Pep Hamilton

Pep Hamilton Expected To Pass On Panthers OC Interview, In Play For Texans’ OC Role

January 18th, 2022 at 10:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

Expanding their search to include some former head coaches, the Panthers are not expected to meet with one of their preferred candidates. Texans quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton is expected to pass on an interview with the Matt Rhule-led team, Aaron Wilson of Sports Talk 790 tweets.

The former Colts OC might have another option. Despite the Texans axing David Culley and OC Tim Kelly, Hamilton remains on the radar to rise to the offensive coordinator role under the next Houston head coach, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports tweets.

This would certainly be an interesting move, as head coaches frequently bring in their own OCs. It is not known if the Texans would insist their next coach keep Hamilton on staff, but Wilson adds that the veteran NFL assistant looms as a “strong” in-house replacement option. Hamilton has no history with the Patriots, making 2021 his first season under GM Nick Caserio.

It would make sense to keep a familiar voice on staff for Davis Mills, who showed considerable progress once named the team’s full-time starter in December. Although the Texans’ offense ranked 30th this season — featuring evolving skill-position personnel and Laremy Tunsil missing most of the year — Mills rebounded after a difficult start, steering the team to an upset win over the Chargers and finishing the season with a three-touchdown, no-interception game in a narrow loss to the Titans.

The Texans are looking for an offensive coordinator for the first time in three years. They promoted from within previously, elevating Kelly to the role in 2019. Kelly, however, had an extensive history under then-HC Bill O’Brien. Hamilton, 47, has been with five teams — the Browns, Michigan, the XFL’s D.C. Defenders, the Chargers and Texans — since his three-year Colts OC run ended after the 2015 season. Hamilton mentored Offensive Rookie of the Year Justin Herbert in 2020. The Panthers have interviewed seven candidates, including former HCs Jay Gruden and Ben McAdoo, for their OC position.

Mike Groh, Pep Hamilton Land On Panthers’ OC Radar

January 12th, 2022 at 4:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

Two AFC South staffers became the latest to emerge in the Panthers’ hunt to fill their offensive coordinator post. Colts wide receivers coach Mike Groh and Texans quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton are the latest to surface on the radar for the job.

The Panthers sent out an interview request for Hamilton and have interviewed Groh, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. These assistants join former HCs Bill O’Brien and Jay Gruden, along with Vikings OC Klint Kubiak, in the mix to succeed Joe Brady.

Both Groh and Hamilton have OC experience at the NFL level and at major colleges. Hamilton has bounced around a bit, but the current Houston assistant was a play-calling OC in Indianapolis for three seasons (2013-15) under Chuck Pagano. During those seasons, Andrew Luck helped the Colts to the divisional round and AFC championship game. A former Stanford OC and Michigan passing-game coordinator, Hamilton has been with the Chargers and Texans as QBs coach over the past two years, which respectively saw a dominant debut from Justin Herbert and a quality late-season run from Davis Mills.

A non-play-calling OC with the Eagles from 2018-19, Groh did not retain his duties into 2020 under Doug Pederson. Groh, who has spent the past two years as the Colts’ wideouts coach, was previously the OC at Virginia in the 2000s before finishing his college run at Alabama in 2012. He has been in the NFL since.

Texans Plan To Hire Pep Hamilton As QBs Coach

January 28th, 2021 at 4:48pm CST by Sam Robinson

A candidate for a few offensive coordinator positions, Pep Hamilton will instead join David Culley‘s first staff in Houston. The Texans are hiring the former Colts OC as their quarterbacks coach, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.

Hamilton spent the 2020 season as the Chargers’ QBs coach but received interest from three AFC teams for their respective OC posts. The Dolphins, Steelers and Titans interviewed Hamilton for those jobs. While two remain unfilled — Miami’s and Tennessee’s — Hamilton is expected to head to Houston.

The Texans are moving swiftly in filling out Culley’s first staff. They are eyeing ex-Bears and Buccaneers HC Lovie Smith for a defensive role and have current reserve quarterback Josh McCown in mind for an offensive position. McCown interviewed for Houston’s HC job but may well begin his coaching career as a Texans assistant.

Hamilton, 46, was Indianapolis’ OC from 2013-15. The Colts made the playoffs twice in that span, with the latter season featuring Andrew Luck leading the NFL with 40 touchdown passes. This past season, Hamilton mentored Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite Justin Herbert. The other two high-ranking Bolts staffers behind Herbert’s rise, Anthony Lynn and Shane Steichen, respectively landed OC gigs with Detroit and Philadelphia. Hamilton appears set to land on his feet as well.

