After coaching tight ends for the previous two seasons, Doug Nussmeier will shift to coach the team's quarterbacks in 2020. Nussmeier joined the Cowboys in 2018 after spending 13 of the previous 15 seasons coaching collegiately, including 10 as an offensive coordinator.
By moving onto quarterbacks in 2020, Nussmeier will help build off of the continued rise of fifth-year starter Dak Prescott while also working with seasoned veteran Andy Dalton and a pair of young players in Clayton Thorson and Ben DiNucci. Prescott's 2019 campaign featured setting numerous career-highs and saw him finish second in the NFL in passing (4,902 yards) while also becoming only the second Cowboys quarterback to reach 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns in a single season.
The 2019 season saw the return of Jason Witten, and under Nussmeier's tutelage, the one-year hiatus proved to not be much of a speed bump for the franchise's all-time receiving leader as he recorded his 15th career season with 60-plus receptions (63 - third on the team) to tie for the second-most such seasons among NFL tight ends - fourth overall - along with 529 receiving yards (fourth) and four touchdowns (third). Nussmeier also continued the development of young tight ends Blake Jarwin (31 receptions for 365 yards and three touchdowns) and Dalton Schultz (one reception for six yards).
With the then retirement of Witten, Nussmeier was tasked with bringing up a youthful group of tight ends in 2018. The offense featured four tight ends that season, led by the emergence of former undrafted free agent Jarwin, who led the group with 27 catches for 307 yards and three touchdowns. Also contributing to the cause were veteran Geoff Swaim (26 receptions for 242 yards and one touchdown), rookie Schultz (12 receptions for 116 yards) and Rico Gathers (three receptions for 45 yards).
In his 13 years coaching in the NCAA, Nussmeier worked with eight different players that were drafted in the first or second round.
Nussmeier was at Florida for three years (2015-17), as the school's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks.
Prior to landing with the Gators, Nussmeier was the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks at Michigan for one season (2014).
From 2012-13 Nussemeier was on Nick Saban's staff at Alabama that took home the 2012 BCS National Championship, followed by a loss in the 2013 Sugar Bowl. With Nussemeier coordinating the Tide's offense, the school reached 3,000 rushing and passing yards in a single season for the first time (2012), and A.J. McCarron threw for 5,996 yards and 58 touchdowns to just 10 interceptions in the two-year span.
In 2009 Nussmeier was the Washington Huskies offensive coordinator/quarterbacks, a position he held for three seasons. The Huskies offense improved each of his three seasons running the offense, including a 2011 campaign that saw 57 touchdowns and 431 points - both second in school history.
Nussmeier arrived in Washington after serving one season as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks at Fresno State.
His first stint in the NFL was with the St. Louis Rams (2006-07) as the quarterbacks coach under Mike Martz. In 2006 Marc Bulger earned his second Pro Bowl after passing for a career-high 4,301 yards with 24 touchdowns against just eight picks.
For two seasons (2003-05) Nussmeier was the quarterbacks coach at Michigan State, where Drew Stanton set a school record with 3,415 passing yards in 2005. He broke the record of another Nussmeier charge, Jeff Smoker, who also set MSU records for completions, attempts and passing touchdowns, all in 2003.
Nussmeier broke into coaching in the Canadian Football League, premiering in 2001 with the British Colombia Lions, and landing with the Ottawa Renegades in 2002. He coached quarterbacks at both CFL stops.
Nussmeier was drafted in the fourth round (116th overall) of the 1994 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. He played with the Saints for four seasons (1994-97) and one with the Indianapolis Colts (1998) before heading to British Columbia in 2000 and capturing the Grey Cup Championship.
While playing at Idaho, Nussmeier threw for 10,824 yards and won the Walter Payton Award in 1993. He was the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year in 1992 and was inducted into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.
