Biographical details | |
---|---|
Born | January 6, 1967 |
Playing career | |
1985 | Ohio |
1987–1989 | Baldwin–Wallace |
Position(s) | Quarterback |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
1991–1992 | Indiana (GA) |
1993–1995 | Rhode Island (DB) |
1996–1999 | Northern Illinois (DB) |
2000–2003 | Northern Illinois (DC) |
2004 | Illinois (DB) |
2005–2006 | Western Michigan (DC) |
2007 | Stanford (AHC/DC) |
2008 | Michigan (DC) |
2009–2010 | Syracuse (DC) |
2011 | Syracuse (DC/DB) |
2012 | Syracuse (DC) |
2013–2015 | Syracuse |
2017–2023 | Middle Tennessee (DC/S) |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 14–23 |
Bowls | 1–0 |
Scott Shafer (born January 6, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He has served as the defensive coordinator for the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders. Previously, he served as the head coach at Syracuse University until November 2015. [1]
He was a high school and college quarterback in Ohio at Riverside High School, Ohio University, and Baldwin-Wallace College. He has held various positions including defensive coordinator, assistant head coach, and secondary coach at major universities such as the University of Rhode Island, Northern Illinois University, [2] the University of Illinois, [3] Western Michigan University, [4] Stanford University, University of Michigan, [5] and Syracuse University. He was officially named the head coach of Syracuse on January 9, 2013.
Shafer's father, Ron, was a high school football and track coach at Riverside High School in Painesville, Ohio. His father died at age 53 after coaching 28 years at Riverside High. [6] As an Ohio native, Shafer attended school in Painesville, Ohio where he received his high school diploma in 1985. He attended Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, where he received his bachelor's degree in education in 1990. [7] He went on to study at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he was awarded a master's degree in education in 1993.
Shafer played football for Riverside High School, Ohio University, and Baldwin–Wallace College. While at Riverside, he played quarterback and was the 1984 Northeastern Conference Most Valuable Player. [6] He went on to play quarterback at Ohio University in the Mid-American Conference. During the 1985 season, he suffered a knee injury that required him to have surgery and miss the remainder of the season. [8] [9]
After the 1985 season, Shafer transferred to Baldwin–Wallace College, where he played quarterback for the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets from 1987 to 1989. Playing in the Yellow Jackets' run and shoot offense, Shafer was ranked 17th in the nation in passing efficiency and earned team MVP honors. [7] In 1989, he led the Yellow Jackets to a 5–2–1 record. In the final game of the 1989 season, Shafer was 16-for-31 passing for 237 yards and three touchdowns, throwing a 55-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Wrobel with 2:52 left to play for a 25–19 win over previously unbeaten John Carroll. [10] [11] He finished the 1989 season with a 139.39 passing efficiency rating, best in the Ohio Athletic Conference. [12]
Shafer has held numerous positions within Division I colleges, including the University of Rhode Island, Northern Illinois University, [2] the University of Illinois, [3] Western Michigan University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and Syracuse University.
Shafer began his coaching career as a graduate assistant to Bill Mallory at Indiana University from 1991 to 1992. [13] For the 1991 season, the team finished with a 7 and 4 record with 1 tie. The team also graduated a first round pick in Vaughn Dunbar who was taken 21st overall by the New Orleans Saints in the 1992 NFL draft. [14] Shafer also earned his master's degree from in Education from the university while coaching football. [15] He next coached the secondary at the University of Rhode Island from 1993-1995. [15]
Shafer spent eight years as an assistant coach at Northern Illinois University, the first four as secondary coach, [16] before adding defensive coordinator duties to his resume in 2000. [17] Throughout his career at Northern Illinois, Shafer's players earned 13 All-MAC selections. [7] and the team was ranked among the top three teams in MAC scoring defense in 2002 and 2003. [15] His 2002 unit led the MAC in interceptions, takeaways, scoring defense, run defense and pass sacks. [15] During the 2003 season, Northern Illinois was ranked as high as No. 12 in the AP poll, recorded its first 10-win season in 20 years, and had three victories over BCS teams while holding them to an average of 15 points per game. [7] The team started 7-0 with victories over Maryland, Alabama, and Iowa State. [2] During his time with the Huskie Football Program, Shafer also spent time with the local community including speaking at numerous coaching clinics. [18]
Shafer was hired as the secondary coach at the University of Illinois in 2004, after four straight winning seasons with Northern Illinois. [3] Working with Illinois head coach Ron Turner, Shafer coached cornerback Kelvin Hayden, who led the Big Ten Conference in interceptions and was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the second round of the NFL Draft. [15] While Shafer was coaching at Illinois, the team's defensive coordinator was former Michigan linebacker, Mike Mallory who also worked with Shafer at Northern Illinois. Mallory noted that Shafer's experience as a quarterback helped him as a defensive coach: "He knows how to get into quarterbacks' heads and what to do to throw them off their game." [19]
