Jeff Grimes (born September 23, 1968) 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 with ...

coach who is currently the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

. He was previously the offensive coordinator at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

(BYU) from 2017 to 2020,

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 ...

's (LSU) offensive line coach and run game coordinator from 2014 to 2017, and the offensive line coach at both

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

in 2013 and

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

from 2009 to 2012. In addition, he was the

assistant head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

, run game coordinator and offensive line coach at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

from 2007 to 2008, BYU's offensive line coach from 2004 to 2006, offensive line coach and run game coordinator at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

(ASU) from 2001 to 2003, and offensive line coach at

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

(BSU) in 2000.

Playing career

Grimes earned four letters as an offensive tackle for the

University of Texas-El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stude ...

(UTEP)

Miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...

from 1987 to 1990. He was coached by

Marty Mornhinweg Marty Mornhinweg (born March 29, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who was a senior offensive consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was the offensive coordinator for the San Francis ...

(QB coach),

Dave Toub David Toub (born June 1, 1962) is an American football coach who is the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Playing career College Toub played offensive line at S ...

(strength coach),

Andy Reid Andrew Walter Reid (born March 19, 1958) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Reid was previously head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999 to 2012. From 200 ...

(offensive line coach), and

Dirk Koetter Dirk Jeffrey Koetter ( ; born February 5, 1959) is an American football coach who is currently serving as the interim offensive coordinator at Boise State University. He was the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football Lea ...

(offensive coordinator). Grimes was not drafted into 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), but had a brief professional career, participating in training camp with both the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

and the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

San Antonio Riders The San Antonio Riders were a professional American football team that played in the WLAF in 1991 and 1992. The team played at Alamo Stadium in San Antonio in 1991 and then were forced to move to Bobcat Stadium on the campus of Southwest Texas S ...

Coaching career

Early career

Grimes began coaching in 1993 as a high school coach at Riverside High School in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. After two years as the offensive coordinator and line coach there, he moved to the college ranks and started working as a graduate assistant under

Ken Hatfield Kenneth Wahl Hatfield (born June 6, 1943) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the United States Air Force Academy (1979–1983), the University of Arkansas (1984–1989), Clemson University (1 ...

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

in 1995. He spent the next two seasons in the same position under

R. C. Slocum Richard Copeland Slocum (born November 7, 1944), is a former American football player and coach. He served as the interim athletic director at Texas A&M University from January through June 2019, and previously served as the head football coach ...

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 ...

, while serving under line coach

Mike Sherman Michael Francis Sherman (born December 19, 1954) is an American gridiron football coach and former player who most recently was the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was the head coach of the Green B ...

, before receiving his first full-time college position in 1998 as offensive line coach at Hardin–Simmons, under Jimmie Keeling. The Cowboys were 21-2 during his tenure, averaged 39.4 points per game and reached the national semifinals in 1999.

Boise State

In 2000, Grimes was hired as the offensive line coach at BSU under his former college football coach, Koetter. Grimes worked alongside

Dan Hawkins Danny Clarence Hawkins (born November 10, 1960) is an American football coach at UC Davis. A former player and sportscaster, he served as the head football coach at Willamette University (1993–1997), Boise State University (2001–2005), and ...

. In the season at BSU, Grimes’ offensive line helped the Broncos lead the nation in scoring offense and accumulate 175 rushing yards per game.

Arizona State

In 2001, when Koetter was hired as the head coach at ASU, Grimes followed him to serve as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator. Grimes had great success at ASU, with four of the 2001 seniors drafted into the NFL (just the second time that had been done at any school since the NFL adopted the seven-round draft format in 1993). He helped orchestrate a solid rushing attack, tutoring Loren Wade to break the ASU freshman rushing record while leading the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

in yards per carry.

BYU

In 2004, Grimes was hired as the offensive line coach at BYU, under head coach

Gary Crowton David Gary Crowton (born June 14, 1957) is an American football coach. He is the offensive coordinator at Pine View High School in St. George, Utah, a position he has held since 2018. Crowton served as the head football coach at Louisiana Tec ...

. After Crowton resigned following the 2004 season, newly promoted head coach

Bronco Mendenhall Marc Bronco Clay Mendenhall (born February 21, 1966) is an American football coach who most recently coached at The University of Virginia. He stepped down after the 2021 season. Mendenhall joined Virginia in 2015 after spending the previous elev ...

decided to keep Grimes on his staff. Grimes' 2006 BYU linemen blocked for the nation's fourth best offense, averaging over 465 yards per game including 141.9 on the ground, and were a large part of the Cougars winning the MWC Championship. BYU finished 11–2 and ranked 15th in the Coaches' Poll.

Colorado

In February 2007, Grimes was hired as the assistant head coach, offensive line coach and run game coordinator at the University of Colorado, under head coach Hawkins. Grimes and Hawkins had previously worked together at BSU and Grimes also served with Colorado offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich at ASU.

