Mark Whipple
Encyclopedia
Mark Whipple is an American football
coach and former player. He is currently the quarterbacks coach
for the Cleveland Browns
of the National Football League
(NFL). Whipple served as the head football coach at University of New Haven
(1988–1993), Brown University
(1994–1997), and the University of Massachusetts Amherst
(1998–2003). His 1998 UMass team
won the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship. Before joining the Browns in January 2011, Whipple worked for two seasons as the offensive coordinator
at the University of Miami
. He previously coached in the NFL, working as a quarterback coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers
from 2004 to 2006 and as an offensive assistant coach with the Philadelphia Eagles
in 2007 and 2008.
before moving to Phoenix, Arizona
at the age of nine. He is a graduate of Camelback High School
, where he was an All-State performer in both football and baseball. Whipple was named the Arizona Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1975.
Whipple went on to play football at Brown University
, where he was a 1979 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in political science
. Whipple was the starting quarterback
for the Bears in 1977 and 1978, leading Brown to a 13–5 record and a pair of second-place Ivy League
finishes. He was a member of the Bears' 1976 Ivy League championship team, the first Ivy football championship in school history. During his three-year varsity career, he completed 175 of 340 passes for 2,365 yards and 13 touchdowns, while running for 518 yards and 10 touchdowns. A two-time honorable mention All-Ivy pick in football, Whipple also earned four varsity letters on the baseball diamond as Brown’s starting shortstop
. He was inducted into the Brown Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
in 1980, before serving as the offensive coordinator at Union College
for next two seasons. In 1984, Whipple was hired as an assistant coach at his alma mater (Brown) where he worked with the wide receivers. The following season, Whipple spent as a member of the coaching staff for the United States Football League
's Arizona Wranglers
under George Allen, assisting with the quarterbacks.
Whipple served as the offensive coordinator at the University of New Hampshire
for two years before receiving his first head coaching opportunity, as the new head coach of the University of New Haven Chargers
in 1988. While at New Haven, his 1992 squad finished 12–1 and ranked No. 5 nationally. The team led all NCAA divisions in scoring offense (50.5 points per game) and total offense (587.7 yards per game). His 1993 New Haven team was named Sports Illustrated
s "Best Offense in College Football" while averaging 52.5 points and 557.6 yards of total offense per game. His 1993 squad ranked as high as No. 2 nationally.
In 1994, he was hired by his alma mater to serve as head football coach at Brown University
, where he spent the next four seasons. While at Brown, his 1997 squad set Ivy League
and school records for total offense (474.3 yards per game) which included a single-game record of 629 yards against Yale
. His 1995 team set several single-season records including most points (282), total offense (4,165 yards), passing offense (2,502 yards) and first downs (227).
The highlight of his college career was coaching University of Massachusetts Amherst
, where he posted a record of 49–25 with two conference championships. He was coach of UMass from 1998 to 2003 and won the NCAA Division I-AA national title in his first season at the school. His UMass teams rewrote the record books, setting more than 40 team records. In 1998 his national championship team posted school records in points scored (524), touchdowns (73), total yards (7,074), passing yards (4,050), completions (306) and first downs (354).
Whipple left college football for a position as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers
of the NFL in 2004 where he was instrumental in the development of Ben Roethlisberger
, who in his rookie season became the first NFL quarterback to finish a season undefeated with a 13–0 record in games he started. Roethlisberger later became the youngest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl. On January 25, 2007, Whipple was let go by new Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin
and replaced with Ken Anderson. The next day, Whipple was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles
.
On January 7, 2009, Whipple was named the University of Miami Hurricanes football team
offensive coordinator. Whipple was fired along with head coach Randy Shannon
, following the end of the season loss to South Florida on November 27, 2010. Whipple signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns
on January 30, 2011 to be their quarterback coach.
to coach North Carolina State, it was reported that Mark Whipple was the leading candidate to replace him. That job eventually went to Jeff Jagodzinski
.
