AMHERST — Former UMass football coach Mark Whipple was named the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Pittsburgh, Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi announced Monday.
“Mark Whipple is truly one of the best teachers of offensive football in the country — college and pro,” Narduzzi said in a statement. “His track record working with quarterbacks is simply outstanding and I know that positional group will really grow under his influence. Mark will not only make a huge impact from an offensive standpoint, but his tremendous wealth of experience will benefit our entire program. I really value the fact that we are adding another staff member who has been a head coach. We are thrilled to welcome Coach Whipple and his family back to Pittsburgh.”
Whipple stepped down as the Minutemen’s coach around Thanksgiving. The 61-year-old finished with a 65-70 record in his 11 combined seasons as UMass’ coach, including a 16-44 mark during his second tenure from 2014-2018. He won a Division I-AA national championship in his first season with UMass in 1998.
In Whipple’s latest contract with UMass, he would owe the school $75,000 for resigning and taking a football-related job within a year of his resignation. However, it is unclear if Whipple would still owe the university that money because of the circumstances surrounding his resignation. UMass has not revealed if it has finalized an alternate resolution to the buyout agreement in Whipple’s contract, which would supersede Whipple’s contract.
Pittsburgh is not an unfamiliar location for Whipple, who was named the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks coach when he departed UMass the first time. He spent three seasons with the Steelers and coached Ben Roethlisberger during his first three years in the league during which he won the Super Bowl in 2005.
Whipple is also familiar with the ACC from his two years as Miami’s offensive coordinator in 2009 and 2010.
Whipple’s son Spencer was a former walk-on quarterback at Pitt who also worked as a football graduate assistant for the team during the 2012-13 seasons. Spencer was UMass’ quarterbacks coach this past season.