The Dolphins have seen each of the external candidates for their OC post commit elsewhere. Clemson OC Tony Elliott will not leave the ACC program, Mike McDaniel received a promotion to become the 49ers’ OC, and the Steelers promoted Matt Canada to their OC position.

Coaching Notes: Seahawks, Titans, Dolphins

January 24th, 2021 at 9:36pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

We’ve got another couple of names to pass along for Seattle’s wide-ranging offensive coordinator search. The Seahawks want to interview Bills quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey and have already spoken with Rams pass-game coordinator Shane Waldron, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. They’ve been linked to what seems like every offensive coach in the league now, including Adam Gase and other big names. Dorsey was a backup quarterback in the league for a handful of years, and the 39-year-old was the Panthers’ quarterbacks coach from 2013-17.

He joined the Bills last season. Waldron is another young guy who has coached under Rams coach Sean McVay since 2016 since they were both with Washington. He started as McVay’s tight ends coach in Los Angeles before getting promoted to quarterbacks coach and pass-game coordinator. The Seahawks don’t appear to be honing in on anything in particular, and at this point it’s anyone’s guess who they’ll hire.

Here are more coaching notes from around the league:

The Texans are the only team still with a head coach opening, but they aren’t letting one key assistant go out the door yet. They recently blocked offensive coordinator Tim Kelly from interviewing for OC openings with two other teams, and those interested teams were the Titans and Lions, Albert Breer of SI.com tweets. Since it would be a lateral move and he’s still under contract, Houston can block those requests. As Breer points out, there has been buzz that Deshaun Watson likes Kelly, and the team could be looking to keep him in order to curry favor with their disgruntled starting quarterback. Detroit has since filled their vacancy with former Chargers coach Anthony Lynn.
Speaking of the Titans’ opening, Tennessee will be interviewing Pep Hamilton for the job in the next few days, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. Hamilton was the Chargers’ quarterbacks coach this past year, and did a great job helping with the development of Justin Herbert, so he’s been drawing a lot of interest for OC jobs. He was talked about as a candidate in Miami, and is one of the finalists in Pittsburgh as well. The Titans of course are looking to replace Arthur Smith, now the head coach in Atlanta. Hamilton coordinated the Colts’ offense from 2013-15, and had a lot of success with Andrew Luck.
The Dolphins are still looking for their OC, but they have made a different key hire on offense. The team has parted ways with quarterbacks coach Robby Brown and replaced him with former NFL passer Charlie Frye, they announced in a tweet. It’s the first NFL coaching gig for Frye, who was Central Michigan’s offensive coordinator the past two seasons. It’s interesting that they’d hire the QBs coach before the OC. A third-round pick of the Browns back in 2005, Frye also played with the Seahawks and Raiders until 2009.

Steelers To Interview Pep Hamilton For OC

January 22nd, 2021 at 11:12am CST by Rory Parks

We heard last week that the Steelers were expected to promote Matt Canada to offensive coordinator to replace Randy Fichtner, but that is not a done deal just yet. As veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson was first to report (via Twitter), Pittsburgh requested an interview with Chargers quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton for its OC position, and Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweeted that the Steelers will meet with Hamilton today.

This jibes with a recent report from Dulac, whose sources indicated that Canada was a “candidate” for the OC gig but that nothing had been finalized. Obviously, the Steelers are still in search mode, which means that Hue Jackson is presumably still in the running as well.

Hamilton certainly has a more extensive NFL resume than Canada, who was in the college game for his entire career except 2020, when he joined the Steelers as their QB coach. Hamilton, meanwhile, served as the Colts’ OC from 2013-15, and he has also had stops with the Jets, 49ers, Bears, and Browns.

After two years working under Jim Harbaugh as the University of Michigan’s assistant head coach/passing game coordinator, and after an ill-fated gig as the head coach and GM of the XFL’s DC Defenders, the 46-year-old Hamilton rejoined the NFL ranks in 2020, when he hooked on with the Chargers. The success of rookie QB Justin Herbert has helped Hamilton boost his stock, as he is also a candidate for the Dolphins’ OC position.