He was reported to be the leading candidate for the Connecticut Huskies
head football coach, an opening created when Randy Edsall
left to replace Ralph Friedgen
as the head coach at the University of Maryland
following the 2010 season. However, Connecticut hired Paul Pasqualoni
on January 13, 2011.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
coach and former player. He is currently the quarterbacks coach
Quarterbacks coach
A quarterbacks coach is a coach in charge of the quarterbacks in gridiron football. The quarterbacks coach typically operates under the offensive coordinator on a team's coaching staff....
for the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL). Whipple served as the head football coach at University of New Haven
University of New Haven
The University of New Haven is a private university that combines a liberal arts education with professional training. The university comprises five colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, the Tagliatela College of Engineering, the Henry C...
(1988–1993), Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
(1994–1997), and the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
(1998–2003). His 1998 UMass team
1998 UMass Minutemen football team
The 1998 UMass Minutemen football team represented the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the 1998 NCAA Division I-AA football season as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The team was coached by Mark Whipple and played its home games at Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium in Amherst,...
won the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship. Before joining the Browns in January 2011, Whipple worked for two seasons as the offensive coordinator
Offensive coordinator
An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of a gridiron football team who is in charge of the offense. Generally, along with his defensive counterpart, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach...
at the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
. He previously coached in the NFL, working as a quarterback coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
from 2004 to 2006 and as an offensive assistant coach with the Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
in 2007 and 2008.
Early life and playing career
Whipple was born in Tarrytown, New YorkTarrytown, New York
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
before moving to Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
at the age of nine. He is a graduate of Camelback High School
Camelback High School
Camelback High School is part of the Phoenix Union High School District. The campus is located at 4612 North 28th Street, northeast of downtown Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Camelback’s enrollment is 2,000 students, over 75 percent of whom are Hispanic...
, where he was an All-State performer in both football and baseball. Whipple was named the Arizona Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1975.
Whipple went on to play football at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, where he was a 1979 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. Whipple was the starting quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
for the Bears in 1977 and 1978, leading Brown to a 13–5 record and a pair of second-place Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
finishes. He was a member of the Bears' 1976 Ivy League championship team, the first Ivy football championship in school history. During his three-year varsity career, he completed 175 of 340 passes for 2,365 yards and 13 touchdowns, while running for 518 yards and 10 touchdowns. A two-time honorable mention All-Ivy pick in football, Whipple also earned four varsity letters on the baseball diamond as Brown’s starting shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
. He was inducted into the Brown Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
Coaching career
Whipple began his coaching career as an assistant coach at St. Lawrence UniversitySt. Lawrence University
St. Lawrence University is a four-year liberal arts college located in the village of Canton in Saint Lawrence County, New York, United States. It has roughly 2300 undergraduate and 100 graduate students, about equally split between male and female....
in 1980, before serving as the offensive coordinator at Union College
Union College
Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...
for next two seasons. In 1984, Whipple was hired as an assistant coach at his alma mater (Brown) where he worked with the wide receivers. The following season, Whipple spent as a member of the coaching staff for the United States Football League
United States Football League
The United States Football League was an American football league which was in active operation from 1983 to 1987. It played a spring/summer schedule in its first three seasons and a traditional autumn/winter schedule was set to commence before league operations ceased.The USFL was conceived in...
's Arizona Wranglers
Arizona Wranglers
The Arizona Wranglers were a professional American Football team in the United States Football League in the mid 1980s. They played at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, a suburb of Phoenix.-Founding:...
under George Allen, assisting with the quarterbacks.
Whipple served as the offensive coordinator at the University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire is a public university in the University System of New Hampshire , United States. The main campus is in Durham, New Hampshire. An additional campus is located in Manchester. With over 15,000 students, UNH is the largest university in New Hampshire. The university is...
for two years before receiving his first head coaching opportunity, as the new head coach of the University of New Haven Chargers
University of New Haven
The University of New Haven is a private university that combines a liberal arts education with professional training. The university comprises five colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, the Tagliatela College of Engineering, the Henry C...
in 1988. While at New Haven, his 1992 squad finished 12–1 and ranked No. 5 nationally. The team led all NCAA divisions in scoring offense (50.5 points per game) and total offense (587.7 yards per game). His 1993 New Haven team was named Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
s "Best Offense in College Football" while averaging 52.5 points and 557.6 yards of total offense per game. His 1993 squad ranked as high as No. 2 nationally.
