James Coley (born April 14, 1973) is an American football coach who is currently the Wide Receivers coach at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. He was previously the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

Coley, a

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

native who played quarterback at

Miami Senior High School Miami Senior High School, also known as Miami High School, is a public high school located at 2450 SW 1st Street in Miami, Florida, and operated by Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Founded in 1903, it is one of the oldest high school in Miami- ...

and worked in 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) as an offensive assistant and quality control coach with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

, has coached some of the top talent in college football at the high school, college and pro levels. His coaching résumé includes stops at 2003 National Champion Louisiana State University and 2002 Florida 6A State Champion Miami Norland Senior High School, in addition to his experiences with the Dolphins. Coley was labelled and considered the

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

top recruiter by ESPN recruiting. Coley is considered to be an ace recruiter in the talent-rich South Florida area. He was also named the top recruiter in the conference.

Coaching career

High school

Coley spent six years as a high school coach in Miami before moving to the college ranks. He was a quarterback coach at

for three seasons, where he worked with future

Miami Hurricanes football The Miami Hurricanes football team represents the University of Miami in college football. The Hurricanes compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Coastal Division of the Atlanti ...

stars

Andre Johnson Andre Lamont Johnson (born July 11, 1981) is a former American football wide receiver who played most of his 14-year career with the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Miami, and was drafted by ...

and

Roscoe Parrish Roscoe Parrish (born July 16, 1982) is a former American football wide receiver and kick returner. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in the second round (55th overall) of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college foo ...

. He then moved on to Miami Norland Senior High School, where he was the assistant head coach and the offensive coordinator. At Miami Norland he coached future college stars

Dwayne Bowe Dwayne Lorenzo Bowe (born September 21, 1984) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Louisiana State University, and was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played ...

(LSU), Kareem Brown (UM), Alexander Bostic III (FIU), and Antwan Barnes (FIU). Coley won the 2002 class 6A state title in his last year at Miami Norland.

LSU

Coley's college coaching career started at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

(LSU) in 2003, where he was an offensive graduate assistant under offensive coordinator

Jimbo Fisher John James "Jimbo" Fisher Jr. (born October 9, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies Football, Texas A&M Aggies. Previously, Fisher was the head coach at Florida State Seminol ...

for two seasons. Coley and LSU won the national championship in his first year there, winning the Capital One Bowl in his second year.

Miami Dolphins

Coley joined LSU head coach

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins ...

on the

coaching staff as an offensive assistant when Saban was hired by the Dolphins prior to the 2005 season. Coley left the Dolphins after the 2006 season when Saban bolted unexpectedly to the University of Alabama.

FIU

Coley spent one season as offensive coordinator at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...

under head coach

Mario Cristobal Mario Manuel Cristobal (born September 24, 1970) is head football coach of the Miami Hurricanes football team at the University of Miami. Cristobal previously was the head football coach at Florida International University (FIU) from 2007 to 20 ...

and completely revamped the FIU offense. Through the first six contests of the season, Florida International's schedule featured five bowl teams from 2006. With Coley installing his new offense, the Golden Panthers scored a total of 44 points and averaged 211.7 yards of offense per game but that all changed in the second half of the season. In its final six games FIU's offense scored 137 points and averaged 327.7 yards per game. On top of more than tripling its points scored in the second half of the year, Coley's ground game almost doubled its output (85.5 ypg to 152.7 ypg) and the passing offense increased by almost 39% (126.2 ypg to 175.0 ypg).

Florida State

Coley was hired by FSU head coach

Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...

on February 21, 2008. Coley was reunited with former boss at LSU,

. Coley was hired to coach the TEs and to be the new recruiting coordinator at FSU. Coley spent five seasons on the FSU staff, all 5 as the TE coach, and gave up the RC title in 2010 when he was promoted to OC.

Dameyune Craig Dameyune Vashon Craig (born April 19, 1974) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the Quarterbacks coach at the Texas A&M University. Craig played professionally as quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) f ...

became the new RC. In 2010, Jimbo Fisher was promoted to head coach after Bobby Bowden retired, Fisher promoted Coley to offensive coordinator, though Fisher would still be calling the plays. Coley was known as one of FSU's top recruiters, helping them bring in top recruiting classes nearly every season he was on staff, including back-to-back top 10 classes in 2008 and 2009, the number 1 overall class in the 2011, and the 2nd overall class in 2012 according to ESPN

Miami (FL)

The Miami Hurricanes offered Coley the role of offensive coordinator with full play-calling duty on January 24, 2013. When

Al Golden Alfred James Golden Jr. (born July 4, 1969) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He is a former head coach at Temple from 2006 to 2010. He has also served for five years as defensive ...

, the Hurricanes' head coach, was fired, Coley left the Hurricanes for the University of Georgia.

Georgia

Coley was hired by

Mark Richt Mark Allan Richt (born February 18, 1960) is a retired American football head coach, former player, and television analyst. He was the head football coach at the University of Georgia for 15 years and at the University of Miami, his alma mater, ...

's replacement at Georgia,

Kirby Smart Kirby Paul Smart (born December 23, 1975) is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach of the Georgia Bulldogs, his alma mater. He coached the 2021 Bulldogs to a national championship victory, their fi ...

, on January 3, 2016, to be the program's new wide receivers coach. On January 11, 2019, following the departure of former Georgia offensive coordinator

Jim Chaney James Allen Chaney (born January 12, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who is an offensive analyst for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. He previously served as an offensive analyst for the New Orleans Saints of the National F ...

, he was promoted to offensive coordinator following the 2018 season. After a season where the Bulldogs struggled to create explosive plays and ranked 61st in total offense, Coley was relieved of his coordinator duties and was given the title of assistant head coach.

Texas A&M

About a week after his demotion, Coley was named the tight ends coach at

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

References

External links

Texas A&M Aggies bio

Miami Hurricanes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coley, James 1973 births Living people FIU Panthers football coaches Florida State Seminoles football coaches Georgia Bulldogs football coaches LSU Tigers football coaches Miami Hurricanes football coaches Miami Dolphins coaches Sports coaches from Miami