If he joins the Steelers, Hamilton will be tasked with getting more out of a unit that finished 25th in the league in total offense in 2020 despite the presence of some highly-talented weapons. He will also try to develop the games of potential Ben Roethlisberger heirs Mason Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins.

Six OC Candidates Emerge For Dolphins

January 14th, 2021 at 5:47pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Dolphins are moving quickly on their third offensive coordinator search in three years. They have identified six candidates to succeed Chan Gailey, and some will be interviewing for the position.

Steelers quarterbacks coach Matt Canada interviewed for the post Thursday, according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The team has also identified Chargers QBs coach Pep Hamilton and 49ers run-game coordinator Mike McDaniel as OC options, according to ESPN.com’s Cameron Wolfe, who adds Dolphin position coaches Eric Studesville and George Godsey will be considered as well (Twitter link).

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott also emerged on Miami’s radar, but veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson reports (via Twitter) the college assistant has opted against making a move to the pros at this time. The Titans also reached out to Elliott about their OC job, which Arthur Smith may well vacate soon given his interview frequency thus far, but Dabo Swinney‘s top offensive assistant will stay put in South Carolina.

Of this group, only Hamilton and Godsey have been NFL OCs previously. Hamilton spent three years in that role, serving as Colts OC from 2013-15. Godsey became the Dolphins’ quarterbacks coach during the season, Wolfe tweets. He served as Bill O’Brien‘s OC in Houston from 2015-16 but has been a position coach since. Hamilton is coming off a notable year, with Justin Herbert developing from a player expected to sit behind Tyrod Taylor for a while into an Offensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner.

McDaniel has worked with Kyle Shanahan with multiple teams; the 49ers assistant also popped up on the radar during the Browns’ most recent HC search. Studesville has been with the Dolphins in each of Brian Flores‘ two seasons at the helm. He served as Broncos interim HC in 2010 and was retained by multiple Denver HCs to stay on as running backs coach, a title he currently holds in Miami.

Canada spent more than two decades as a college coach before making the move to the Steelers last year. From 2003-18, Canada served as offensive coordinator at eight colleges — including LSU, Wisconsin and Maryland.

Chargers Hire Pep Hamilton As QBs Coach

April 30th, 2020 at 10:12am CST by Dallas Robinson

The Chargers are hiring Pep Hamilton as their new quarterbacks coach, a source tells Daniel Popper of The Athletic.

Hamilton’s most recent gig came as the head coach and general manager of the XFL’s DC Defenders, but he also boasts ample NFL experience. He served in a variety of offensive roles for the Jets, 49ers, and Bears before joining the Colts as offensive coordinator in 2013. In Indianapolis, Hamilton coached quarterback Andrew Luck, who he’d also led as Stanford’s OC from 2011-12.

The 45-year-old Hamilton spent 2016 with the Browns before reuniting with Jim Harbaugh at Michigan for two seasons. He took over the Defenders earlier this year, but that role ended when the XFL ended its operations in early April. The Chargers actually tried to hire Hamilton a few months ago, but weren’t able to due to his XFL employment, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.

In Los Angeles, Hamilton will team with holdover offensive coordinator Shane Steichen to develop No. 6 overall pick Justin Herbert. While veteran Tyrod Taylor may begin the 2020 campaign as the Chargers’ starting quarterback, Herbert will surely be under center at some point.

Extra Points: AAF, XFL, Murray

February 23rd, 2019 at 6:18pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Last week the new league Alliance of American Football, the AAF, received a cash infusion of $250MM from investor Tom Dundon. Dundon, who owns the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, reportedly bailed the league out of some financial trouble, and effectively assumed control of the AAF. But according to a new report, Dundon may not be as tied to the league long-term as it intially seemed, per Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com.

Apparently Dundon has yet to transfer over all $250MM, and the money will instead be procured over a period of time. Dundon apparently has the ability to pull the plug on the deal and stop funding the league if he determines the investment is no longer with it. None of this means that the league is in any immediate danger or that Dundon has had any sort of change of heart, but it adds another interesting wrinkle to the ordeal. The league has been very tightlipped about the circumstances surrounding Dundon’s investment, and concrete information has been hard to come by.