In 1994, he was hired by his alma mater to serve as head football coach at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, where he spent the next four seasons. While at Brown, his 1997 squad set Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
and school records for total offense (474.3 yards per game) which included a single-game record of 629 yards against Yale
Yale Bulldogs football
The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision . Yale's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1872...
. His 1995 team set several single-season records including most points (282), total offense (4,165 yards), passing offense (2,502 yards) and first downs (227).
The highlight of his college career was coaching University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
, where he posted a record of 49–25 with two conference championships. He was coach of UMass from 1998 to 2003 and won the NCAA Division I-AA national title in his first season at the school. His UMass teams rewrote the record books, setting more than 40 team records. In 1998 his national championship team posted school records in points scored (524), touchdowns (73), total yards (7,074), passing yards (4,050), completions (306) and first downs (354).
Whipple left college football for a position as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
of the NFL in 2004 where he was instrumental in the development of Ben Roethlisberger
Ben Roethlisberger
Benjamin Todd "Ben" Roethlisberger , nicknamed Big Ben, is an American football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Steelers in the first round in the 2004 NFL Draft...
, who in his rookie season became the first NFL quarterback to finish a season undefeated with a 13–0 record in games he started. Roethlisberger later became the youngest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl. On January 25, 2007, Whipple was let go by new Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin
Mike Tomlin
Michael Tomlin is the current head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. Tomlin is the third youngest head coach in any of the four major North American professional sports. He is the tenth African-American head coach in NFL history, and first in Steelers history...
and replaced with Ken Anderson. The next day, Whipple was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
.
On January 7, 2009, Whipple was named the University of Miami Hurricanes football team
Miami Hurricanes football
The Miami Hurricanes football program competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the University of Miami. The program began in 1926 and has won five AP national championships...
offensive coordinator. Whipple was fired along with head coach Randy Shannon
Randy Shannon
Randy Lennard Shannon is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Miami from 2007 to 2010. Shannon played football at Miami and then with the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL....
, following the end of the season loss to South Florida on November 27, 2010. Whipple signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
on January 30, 2011 to be their quarterback coach.
College head coaching job opportunities
After coach Tom O'Brien left Boston CollegeBoston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
to coach North Carolina State, it was reported that Mark Whipple was the leading candidate to replace him. That job eventually went to Jeff Jagodzinski
Jeff Jagodzinski
-United Football League:-External links:*...
.
He was reported to be the leading candidate for the Connecticut Huskies
Connecticut Huskies football
The Connecticut Huskies football team is a collegiate football team that competes in NCAA Division I-A and the Big East Conference. Connecticut first fielded a team in 1896, and participated in Division I-AA until 1999. The Huskies began their two-year Division I-A transition period in 2000, and...
head football coach, an opening created when Randy Edsall
Randy Edsall
Randy Douglas Edsall is an American college football coach. He is currently the head coach at the University of Maryland. Edsall was the head coach at the University of Connecticut from 1999 until the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, and oversaw the program's promotion from the NCAA Division I–AA level to...
left to replace Ralph Friedgen
Ralph Friedgen
Ralph Harry Friedgen is an American football coach. He was the head coach at the University of Maryland from 2001 to 2010. Friedgen was previously an offensive coordinator at Maryland, Georgia Tech, and in the National Football League with the San Diego Chargers...
as the head coach at the University of Maryland
Maryland Terrapins football
The Maryland Terrapins football team represents the University of Maryland in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision competition. The Terrapins compete within the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
following the 2010 season. However, Connecticut hired Paul Pasqualoni
Paul Pasqualoni
Paul Pasqualoni is the current head coach of the University of Connecticut football team. On January 13, 2011, Pasqualoni was named to lead the Huskies, two weeks after former coach Randy Edsall left for the University of Maryland....
on January 13, 2011.