Noel Scott Mazzone (born March 21, 1957) 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 and former player who is 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 ...

and quarterbacks coach for the New Orleans Breakers of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL). He is former

at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

Early life and playing career

Mazzone grew up in

Raton, New Mexico Raton ( ) is a city and the county seat of Colfax County, New Mexico, Colfax County in northeastern New Mexico. The city is located just south of Raton Pass. The city is also located about 6.5 miles south of the New Mexico–Colorado border and 85 ...

and went on to play

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

as a

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 ...

under coach

Bill Mondt William E. Mondt (born c. 1936) is a former American football player and coach. He played college football as a linebacker and offensive guard for the Colorado Buffaloes from 1956 to 1958 and was the head coach of the New Mexico Lobos from 1974 to ...

at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

from 1975 to 1979.

Coaching career

After graduation, Mazzone started his coaching career 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 ...

at New Mexico under head coach

Joe Morrison Joseph R. Morrison (August 21, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was an American football player and coach. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants from 1959 to 1972. Morrison served as the head footbal ...

who had succeeded Mondt in 1980. Mazzone also spent one season (1981) at Boulder High School, coaching future University of Colorado greats Tom Gebhardt and Eric McCarty. In 1982, Mazzone received his first full-time position, coaching quarterbacks and receivers under

Leon Fuller Robert Leon Fuller (July 28, 1938) is a former American football coach. He served as head coach of the Colorado State college football program from 1982 to 1988. Fuller also served as defensive coordinator for the Texas Texas (, ; Sp ...

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

. After 5 years at CSU, Mazzone was hired away by

Jim Wacker James Herbert Wacker (April 28, 1937 – August 26, 2003) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Texas Lutheran University (1971–1975), North Dakota State University (1976–1 ...

to serve as quarterbacks coach at Texas Christian. When Wacker left TCU for the head coaching position at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1992, Mazzone followed Wacker to serve the same position with the

Gophers Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They are ...

. In 1995, Mazzone was hired as

Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville ( ; born September 18, 1954) is an American retired college football coach and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Alabama since 2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football co ...

, who had just become head coach at Ole Miss. Tuberville left Ole Miss for

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

in 1999, taking Mazzone with him. However, after the 2001 season Tuberville chose to replace Mazzone with

Bobby Petrino Robert Patrick Petrino (born March 10, 1961) is an American football coach. He currently serves as the Offensive Coordinator for the Texas A&M Aggies. He is the former head coach for the Missouri State Bears. Previously, he served as the head coa ...

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

head coach

Dennis Erickson Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football league. He was also the head coach at the University of Idaho ( ...

then hired Mazzone as offensive coordinator for the 2002 season. When Erickson left the collegiate ranks to coach the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

, Mazzone chose to remain in college football, becoming offensive coordinator under

Chuck Amato Charles Michael Amato (born June 26, 1946) is a former American football coach and former player. He was most recently the defensive coordinator for the Akron Zips football team. He served as the head football at North Carolina State Universi ...

North Carolina State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

, where he coached

Philip Rivers Philip Michael Rivers (born December 8, 1981) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Chargers franchise. He played college football at NC State and was sele ...

, who would be the fourth overall pick in the

2004 NFL Draft The 2004 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, 2004 at the Theater at ...

. In January 2005, Mazzone returned to Ole Miss to serve as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under head coach

Ed Orgeron Edward James Orgeron Jr. (; born July 27, 1961) is an American football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at Louisiana State University (LSU), a position he held from midway through the 2016 season until the 2021 season. Orger ...

. He was fired as offensive coordinator at the end of the 2005 season but remained an employee at Ole Miss for contractual reasons. In 2006, Mazzone took his first position in the NFL when new head coach

Eric Mangini Eric Anthony Mangini (born January 19, 1971) is a former American football coach and current television sports analyst. Mangini had been with the San Francisco 49ers since 2013 and served as the team's tight ends coach for two seasons before b ...

hired him as

wide receivers 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 coordinator, offensive and Defensive c ...

for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

. Mangini was fired by the Jets following the 2008 season and Mazzone's contract with the Jets was allowed to expire. In January 2009, Mazzone was under consideration by

Randy Shannon Randy Leonard Shannon (born February 24, 1966) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator for the Florida State Seminoles football program. Shannon was the head coach at th ...

for the vacant position as offensive coordinator for the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

, and in February of that year was under consideration by

Dave Wannstedt David Wannstedt (born May 21, 1952) is a former American football coach. He has been the head coach of the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He was also the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh footbal ...

as offensive coordinator for the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

. He was also being considered for the job coaching quarterbacks under Mangini with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

. But, instead of going to coach for any college he decided to assume the duties of offensive coordinator for Panther Creek High School in

Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh–Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 Census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh largest muni ...

under Wayne Bragg. On January 4, 2010, he was hired as offensive 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 ...

, where he was reunited with Dennis Erickson, who he previously worked under at Oregon State University. In 2012, it was announced that Mazzone would be joining

Jim L. Mora James Lawrence Mora (born November 19, 1961) is an American football coach who is the head coach at the University of Connecticut. Before that, he was the head coach of the UCLA Bruins of the Pac-12 Conference from 2012 to 2017. Prior to takin ...

's coaching staff at UCLA as offensive coordinator. On January 8, 2016, Mazzone left UCLA, and joined

Kevin Sumlin Kevin Warren Sumlin (born August 3, 1964) is an American football coach who is the head coach and general manager for the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League (USFL). Sumlin served as the head football coach at the University of ...

's staff at Texas A&M as their offensive coordinator. On January 14, 2018, it was announced that Mazzone left Texas A&M, and joined with his son Taylor and

's staff at Arizona as their offensive coordinator. UConn director of athletics David Benedict announced on Wednesday September 15, 2021 that they have hired longtime offensive coach Noel Mazzone as an offensive analyst. His duties include “providing support to this interim head coach and offensive coordinator.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzone, Noel 1957 births Living people American football quarterbacks Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches Arizona Wildcats football coaches Auburn Tigers football coaches Colorado State Rams football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches New Mexico Lobos football players New Mexico Lobos football coaches NC State Wolfpack football coaches New York Jets coaches Ole Miss Rebels football coaches Oregon State Beavers football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches TCU Horned Frogs football coaches UCLA Bruins football coaches High school football coaches in North Carolina People from Mount Vernon, Washington People from Raton, New Mexico New Orleans Breakers (2022) coaches