Very busy day in the football offices. In addition to all the LOI's rolling in the athletic department announced two new staff members to replace ousted coaches Greg Forest and Juan Taylor
(Coach) Quinn has hired Alex Wood as offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach as well as Don Patterson as quarterbacks coach. Both coaches have a connection to Iowa, where Wood is a 1979 graduate and Patterson spent over 20 years on Hayden Fry's Hawkeye staff. -- UB Athletics
I had speculated that the new OC should double as the wide receivers coach but I was way off on where the coaches would come from.
Wood has more than 30 years of experience at the Division I level, he has also been a coordinator in the National Football League. He spent the past season as wide receivers coach at Miami University where he helped the RedHawks claim a Mid-American Conference championship a year removed from winning just one game.
Patterson has most recently served as a head coach at the Football Championship Series (FCS) level with Western Illinois. Patterson spent 10 seasons at Western Illinois, compiling a 62-45 overall record before illness forced him to step away from coaching for a year.
Before that he had a 20-year run with famed Iowa head coach Hayden Fry, part of a coaching tree that includes Wisconsin's Bret Bielema, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and Arizona's Mike Stoops.
UB Blurb After the Jump
BUFFALO, NY – University at Buffalo head football coach Jeff Quinn has announced two new additions to his coaching staff, both with Division I head coaching experience, and both boasting resumes that have seen success at the highest levels of college football.
Quinn has hired Alex Wood as offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach as well as Don Patterson as quarterbacks coach. Both coaches have a connection to Iowa, where Wood is a 1979 graduate and Patterson spent over 20 years on Hayden Fry's Hawkeye staff.
"It is a pleasure to welcome both Alex Wood and Don Patterson as the newest members of the UB coaching staff," said head coach Jeff Quinn. "Both had many opportunities and chose to be a part of this great University and football program at Buffalo.
"They are both great teachers, extremely knowledgeable, have coached at the highest level, are tremendous motivators, loyal, and can recruit," said Quinn. "They know how to win and our players will love playing for them."
Wood brings with him over 30 years of experience at the Division I level and he has also served as a coordinator in the National Football League. He spent the past season as wide receivers coach at Miami University where he helped the RedHawks claim a Mid-American Conference championship a year removed from winning just one game.
His coaching career is highlighted by tremendous success at the highest levels of both college and professional football. From 1989-93 he was part of Dennis Erickson's staff for the Miami Hurricanes, coaching the running backs, while helping the Canes to a pair of National Championships (1989 and 1991) and a perfect 12-0 season in 1991.
Wood has also been a wide receiver coach in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals, a quarterback coach for the Minnesota Vikings and the offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals.
After serving as offensive coordinator for two seasons at Wake Forest (1993-94), he was named as the head football coach at James Madison University. Wood led the Dukes to an 8-4 record in his first season including a trip to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. In his four-year tenure at JMU, Wood compiled a record of 23-22.
Wood moved into the pro ranks in 1999, when he was hired by Dennis Green as the quarterbacks coach of the Minnesota Vikings. He spent four seasons with the Vikings' organization. In his first year with the team, the Vikings selected Daunte Culpepper in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft. By Culpepper's second season, the young star not only took over the starting quarterback job but earned a start for the National Football Conference (NFC) in the Pro Bowl. He tied for the NFL lead with 33 passing touchdowns and ranked second in the NFC with 3,937 yards. Culpepper led the Vikings to the NFC Central title and a spot in the conference championship game.
In 2001, Culpepper was lost to a season-ending injury but still managed to finish third in the NFC in completion percentage (64.2). The Culpepper-Wood combination was back at it again in 2002. Culpepper spearheaded the NFL's second-ranked offensive unit and in the process the Vikings' quarterback finished second in the NFC in passing yardage (3,853) for the second time in Wood's tenure.
Wood was named wide receivers coach by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2003. In his one year in Cincinnati, Wood coached two players in the top 10 of receiving yards in the AFC (Chad Johnson and Peter Warrick). Johnson led the AFC with 1,355 yards on 90 receptions. He also had 10 touchdown receptions.
In 2004, Wood rejoined Green on the staff of the Arizona Cardinals. Wood served one season as the offensive coordinator for the Cardinals, overseeing the offensive staff and handling play-calling responsibilities.
He spent the 2006-07 seasons as the passing game coordinator at the University of Arkansas and ultimately ended up back in the Midwest helping the RedHawks of Miami become the first team in Division I history to go from one victory to double digit wins.
Wood is a native of Massillon, Ohio, and was a standout football player and wrestler at Washington High School. He and his wife, Rosa, have three children--Jerrel, Alex and Natalie. His son Alex is the defensive coordinator at Wayne (NE) State College.
Patterson, meanwhile, has a long and decorated coaching career, including tremendous success as a head coach at the Football Championship Series (FCS) level with Western Illinois. Patterson spent 10 seasons at Western Illinois, compiling a 62-45 overall record before illness forced him to step away from coaching for a year.
Patterson led the Leathernecks to three playoff berths, a pair of Gateway Football Conference titles and a No. 1 national ranking during his tenure. In his decade as head coach, Patterson produced 108 all-conference honorees, 34 academic all-conference selections, 59 All-Americans, including two consensus all-Americans, and two academic All-Americans.
Patterson came to Western Illinois after a 20-year run with famed Iowa head coach Hayden Fry, part of a coaching tree that includes Wisconsin's Bret Bielema, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and Arizona's Mike Stoops.
During his tenure at Iowa, the Hawkeyes appeared in 14 bowl games, including three Rose Bowls. The 1985 Iowa team was ranked No. 1 in the nation for five weeks, en route to a school-record 10 wins. Under Patterson's guidance, the Iowa offense was explosive, leading the Big Ten in rushing (217.0 yards/game) and scoring (34.3 points/game) while finishing second in pass efficiency in 1997. Iowa finished the 1997 campaign ranked eighth in the nation in rushing offense and ninth in scoring, and had its highest pass efficiency ranking of any Iowa team since 1985.
Patterson was instrumental in Iowa's success, making the Hawkeyes one of only three Big Ten teams (also Ohio State and Michigan) to play in 14 bowl games during his tenure. Iowa appeared in the Rose Bowl after the 1981, 1985 and 1990 seasons, and made eight consecutive bowl appearances from 1981-88. The success of the Hawkeyes was immediate upon Patterson's arrival with Fry, evidenced by a Rose Bowl berth in their third season (1981), which was Iowa's first Rose Bowl appearance since 1958. Iowa ranked third among Big Ten teams in victories from 1979-98, and was one of three Big Ten teams to win more than 100 games between 1984-98.
From 1979-98 the Hawkeyes produced 38 first-team all-Big Ten selections, as well as six special teams first-teamers. Six Hawkeyes were first round NFL draft picks while five others were chosen in the second round and seven more in the third. Patterson directly coached five of Iowa's top seven career receivers, with the other two playing during his time. Prior to being named offensive coordinator, Patterson coached the Iowa tight ends - two of which, Marv Cook and Jonathan Hayes, enjoyed lengthy NFL careers.
Patterson was the last member of Fry's original Hawkeye staff. His association with Fry began in 1978 as an assistant at North Texas State coaching the defensive secondary. He joined Fry, serving in the same capacity, at Iowa in 1979. He served as recruiting coordinator in 1980 before coaching tight ends in 1981, a segment he coached until he began instructing quarterbacks and receivers in 1989.
The 1973 West Point graduate served on the cadet honor committee and was named to the highest-ranking cadet staff while at the Academy. He and his wife, Lisa, have a daughter, Brooke, who earned her doctorate in pharmacy from Purdue University.