Auburn

In January 2009, Grimes was hired by new head coach

Gene Chizik Eugene C. Chizik Jr. (born December 28, 1961) is an American football coach who is currently the Assistant Head Coach for Defense at North Carolina. A veteran of the coaching ranks, Chizik previously was UNC's defensive coordinator for the 2015 ...

to coach the offensive line at Auburn. After the 2010 season, Grimes was interviewed by

Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American college football coach. He is currently in his second stint as the head football coach for the University of North Carolina, where he first coached from 1988 until departing in 1997, whe ...

to become the new offensive line coach at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, where it was reported he would have become the highest paid coach at his position in the country. Ultimately, Grimes decided to stay at Auburn. At the end of the 2012 season, Chizik was fired by Auburn, with former offensive coordinator,

Gus Malzahn Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III (; born October 28, 1965) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at the University of Central Florida (UCF Knights football, UCF). He was the head football coach at Auburn University from 2013 t ...

, hired as head coach on December 4, 2012. Shortly after being hired, Malzahn announced that all assistant coaches were being released, thus ending Grimes' career at Auburn.

Virginia Tech

On January 18, 2013, Grimes was hired as the offensive line coach at

under head coach

Frank Beamer Franklin Mitchell Beamer (born October 18, 1946) is a retired American college football coach, most notably for the Virginia Tech Hokies, and former college football player. He is the father of current South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane ...

. Grimes was hired alongside offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach

Scot Loeffler Scot Loeffler (born November 1, 1974) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Bowling Green State University. He formerly served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Boston College. He was ...

(also formerly of Auburn) and wide receivers coach

Aaron Moorehead Aaron Matthew Moorehead (born November 5, 1980) is an American football coach and former player who is the wide receivers coach for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach at Va ...

(formerly of

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

LSU

In 2014, following Virginia Tech's 2013 bowl game, Grimes was named the offensive line coach at LSU, under head coach

Les Miles Leslie Edwin Miles (born November 10, 1953) is a former American football coach. He most recently served as the head coach at Kansas. His head coaching career began with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he coached from 2001 to 2004. Following t ...

, replacing Greg Studrawa. The news was unofficially released on January 15, 2014, and later confirmed by Virginia Tech's running backs coach,

Shane Beamer Shane Beamer (born March 31, 1977) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the head coach at the University of South Carolina. He is the son of former Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechni ...

BYU (second stint)

In December 2017, Grimes was named the offensive coordinator at BYU, under head coach

Kalani Sitake Kelaokalani Fifita "Kalani" Sitake (born October 10, 1975) is a Tongan–American football coach and former player. He has been the head football coach at Brigham Young University (BYU) since December 2015, and is the first Tongan to become a ...

, replacing

Ty Detmer Ty Hubert Detmer (born October 30, 1967) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He won the Heisman Trophy in 1990 while playing college football for the BYU Cougars. Detme ...

. During his tenure at BYU, Grimes developed BYU quarterback

Zach Wilson Zachary Kapono Wilson (born August 3, 1999) is an American football quarterback for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at BYU, where he was a two-time bowl game MVP, and was selected second over ...

, who threw for a career-high 3,692 passing yards, 33 touchdowns and 3 interceptions with a passer rating of 196.4 in 2020. That season, Grimes' offense ranked 3rd nationally in scoring offense (43.5 PPG) and was the leader in yards per play (7.84).

Baylor

On January 4, 2021, Grimes was named the offensive coordinator at Baylor under head coach Dave Aranda, replacing

Larry Fedora Herbert Lawrence Fedora (born September 10, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who is the former coach and general manager for the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League (USFL). He previously served as head c ...

Bowl games

Grimes has coached in seven bowl games: the 2000 Aloha Bowl, 2002 Holiday Bowl, 2005 Las Vegas Bowl,

2006 Las Vegas Bowl The 2006 Las Vegas Bowl was an NCAA-sanctioned Division I post-season college football bowl game between the Brigham Young University Cougars and the Oregon Ducks. The game was played on December 22, 2006, starting at 5 p.m. PST at 40,000-seat ...

, 2007 Independence Bowl, 2010 Outback Bowl,

2011 BCS National Championship Game The 2011 Tostitos BCS National Championship Game was a college football bowl game to determine the national champion of the 2010 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) season. The finale of the 2010–2011 Bowl Championship Series was p ...

and the 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl.

Personal life

Grimes graduated from UTEP in 1991 with a

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 education, and earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in education administration from

in 1997, while serving as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respons ...

. Grimes is married to Sheri Hermesmeyer-Grimes, a former Aggies volleyball player, and they are the parents of four children.

References

External links

Auburn Tigers bio

Colorado Buffaloes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grimes, Jeff 1968 births Living people American football offensive tackles Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches Auburn Tigers football coaches Boise State Broncos football coaches BYU Cougars football coaches Colorado Buffaloes football coaches LSU Tigers football coaches Rice Owls football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches UTEP Miners football players Players of American football from Garland, Texas