Pitt’s next offensive coordinator will be a coach with a wealth of experience, as Pat Narduzzi has hired former UMass head coach Mark Whipple.

“Mark Whipple is truly one of the best teachers of offensive football in the country—college and pro,” Narduzzi said in a press release. “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.”

“I have known and respected Pat Narduzzi for a very long time, so it is an incredibly exciting opportunity to join his coaching staff at Pitt,” Whipple said. “He is building something very special at a place that has such a rich and inspiring football tradition. I am really looking forward to meeting our players and hitting the ground running in preparation for spring ball.”

Whipple, 61, has been in coaching for nearly 40 years, with more than half of those coming as a head coach at various stops. His background is on offense, though; when Whipple wasn’t a head coach, he was an offensive coordinator and a quarterbacks coach in both college and the NFL.

After working his way through various positions early in his career, Whipple became the head coach at New Haven in 1988 and then had stints at Brown and UMass before being named the quarterbacks coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2004, where he worked hands-on with then-rookie Ben Roethlisberger.

Whipple returned to the college game in 2009 as assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Randy Shannon at Miami (Fla.). When Shannon’s staff was fired in 2010, Whipple went back to the pros and coached quarterbacks in Cleveland for two years.

In 2014, Whipple was hired to be head coach at UMass for the second time. The Minutemen were in their third season as an FBS team and the results showed the struggles of that transition; in the last five seasons with Whipple as head coach, UMass has gone 16-44, with four wins in each of the last two years as the high-water marks.

Whipple stepped down after the 2018 season, and while his second run at UMass did not go well, he does have a Div. 1-AA (now FCS) championship on his resume, as he led the Minutemen to a title in 1998, his first year coaching the team.

Overall, Whipple’s 137-103 record as a head coach is less significant than his experience as a coordinator and quarterbacks coach. His long resume is likely to appeal to Narduzzi both for style of play, as they seem to have similar philosophical approaches, and for play-calling, as Narduzzi will likely prioritize a proven ability in that area.

Whipple is replacing Shawn Watson, who served as Pitt’s offensive coordinator for two seasons. While the Panthers put up some record-setting rushing numbers under Watson, the passing offense did not progress and was a contributing factor to several losses over the last two seasons.

According to a source with knowledge of the search process, Whipple interviewed with Narduzzi last week. He is believed to have been the first of two interviews Narduzzi conducted, although there were conversations with at least two other candidates, including former Pitt offensive coordinators Matt Canada and Joe Rudolph.