Former Tennessee backup quarterback and longtime NFL assistant Jim Bob Cooter is returning to the Indianapolis Colts as the new offensive coordinator under Shane Steichen, according to ESPN on Monday.
Cooter was a Tennessee football player in the mid-2000s and was named to the Academic All-SEC team during his time in Knoxville. Cooter appeared in three games for Tennessee as a backup quarterback.
Following his career as a player, Cooter then became a graduate assistant with the Tennessee football program in 2007 and 2008 before moving to the Indianapolis Colts as an offensive assistant from 2009 to 2011. Cooter’s first two years in Indianapolis saw VFL Peyton Manning as the Colts’ quarterback before Manning was forced to sit out of the 2011 season due to a neck injury.
After the 2011 season, Manning would move to Denver while Cooter would head to Kansas City to become an offensive analyst with the Chiefs. One year later, in 2013, Manning and Cooter would reunite once again in Denver as Cooter became an offensive analyst for the Broncos.
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Jim Bob Cooter then served as the quarterback’s coach of the Detroit Lions from 2014-2015 and was the Lions’ offensive coordinator from 2016 to 2017. Cooter was also the New York Jets running backs coach in 2019 and 2020, was a consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021, and was the Jacksonville Jaguars passing game coordinator during their breakout season in 2022.
Now, after 11 years away, Cooter is returning to the Indianapolis Colts to be the offensive coordinator for newly hired head coach Shane Steichen.
Jim Bob Cooter has had plenty of success coaching quarterbacks during his time in the NFL. It makes sense why the Colts would want to pair Cooter’s track record with whichever young quarterback they end up taking in the 2023 NFL Draft. Jim Irsay, by the way, teased that to be Alabama’s Bryce Young in the last week.
Cooter has worked with Peyton Manning, Matthew Stafford, Jalen Hurts, and Trevor Lawrence throughout his career. Three of those quarterbacks have Super Bowl experience (Manning and Stafford having won the game) while Lawrence took the Jaguars to the AFC Divisional round this past season.
Cooter is from Fayetteville, Tennessee, and graduated from Lincoln County High School.