Here’s more from the football universe:

Speaking of alternative pro football leagues, the XFL named its latest head coach, and it was a notable NFL name. Pep Hamilton will be the coach of the league’s Washington franchise, according to Barrett Sallee of CBS Sports. Hamilton was the offensive coordinator of the Colts from 2013-15, and spent the past couple of years as an assistant on Jim Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan. He was also an assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach with the Browns in 2016.
Kyler Murray spoke to the media today, and elaborated a bit on his decision to play football instead of baseball, per Jake Trotter of ESPN.com. Murray said that while it was hard letting the Oakland A’s know he would be going with the NFL, it was something he’d “known for a while.” He reiterated his commitment to playing quarterback at the next level, and said while the A’s “can hold out all the hope they want to”, he definitely wasn’t going to be changing his mind. It’s unclear exactly where Murray will be drafted, but most current projections have him going sometime in the top half of the first round.
In case you missed it, wide receivers Tyrell Williams and Adam Humphries could be in for big paydays when they hit the open market next month.

Hue Jackson Wanted To Draft Carson Wentz?

December 3rd, 2017 at 3:56pm CST by Sam Robinson

While we’re more than a year and a half removed from the 2016 draft, one team’s actions continue to be discussed. And considering what could happen to the Browns’ power structure at the end of this season, their recent draft decisions could end up being seminal choices.

The Browns have passed on multiple players who look like long-term quarterback solutions in Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson, but in Hue Jackson‘s first months in Cleveland, he had his eye on Wentz.

Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports Jackson actually preferred Wentz to Jared Goff. This runs contrary to previous reports that indicated he (and veteran Browns scouts dismissed before the draft) liked the current Rams passer prior to his team’s trade-down decision.

Jackson’s pro-Goff vibe stemmed from a close-to-the-vest mindset, Cabot notes. He worked out Goff privately but was the only head coach to attend Wentz’s pro day. Wentz assumed the Browns were going to draft him, per Cabot, after he and Jackson developed a strong rapport before the draft.

The private workout he and then-assistant Pep Hamilton conducted with Wentz had the duo “instantly sold” Wentz was the Browns’ quarterback of the future. The Browns, of course, traded that pick to the Eagles for a bounty of draft picks. Cabot reports Browns management wasn’t going to be dissuaded from unloading that No. 2 selection because of the myriad needs their team had, and the Eagles aren’t regretting their decision.

When the Browns and Eagles faced off in the 2016 opener, Cabot reports Jackson felt he received a “chilly” reception from Wentz because of the draft snub and Paul DePodesta‘s infamous not-a-top-20-QB comment. Cabot also reports part of the reason Hamilton left Cleveland for Michigan after one season is how far off the Browns were on their evaluations on that 2016 quarterback class.

This would not be the only time Jackson didn’t get his way regarding a quarterback during his eventful stay in northeast Ohio.

Trade targets Jimmy Garoppolo and A.J. McCarron fell through, the latter in an embarrassing snafu. Cleveland is 0-11 and contemplating major changes this offseason, and Jackson is said to want more decision-making power if he returns in 2018.

Pep Hamilton Leaving Browns, Joining Michigan

January 9th, 2017 at 5:30pm CST by Ben Levine

The Browns now have another vacancy on their coaching staff. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter) that associate head coach Pep Hamilton has accepted a job with Michigan to become their assistant head coach/passing coordinator. Reports from this weekend indicated that Hamilton was considering the role, although head coach Hue Jackson expressed optimism that Hamilton would be sticking around Cleveland.

NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports (via Twitter) that Michigan was actually eying Greg Roman for the vacancy. Ironically, Rapoport notes that the coach now may be a contender for the vacancy on the Browns staff. Roman started the season as the Bills offensive coordinator, but he was fired in late September following a loss to the Jets.

Hamilton joined the Browns last offseason following a three-year stint with the Colts. Despite the presence of quarterback Andrew Luck, the Colts offense only had one top-10 season during Hamilton’s tenure. The 42-year-old’s offense predictably struggled during his first season in Cleveland, as the team was forced to rely on five different quarterbacks. Besides his duties as associate head coach, Hamilton also served as the Browns quarterbacks coach.

This will be a reunion of sorts for Hamilton and Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh. Hamilton previously served as Harbaugh’s wide receivers coach while the duo was at Stanford. As Nate Ulrich of Ohio.com writes, the Michigan coaching staff had an opening after passing game coordinator Jedd Fisch left to become UCLA’s offensive coordinator. While there are no reports regarding the length or value of Hamilton’s new contract, Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com notes that Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown recently earned a five-year contract worth $1.4MM annually.

The Browns filled one hole on their coaching staff yesterday, as the team hired Gregg Williams as their new defensive coordinator.

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