney’s great. The recruiting is great. The culture there is obviously great.

But what a lot of people don’t talk about are the assistant coaches. Clemson has great ones. And, that’s an understatement. The program knows it and that’s why it pays big money to keep its coaches where they are.

When a program has the same head coach and assistant coaches at it for a long time, something special can build. And, that’s exactly what Clemson has done.

Over the offseason, a number of assistants from across the country got offered promotions thanks to the job that they were doing. Josh Gattis, the former Alabama co-offensive coordinator, switched over to Michigan to become the official offensive coordinator.

That move has people buzzing. Not only is Michigan the favorite to win the Big Ten this year, but Gattis appears to want to open up the Wolverines’ offense and utilize their athletes in a different, perhaps better way.

RELATED: Players describe Michigan’s offense in one word, ‘fast’

On Wednesday, Football Scoop wrote out its list of the 19 most important assistant coaching hires in the country. At No. 1, was Gattis:

“This isn’t Harbaugh trying to fit a square peg into a round hole,” Football Scoop wrote. “If anything, it’s the opposite — it’s Harbaugh ditching the square peg and trying a round one instead. This should work. Gattis will be (Shea) Patterson’s sixth offensive coordinator in as many years, but Gattis’s offense is probably most aligned with Patterson’s skill set than any of the five that came before. So, yeah, this should work. And if it does, you’ve finally got a Michigan team that can deliver on the promise Harbaugh made when he strode in from San Francisco four years ago, to return Michigan to the promised land. In short, this has to work.”

We’ll get to see just how Michigan’s offense will look on Aug. 31 at home against Middle Tennessee.