In December 2004, he was hired by Bill Cubit at Western Michigan University, where he was the defensive coordinator from 2005-2006. Western Michigan was 1-10 the year before Shafer arrived, then went 7-4 in 2005 and 8-5 in 2006. In 2006, the Broncos ranked first in the nation in interceptions (24) and sacks (46), sixth in run defense, seventh in turnover margin and 11th in total defense. The Broncos' rush defense (76.1 yards per game) in 2006 set a MAC record for fewest rushing yards allowed per game. Shafer was a nominee for the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in the nation. [7] He also coached two players who won the MAC West Division Player of the Week. Ammer Ismail and Dustin Duclo won the award twice in 2005 and Ismail was named to the First-Team All-MAC Defense. In 2005, his defense forced 13 fumbles and intercepted 15 passes. [4]
Jim Harbaugh was hired as the head coach of the Stanford Cardinal in December 2006. As part of his coaching staff, he hired Shafer as the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. Harbaugh was quoted as saying Shafer being "one of the most creative and innovative defensive minds in college football." [9] While at Stanford, he was part of the Cardinal's October 6, 2007, upset of USC. The Trojans were favored in the game by 41 points but the Cardinal scored a touchdown in the final minute to win the game 24-23. The upset was considered by some to be the greatest upset in the history of college football. [20] Shafer's defense at Stanford ranked fifth in the nation with 37 sacks and posted 101 tackles for loss, which was good for 11th in the country. The numbers were the Cardinal's best since their Rose Bowl season of 1999. [6]
Shafer was hired as the defensive coordinator for the University of Michigan by new head coach Rich Rodriguez in 2008. [5] In Shafer's only season as Michigan's defensive coordinator, the team was ranked 68th in total defense, 87th in pass defense and 80th in scoring defense among all Division I teams, allowing 28.9 points per game. [21] Coach Rich Rodriguez announced on December 16, 2008, that Shafer had resigned after one season as defensive coordinator. [22]
Shafer was hired by Syracuse University head football coach Doug Marrone in 2009. He was hired as the defensive coordinator for a team that allowed 32.7 points per game in the 2008 season. [23] The defense went from being 101st in the country to the top 20 under Shafer. [24] Under Shafer, Syracuse's defense ranked 7th in the nation in 2010 in total defense (from 37th), 12th in the nation in first downs allowed (from 27th), 10th in pass defense (from 85th), 14th in pass efficiency defense (from (113th), and 13th in scoring defense (from 81st). [25] While at Syracuse, he coached 2012 1st round draft pick Chandler Jones, who was the highest draft pick from Syracuse since Dwight Freeney in 2002. [26] Shafer was officially named the head coach of the Orange on January 9, 2013, after Doug Marrone left to become the head coach of the Buffalo Bills.
On January 20, 2017, Shafer was hired by Middle Tennessee State to serve as defensive coordinator under head coach Rick Stockstill. [27]
Shafer said his father was his greatest coaching role model. He noted: "My dad always said a good coach can coach any position, and a good coach can coach any scheme. We'll come up with an excellent scheme that is simple enough to let the kids attack and play with great aggression." [28] Shafer explained his defensive philosophy this way:
Similarly, he told the Detroit Free Press :
Shafer's defense philosophy has also been published to DVD. He is the author of eight instructional videos that are distributed by Coaches Choice and teach lessons such as tackling, press coverage, and different defense packages. [31]
Shafer and his wife Missy have a son, Wolfgang, and a daughter. Wolfgang was a quarterback for the Ithaca College Bombers, and has been a coach at Indiana State University. His brother John is an assistant football coach, and head track and field coach at Cuyahoga Heights High School. [32]
Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Syracuse Orange (Atlantic Coast Conference)(2013–2015) | |||||||||
2013 | Syracuse | 7–6 | 4–4 | T–3rd (Atlantic) | W Texas | ||||
2014 | Syracuse | 3–9 | 1–7 | T–6th (Atlantic) | |||||
2015 | Syracuse | 4–8 | 2–6 | 5th (Atlantic) | |||||
Syracuse: | 14–23 | 7–17 | |||||||
Total: | 14–23 |
James Patrick Tressel is an American college football coach and university administrator who served as president of Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio from 2014 to 2023. Before becoming an administrator, Tressel was the head football coach of the Youngstown State Penguins and later the Ohio State Buckeyes in a career that spanned from 1986 until 2010. Tressel's teams earned several national championships during the course of his career, earning him numerous accolades.
Gregory McIntosh Robinson was an American college and professional football coach. Robinson served as the head football coach at Syracuse University from 2005 to 2008. He has served as an assistant coach with several other college football programs and for three teams in the National Football League (NFL): the New York Jets from 1990 to 1994, the Denver Broncos from 1995 to 2000, and the Kansas City Chiefs from 2001 to 2003. With the Broncos, Robinson was a member of two Super Bowl championship teams. In more recent years he has served as the defensive coordinator at the University of Texas at Austin, in 2004 and for part of the 2013 season, and at the University of Michigan, from 2009 to 2010.
Ronald Andrew Zook is an American football coach and former player who recently served as the defensive coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2004 and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 2005 to 2011.
Lou Tepper is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1991 to 1996, the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, from 2000 to 2005, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2010, compiling a career college football coaching record of 101–75–2. Tepper was the defensive coordinator at Louisiana State University (LSU) from 1997 to 1999 and the University at Buffalo from 2012 to 2014.
