Gregory Alexander Van Pelt (born May 1, 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 player who is the offensive coordinator for 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 (A ...

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 for the Cincinnati Bengals, Green Bay Packers,

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

and Buffalo Bills.

Playing career

College

Van Pelt attended 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 univers ...

, where he was a quarterback for the

Panthers Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **''Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards. ***Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in Sout ...

. When he graduated, Van Pelt held school passing records previously set by Dan Marino. His single-season mark of 3,163 passing yards in 1992 was broken in 2003 by Rod Rutherford. *1989: 192/347 for 2,881 yards with 17 touchdowns vs 12 interceptions. Ran for 4 touchdowns. *1990: 201/351 for 2,427 yards with 14 touchdowns vs 17 interceptions. Ran for 2 touchdowns. *1991: 227/398 for 2,796 yards with 15 touchdowns vs 14 interceptions. Ran for 1 touchdown. *1992: 245/407 for 3,163 yards with 20 touchdowns vs 17 interceptions.

Professional

Van Pelt was an eighth round draft pick of his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers, but was released during training camp. Van Pelt spent three games with the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

late in the 1993 NFL season following a hamstring injury to

Joe Montana Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", ...

. He was re-signed by the Chiefs prior to the 1994 NFL season, but was released during training camp. He was signed by the Buffalo Bills later in the 1994 season following a knee injury sustained by

Jim Kelly James Edward Kelly (born February 14, 1960) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He also spent two seasons with the Houston Gamblers of the United Stat ...

and spent the remainder of his career as a backup with the Bills. Van Pelt's first NFL win as a starter would come on November 2, 1997, against Dan Marino and 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 p ...

. In 2001, he started 8 games, going 2–6, and playing well enough to justify a contract extension that would allow the Bills to release failed

Doug Flutie Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CF ...

successor Rob Johnson. Van Pelt would not start any games after 2001 due to a Bills trade with the New England Patriots for

Drew Bledsoe Drew McQueen Bledsoe (born February 14, 1972) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football at Washington State, whe ...

, who became the full-time starting quarterback. Van Pelt remained with the team as Bledsoe's backup for the next two seasons before retiring. In his eleven-year career, Van Pelt totaled 16

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 ...

s and 24

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s on 477 pass attempts in 31 career appearances and 11 starts.

Broadcasting career

After retiring from football in 2004, Van Pelt was John Murphy's partner on Bills Radio Network broadcasts. He did

color commentary A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

for the

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

broadcast of all Bills games until the 2005 season.

Coaching career

University at Buffalo

Van Pelt was a volunteer winter

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

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

in 2005.

Frankfurt Galaxy

Van Pelt was the quarterbacks coach for the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe, the NFL's developmental league, in 2005, where he was responsible for all offensive play calling.

Buffalo Bills

On February 13, 2006, Van Pelt was hired by Buffalo Bills head coach

Dick Jauron Richard Manuel Jauron (born October 7, 1950) is a former American football player and coach. He played eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL), five with the Detroit Lions and three with the Cincinnati Bengals. Jauron served as the he ...

as offensive quality control coach. On January 16, 2008, the Bills promoted him to quarterbacks coach. On September 4, 2009, he was promoted again to offensive coordinator after Turk Schonert was fired. On January 4, 2010, Van Pelt, along with the rest of the Bills coaching staff, was fired following a 6–10 season.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Van Pelt was hired by the

as the quarterbacks coach on February 1, 2010. When Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris was fired on January 2, 2012, the whole staff was let go as well.

Green Bay Packers

Van Pelt was hired by the Packers as the running backs coach on February 13, 2012. On February 7, 2014, Van Pelt was promoted to quarterbacks coach and his contract expired on January 3, 2018.

Cincinnati Bengals

On January 12, 2018, Van Pelt was hired by the Cincinnati Bengals as their quarterbacks coach.

Cleveland Browns

On January 29, 2020, Van Pelt was hired by the

as their offensive coordinator under head coach Kevin Stefanski. Stefanski missed the team's wild card playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on January 10, 2021, and Van Pelt took over as offensive play caller for the game.

Personal life

Van Pelt lives in Cleveland, Ohio with his wife Brooke and their three children.

References

External links

Packers bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Pelt, Alex 1970 births Living people American radio sports announcers American football quarterbacks Buffalo Bills announcers Buffalo Bills coaches Buffalo Bills players Frankfurt Galaxy coaches National Football League announcers National Football League offensive coordinators Pittsburgh Panthers football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches Sportspeople from Pittsburgh Players of American football from San Antonio Sportspeople from San Antonio Cleveland Browns coaches