David Lee (American football coach)

{{Short description|American football player and coach (born 1953)}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = David Lee

| image = David Lee Chad Pennington.jpg

| alt = Candid photograph of Lee wearing a green polo shirt and headset standing on a football sideline and gesturing with his right hand in a conversation with Chad Pennington who is wearing a Miami Dolphins uniform

| caption = Lee (left) with quarterback Chad Pennington in 2009

| current_team =

| position = Quarterback

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|7|2|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Dexter, Missouri, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| high_school = Woodham
(Pensacola, Florida)

| college = Vanderbilt

| pastcoaching = * Tennessee–Martin (1975–1976)
Quarterbacks coach & wide receivers coach

Vanderbilt (1977)
Quarterbacks coach
Ole Miss (1978–1982)
Quarterbacks coach
New Mexico (1983)
Offensive coordinator
Arkansas (1984–1987)
Quarterbacks coach & fullbacks coach
Arkansas (1988)
Offensive coordinator
UTEP (1989–1993)
Head coach
Rice (1994–2000)
Offensive coordinator & quarterbacks coach
Arkansas (2001–2002)
Quarterbacks coach
Dallas Cowboys ({{nfly|2003}}–{{nfly|2004}})
Offensive quality control coach
Dallas Cowboys ({{nfly|2005}}–{{nfly|2006}})
Quarterbacks coach
Arkansas (2007)
Offensive coordinator
Miami Dolphins ({{nfly|2008}}–{{nfly|2010}})
Quarterbacks coach
Ole Miss (2011)
Offensive coordinator
Buffalo Bills ({{nfly|2012}})
Quarterbacks coach
New York Jets ({{nfly|2013}}–{{nfly|2014}})
Quarterbacks coach
Buffalo Bills ({{nfly|2015}}–{{nfly|2016}})
Quarterbacks coach
Cleveland Browns ({{nfly|2017}})
Quarterbacks coach
Memphis Express (2019)
Quarterbacks coach

| highlights =

| regular_record = NCAA: {{Winning percentage|11|41|1|record=y}}

| playoff_record =

| overall_record =

| pfrcoach =

}}

David Lee (born July 2, 1953) is an American football coach and former player. Lee has spent many years as a quarterbacks coach, and has served as the head coach of the UTEP Miners.

College

Lee attended Vanderbilt University from 1971 to 1975 where he earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1975. As the quarterback for the Vanderbilt Commodores football team, he served as team captain and was named the team's most valuable player in 1974. Lee went on to lead his team to a record of record of 7–3–2 including a 6–6 tie against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Peach Bowl.

Coaching career

=College=

Lee began his coaching career at the University of Tennessee at Martin as the quarterbacks and receivers coach. During his time at the University of Tennessee at Martin, he organized the first Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter in the school's history.

He then left Tennessee-Martin to return to his alma mater, Vanderbilt University, where he coached as the quarterbacks coach for one season. He then spent the next five season as a quarterbacks coach (1978–1982) with the University of Mississippi. In 1983, he served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of New Mexico. Lee left the University of New Mexico to join the University of Arkansas coaching staff. He coached at the University of Arkansas for four years under Ken Hatfield. During his four years as the Razorbacks quarterbacks coach, Lee helped direct the Razorback teams with a record of 45–15–1 as well as five consecutive bowl appearances and was also promoted to offensive coordinator at the University of Arkansas in 1988 where he help lead the Razorbacks to a Southwest Conference title. In 1989, he accepted his first head coaching job with the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) from 1989 to 1993 and posted a record of 11–41–1. In 1994, Lee joined the Hatfield's coaching staff at Rice University as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach where he helped lead Rice to a share of the Southwest Conference title. Lee returned to Arkansas in 2001 and helped the Razorbacks to a Southeastern Conference Western Division title.{{Cite web |date=2007-01-17 |title=Cowboys assistant coach Lee returning to Arkansas |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=2733923 |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=ESPN.com|agency=Associated Press |language=en}}

=Professional=

Lee accepted a professional football coaching position with the Dallas Cowboys in 2003. As an offensive assistant and offensive quality control coach in his first year with the Cowboys, he helped the Cowboys offense finish 15th overall which was a moderate improvement from the 2002 season. In his third year, his role with the Cowboys increased as he became the quarterbacks coach.

=Return to coaching college=

Following his fourth year with the Cowboys as offensive quality control, Lee returned to the University of Arkansas as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2007. Lee followed Houston Nutt to Ole Miss to be their offensive coordinator, however, his old boss, Bill Parcells—the Miami Dolphins new VP of Football Operations—hired Lee to be the Dolphins quarterback coach for the 2008 season. Lee was named “Innovator of the Year” 2008 by Sporting News for introducing the “Wildcat offense” to the NFL.

