Douglas Keith Nussmeier (born December 11, 1970) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who is the

quarterbacks coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach at

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

and

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. Nussmeier has also previously served as quarterbacks coach for the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

Ottawa Renegades The Ottawa Renegades were a Canadian Football League franchise based in Ottawa, Ontario founded in 2002, six years after the storied Ottawa Rough Riders folded. After four seasons, the Renegades franchise was suspended indefinitely by the league d ...

and

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

Early years

Born in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, Nussmeier is a 1989 graduate of

Lakeridge High School Lakeridge High School is a four-year public secondary school in Lake Oswego, Oregon, a suburb south of Portland. The second high school in the Lake Oswego School District, it first opened in 1971. Academics In 1987, Lakeridge High School was hon ...

Lake Oswego Lake Oswego () is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located about south of Portland and surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town w ...

, a suburb south of Portland. He did not start at quarterback for the Pacers football team until his senior season.

Playing career

College

Though he followed Pac-10 quarterbacks

Erik Wilhelm Erik Bradley Wilhelm (born November 19, 1965), is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) from 1989 to 1997. He played college football for four years with the Oregon State Bea ...

and Jason Palumbis at Lakeridge, the left-handed Nussmeier was not recruited by the He played college football at

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

under John L. Smith, and won the

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

Walter Payton Award The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports ...

, presented annually to the

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

player of the year. That year, Nussmeier threw a school-record 33

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

passes, leading the Vandals to an record and the national During his final two seasons at Idaho ( 1992– 93), the offensive coordinator was

Scott Linehan Scott Thomas Linehan (born September 17, 1963) is an American football coach who currently works as an offensive analyst for Missouri. He was most recently the passing game coordinator for LSU. He was previously the head coach of the St. Louis ...

, later an NFL offensive coordinator and head coach. Linehan was the Vandals' starting quarterback for three seasons (

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

– 86). A four-year starter at quarterback, Nussmeier succeeded

John Friesz John Melvin "Deep" Friesz (pronounced "Freeze") (born May 19, 1967) is a former professional football player, a quarterback in the National Football League for four teams. Selected in the 1990 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers, he later playe ...

, another

winner in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

, Nussmeier's

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after ...

season. As a fifth-year senior in 1993, Nussmeier had a QB rating of 172.2 - completing 185-of-304 throws (.609) for 2,960 yards and a school-record 33 touchdowns. Nussmeier still ranks among the NCAA I-AA all-time leaders in passing (No. 9 with 10,824 career yards) and total offense (No. 10 at 309.1 yards per game). He is one of only five quarterbacks in NCAA history to throw for at least 10,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards (1,230), joining Alcorn State's

Steve McNair Stephen LaTreal McNair (February 14, 1973 – July 4, 2009),Steve McNair Found Dead
...

(1991–94), Central Florida's

Daunte Culpepper Daunte Rachard Culpepper (born January 28, 1977) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Minnesota Vikings. He played college football at UCF and was selected ...

(1996–98), Central Michigan's Dan LeFevour (2006–09), and Nevada's

Colin Kaepernick Colin Rand Kaepernick ( ; born November 3, 1987) is an American civil rights activist and football quarterback who is a free agent. He played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League (NFL). In 2016, he knelt du ...

(2007–10). Nussmeier set Vandal career records for passing yards, TD passes (91), passing efficiency (175.2), completion percentage (.609, 746-1,225) and total offense (12,054 yards; 308.4 yards per game). Nussmeier earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in business from the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

in 1994.

National Football League

Nussmeier was selected by the Saints in the

fourth round Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

of the

1994 NFL Draft The 1994 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1994, at the Marriott Ma ...

, 116th overall. He was the fourth quarterback selected, behind first round selections

Heath Shuler Joseph Heath Shuler (born December 31, 1971) is an American businessman, former NFL quarterback, and former U.S. Representative for from 2007 to 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition during ...

and

Trent Dilfer Trent Farris Dilfer (born March 13, 1972) is a former American football quarterback and analyst who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He is best known as the starting quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens during their Su ...