Bob D. Sutton is an American football coach serving as a senior defensive assistant of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). Sutton previously was the defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. Sutton served as the head football coach at the United States Military Academy from 1991 to 1999, compiling a record of 44–55–1.
William John Cubit is an American football coach and former player. Cubit was the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, first on an interim basis in the 2015 season and then promoted to the post full-time before his dismissal on March 5, 2016. Cubit served as the head football coach at Widener University from 1992 to 1996, and Western Michigan University from 2005 to 2012. Most recently, in 2019, he served as assistant head coach and running backs coach at his alma mater, the University of Delaware.
Patrick Regan Narduzzi is an American football coach and former player. Since 2015, he has been the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh. He was formerly the defensive coordinator at Michigan State. He attended Youngstown State University and the University of Rhode Island. He earned his master's degree from Miami University.
Steven Craig Morrison is a retired professional American football linebacker who played for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 1998. He is currently the associate head coach/linebackers coach at Bowling Green Falcons football. He previously served as the linebackers coach for the Eastern Michigan Eagles football team, on the coaching staff at Western Michigan, and as the linebackers coach at Syracuse Orange football. Prior to these professional experiences, he had excelled in college football as an All-Big Ten Conference inside linebacker from 1990 to 1994 for the Michigan Wolverines, whom he served as captain. In high school, he had been a Detroit Free Press first-team All-State (Michigan) and second-team All-Midwest selection in football and an All-American in lacrosse.
The 1980 Michigan Wolverines football team was an American football team that represented the University of Michigan in the 1980 Big Ten Conference football season. In their 12th season under head coach Bo Schembechler, the Wolverines compiled a 10–2 record, won the Big Ten Conference championship, defeated Washington in the 1981 Rose Bowl, and outscored all opponents by a total of 322 to 129. The Rose Bowl victory was Schembechler's first in a bowl game, following seven bowl games losses. After falling out of the rankings for four weeks, the 1980 Wolverines ended up being ranked No. 4 in both the AP and UPI polls.
George McDonald is an American football coach. He is currently the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator for Ole Miss.
Don "Wink" Martindale is an American football coach, currently the defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan. He last served as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens from 2018 to 2023.
Tony E. Lombardi is an American football coach. He served as the interim head football coach at Eastern Michigan University for one game in 1999.
Mark August Helfrich is an American former football coach who is an analyst for Fox Sports. He was the head coach for the University of Oregon from 2013 to 2016. He most recently served as the offensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears from 2018 to 2019. He played professionally in the Austrian Football League (AFL).
Curtiss Sweeney Mallory is an American football coach and former player who is currently the head coach at Indiana State. He has been a college football coach since 1995 and has held defensive coordinator positions at the University of Illinois and the University of Akron. Mallory had most recently been the defensive secondary coach at the University of Wyoming; he played college football for the Michigan Wolverines as a linebacker from 1989 to 1990.
Timothy Frederick Lester is an American football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the University of Iowa football team. He was previously on the Green Bay Packers coaching staff. Prior to that, Lester was the head football coach at Western Michigan University from 2017 to 2022. He played quarterback at Western Michigan from 1996 to 1999 and professionally for the Chicago Enforcers of the XFL in 2001. He then served as the head football coach at Saint Joseph's College in 2004 and at Elmhurst College from 2008 to 2012.
Tracy Lee Claeys is a former American football coach. Claeys served as the head football coach at University of Minnesota from midway into the 2015 season through the end of the 2016 season. He was an assistant coach under Jerry Kill for 21 years at Saginaw Valley State University, Emporia State University, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Northern Illinois University, and Minnesota—the last 16 as his defensive coordinator. Claeys was the defensive coordinator at Washington State University from 2018 to 2019 and the linebackers coach at Virginia Tech in 2020. He announced his retirement in January 2021.
Michael Fredrick Denbrock is an American football coach who is the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He has previously coached for the Illinois State Redbirds, Grand Valley State Lakers, Stanford Cardinal, Washington Huskies, Indiana State Sycamores, Cincinnati Bearcats, and LSU Tigers. He also coached in the Arena Football League (AFL) with the Buffalo Destroyers.
Mike Tressel is an American football coach who is currently the defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach for the Wisconsin Badgers. Tressel, the nephew of former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel, joined the University of Cincinnati's football coaching staff under Mark Dantonio in 2004. Tressel followed Dantonio to Michigan State when he was hired there in December 2006. He was named the acting head coach when Dantonio announced his retirement in February 2020. Tressel was one of two Dantonio assistants retained by Dantonio's successor, Mel Tucker.
Ryan Walters is an American football coach and former safety, who is the current head football coach for the Purdue Boilermakers. He played college football for Colorado from 2004 to 2008. He then served as the defensive coordinator for the Missouri Tigers (2018–2020) and the Illinois Fighting Illini (2021–2022).
Matthew Thurin is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the special teams coordinator at Boston College. He has also coached at Baldwin-Wallace College, Walsh University, the University of Akron, University of Colorado, and Ohio State University.