After finishing a two-year stint at Miami, on Monday January 11, 2011 Lee was brought back to the University of Mississippi as offensive coordinator under head coach Houston Nutt.

=Buffalo Bills=

Following the departure of George Cortez who took a job as the head coach of the Hamilton TigerCats of the CFL, The Buffalo Bills hired Lee on January 13, 2012 to be the Quarterback coach under Chan Gailey.{{cite web|last=Brown |first=Chris |url=http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/Bills-agree-to-terms-with-new-QBs-coach/3f328061-2c08-47dc-b12e-4574128647e7 |title=Bills agree to terms with new QBs coach |publisher=Buffalobills.com |date=January 13, 2012 |access-date=September 1, 2013}} He, along with the entire Bills coaching staff, was dismissed on December 31, 2012.{{cite web|url=http://blogs.buffalonews.com/press-coverage/2012/12/yyyyy-draft-of-a-story-yyyyy.html|title=Bills make it official: Gailey is fired|last=Gaughan|first=Mark|date=December 31, 2012|work=The Buffalo News|access-date=December 31, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102155237/http://blogs.buffalonews.com/press-coverage/2012/12/yyyyy-draft-of-a-story-yyyyy.html|archive-date=January 2, 2013|url-status=dead}}

=New York Jets=

On January 20, 2013, Lee was hired as the QB Coach for the New York Jets.{{cite news|title=NY Jets reportedly hire David Lee as quarterbacks coach to tutor struggling Mark Sanchez|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/lee-jets-new-qb-coach-article-1.1243721|access-date=January 18, 2015}}

=Buffalo Bills=

On January 19, 2015, Lee was hired as the QB Coach for the Buffalo Bills.{{cite web|title=David Lee named Bills QB coach|url=http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/David-Lee-named-Bills-QB-coach/a804232e-e4ee-43c2-87c7-97363072a8fe|publisher=Buffalo Bills|author=Buffalo Bills|date=January 19, 2015|access-date=January 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122071036/http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/David-Lee-named-Bills-QB-coach/a804232e-e4ee-43c2-87c7-97363072a8fe|archive-date=January 22, 2015|url-status=dead}} He left this job on February 8, 2017, when he was hired as QB coach of the Cleveland Browns.

=Cleveland Browns=

On February 8, 2017, Lee was named QB coach for the Cleveland Browns by Browns coach Hue Jackson.{{Cite web|url=http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/02/08/browns-hire-david-lee-as-quarterbacks-coach/|title = Browns hire David Lee as quarterbacks coach|date = 8 February 2017}} On January 12, 2018, it was announced that Lee was fired as the Browns' QB coach.{{Cite web|url=https://247sports.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/Article/Ken-Zampese-to-coach-quarterbacks-Kirby-Wilson-David-Lee-two-other-coaches-let-go-113612188|title = Zampese to coach QB's; Kirby Wilson, David Lee, 2 others let go}}

=Memphis Express=

On October 9, 2018, Lee was named QB coach for the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football.{{cite web|last=Greer|first=Jarvis|url=https://www.wmcactionnews5.com/2018/10/10/memphis-express-names-assistant-coaches/|title=Memphis Express names assistant coaches|publisher=WMC-TV|date=October 9, 2018|access-date=October 13, 2018}}

Personal life

Lee spent most of his childhood in Dexter, Missouri. He then attended Woodham High School in Pensacola, Florida, where he graduated in 1971. Lee is currently married to Lynne Kazanowski. The couple have four children (daughters Dana and Shannon, and sons Brian and Jordan).

Head coaching record

{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = UTEP Miners

| conf = Western Athletic Conference

| startyear = 1989

| endyear = 1993

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1989

| name = UTEP

| overall = 2–10

| conference = 1–7

| confstanding = 8th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1990

| name = UTEP

| overall = 3–8

| conference = 1–7

| confstanding = 9th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1991

| name = UTEP

| overall = 4–7–1

| conference = 2–5–1

| confstanding = T–6th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1992

| name = UTEP

| overall = 1–10

| conference = 1–7

| confstanding = 10th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1993

| name = UTEP

| overall = 1–6{{#tag:ref|Charlie Bailey served as UTEP's head coach for the final five games of the season. UTEP finished the season at 1–11 overall and 0–8 in conference, placing tenth. |group=n|name=1993season}}

| conference = 0–3

| confstanding =

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = UTEP

| overall = 11–41–1

| confrecord = 5–29–1