. Nussmeier was a reserve

in the NFL for five seasons in the mid-1990s, spending four years with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

(

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

– 97) and one with the Indianapolis Colts (

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

). Over his NFL career, he saw playing time in eight regular-season games, throwing for 455 yards, 1 touchdown and 4 interceptions.NFL.com
- statistics - Doug Nussmeier In

, Nussmeier spent part of training camp with the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

, but was released prior to the regular season and picked up by the Colts. He is one of only 32 left-handed quarterbacks to play in the NFL.

Canadian Football League

Nussmeier finished his playing career with the

of the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, and stayed with the organization as the quarterbacks coach for 2001.

Coaching career

Early career

After coaching the quarterbacks for the BC Lions in 2001, he became the quarterbacks coach and de facto offensive coordinator of the

in 2002.

Michigan State

In 2003, Nussmeier was hired as the quarterbacks coach at

under his college head coach, John L. Smith. He would serve in this role for three seasons ( 2003- 05).

St. Louis Rams

In 2006, Nussmeier was hired by the

as their quarterbacks coach under head coach

for the

for two seasons ( 2006– 07).

Fresno State

Nussmeier was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at

for a season in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Washington

Nussmeier was hired in the same capacity at

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in early 2009 under new head coach Steve Sarkisian. His annual salary at UW was just under $300,000.

Alabama

In January

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, Nussmeier became the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of ...

under head coach replacing outgoing coordinator

Jim McElwain James Frank McElwain (born March 1, 1962) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Central Michigan University. He previously served as the head coach at Florida from 2015 to 2017, and Colorado State from 2012 to 2014, wh ...

, the new head coach at Colorado State. Under Nussmeier's guidance in 2012, junior quarterback

A. J. McCarron Raymond Anthony "A. J." McCarron Jr. (born September 13, 1990) is an American football quarterback for the St. Louis BattleHawks of the XFL. He previously played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. McCarron played college ...

set the school record for touchdowns in a season with 26. McCarron threw an additional four touchdowns in the national championship game against Notre Dame in a victory, which allowed McCarron to set another school record for career touchdown passes.

Michigan

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, Nussmeier was hired at

in Ann Arbor on January 9, following the firing of offensive coordinator

Al Borges Alan Anthony Borges (born October 8, 1955) is an American football coach. Borges is known for quarterback development having mentored Cade McNown and Jason Campbell, both first round NFL draft picks. Borges has been described as "one of the best o ...

Florida

Michigan head coach

Brady Hoke Brady Patrick Hoke (; born November 3, 1958) is an American football coach in his second stint as the head coach at San Diego State University. He was previously the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2011 to 2014. Hoke grew up in O ...

was fired after that season on December 2, and Nussmeier was hired at

in Gainesville a few weeks later, on the staff of new head coach In his third season with the Gators in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, McElwain was fired in late October and Nussmeier was let go a month later.

Dallas Cowboys

On February 14, 2018, Nussmeier was hired by the

as their tight ends coach under head coach

Jason Garrett Jason Calvin Garrett (born March 28, 1966) is a former American football player and coach and current broadcaster. He previously served as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for the 2010s from 2010-2019. Garrett has also been offensive coordi ...

and offensive coordinator

; all three are former quarterbacks, as is then-quarterbacks coach

Jon Kitna Jon Kelly Kitna (born September 21, 1972) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Seattle Seahawks, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Central Washington ...

. In 2020, Nussmeier was retained by the Cowboys under new head coach

Mike McCarthy Michael John McCarthy (born November 10, 1963) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). From 2006 to 2018, he was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. In 2011, he led t ...

, being promoted to quarterbacks coach.

References

External links

Dallas Cowboys bio

Idaho Vandals Hall of Fame bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nussmeier, Doug 1970 births Living people American people of German descent American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches BC Lions coaches BC Lions players Dallas Cowboys coaches Florida Gators football coaches Fresno State Bulldogs football coaches Idaho Vandals football players Indianapolis Colts players Lakeridge High School alumni Michigan State Spartans football coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches New Orleans Saints players Ottawa Renegades coaches Players of American football from Oregon Rhein Fire players Sportspeople from Lake Oswego, Oregon Sportspeople from Portland, Oregon St. Louis Rams coaches Walter Payton Award winners Washington Huskies football coaches