Mark Whipple
Mark Whipple went 16–44 as a head coach, 2014–2018, at Massachusetts. Share
- Record
- 16–44 career
- Seasons
- 5
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Apr 1, 1957
- Alma mater
- Brown 1979
- Best season
- 2017 4–8
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Massachusetts | 3–9 | ||
| 2015 | Massachusetts | 3–9 | ||
| 2016 | Massachusetts | 2–10 | ||
| 2017 | Massachusetts | 4–8 | ||
| 2018 | Massachusetts | 4–8 |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game.
Players he coached
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 5 | 0–5 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 4 | 1–3 | 25% |
| Conference games | 16 | 5–11 | 31% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 22 | 6–16 | 27% |
| At home | 29 | 10–19 | 34% |
| On the road | 30 | 5–25 | 17% |
| At neutral sites | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 13 | 9–4 | 69% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 47 | 7–40 | 15% |
His own 60 games on file, 2014–2018, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalani Sitake 2016–2018 | 1–2 | BYU | 3 | |
| Steve Addazio 2014–2018 | 0–3 | Boston College | 3 |
Mark Whipple’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Florida Internationalseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| BYUseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Boston Collegeseries | 3 | 0–3 |
| Eastern Michiganseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Georgia Southernseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Ball Stateseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Buffaloseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Kent Stateseries | 2 | 1–1 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | St. Lawrence | Assistant coach | |
| 1981–82 | Union (NY) | Offensive coordinator | |
| 1983 | Brown | Wide receivers coach | |
| 1984 | Arizona Wranglers USFL | Offensive quality control coach and quarterbacks coach | |
| 1986–87 | New Hampshire | Offensive coordinator | |
| 1988–93 | New Haven | Head coach | |
| 1994–97 | Brown | Head coach | |
| 1998–2003 | UMass | Head coach | |
| 2004–06 | Pittsburgh Steelers NFL | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2008 | Philadelphia Eagles NFL | Assistant coach | |
| 2009–10 | Miami (FL) | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2011–12 | Cleveland Browns NFL | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2014–18 | UMass | Head coach | |
| 2019–21 | Pittsburgh | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2022 | Nebraska | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Randy ShannonMiami
- Jeff StoutlandMiami
- Pat ShurmurCleveland Browns
- Pat NarduzziPittsburgh
- Scott FrostNebraska
- Mickey JosephNebraska
Assistants who became head coaches
- Bill O’BrienPenn State, Boston College, Houston Texans
- John PerryMerrimack
- Don BrownPlymouth State, Northeastern, Massachusetts
- Gerard WilcherMorehouse
- Frank ForcucciBecker
- Tom MasellaFairfield, Boston University, Central Connecticut, Fordham, Wagner
- Neal BrownTroy, West Virginia, North Texas
- Liam CoenJacksonville Jaguars
Worked under (6)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Randy Shannon | Miami | 2009–10 | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Jeff Stoutland | Miami | 2010 | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Pat Shurmur | Cleveland Browns NFL | 2011–12 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Pat Narduzzi | Pittsburgh | 2019–21 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Scott Frost | Nebraska | 2022 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Mickey Joseph | Nebraska | 2022 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (8)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bill O’Brien | Brown, 1994: inside linebackers coach | Penn State, Boston College, Houston Texans | |
| John Perry | Brown, 1994–96: wide receivers coach | Merrimack | |
| Don Brown | Brown, 1996–97: defensive coordinator; Massachusetts, 1998–99: defensive coordinator | Plymouth State, Northeastern, Massachusetts | |
| Gerard Wilcher | Massachusetts, 1998–2000: wide receivers coach | Morehouse | |
| Frank Forcucci | Massachusetts, 1999: director ops.; 2000: defensive line coach; 2001–03: outside linebackers coach | Becker | |
| Tom Masella | Massachusetts, 2002–03: defensive coordinator; 2014–16: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | Fairfield, Boston University, Central Connecticut, Fordham, Wagner | |
| Neal Brown | Massachusetts, 2003: tight ends and assistant offensive line coach | Troy, West Virginia, North Texas | |
| Liam Coen | Massachusetts, 2014–15: pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Jacksonville Jaguars |
Other assistants under him (8)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Keith Dudzinski | New Haven, 1991–93: outside linebackers coach; Brown, 1994–97: defensive line coach; Massachusetts, 1998: defensive line coach; 1999–2000: linebackers coach; 2001: defensive backs coach | |
| John Hevesy | Brown, 1996: tight ends and offensive tackles coach | |
| Sean Spencer | Massachusetts, 2001–03: defensive line coach | |
| Ben Albert | Massachusetts, 2002–03: special teams coordinator and inside linebackers coach | |
| Ted Daisher | Massachusetts, 2014: safeties coach | |
| Darrius G. Smith | Massachusetts, 2015–18: running backs coach | |
| Ed Pinkham | Massachusetts, 2017–18: defensive coordinator | |
| Sean Duggan | Massachusetts, 2018: linebackers coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Massachusetts | head coachbonuses up to $255,000; buyout $304,903 | $472,904 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Massachusetts | head coachbonuses up to $295,000; $10,000 in bonuses paid | $469,215 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Massachusetts | head coachbonuses up to $200,000 | $456,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Massachusetts | head coachbonuses up to $200,000 | $450,000 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Whipple’s teams went for it on 28% of fourth downs and on 46% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 58% of plays and took 23.0 seconds a play, 2014–2018.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 12 g | 37 of 102 36% | 43% | 59% | 21.9 | +0.01 | |
| 2015 12 g | 32 of 112 29% | 49% | 59% | 21.5 | −0.04 | |
| 2016 12 g | 24 of 97 25% | 57% | 61% | 23.9 | −0.04 | |
| 2017 12 g | 24 of 107 22% | 41% | 57% | 23.9 | +0.05 | |
| 2018 12 g | 27 of 89 30% | 41% | 55% | 23.7 | +0.10 | |
| All 60 g | 144 of 507 28% | 46% | 58% | 23.0 | +0.01 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.