William V. Lazor (born June 14, 1972) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who is the senior offensive assistant for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Lazor has previously served as the quarterbacks coach for the

Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division ...

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

, and

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

. He is also the former offensive coordinator of the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

, and

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

as a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

from 1991 to 1993.

Playing career

Lazor played football at

Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

before graduating in 1994. He was a three-year starting quarterback and graduated with 26 passing and total offensive program records.

Coaching career

Atlanta Falcons

Lazor entered the NFL coaching ranks in 2003 under head coach

Dan Reeves Daniel Edward Reeves (January 19, 1944 – January 1, 2022) was an American professional football running back and coach in the National Football League (NFL). During his 38 years in the NFL, Reeves participated in nine Super Bowls, the third ...

as the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

offensive quality control coach.

Washington Redskins

Lazor spent four seasons with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

, two of which were spent as the quarterbacks coach for head coach

Joe Gibbs Joseph Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former American football, football coach. He served as the head coach of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 Washingto ...

. During the 2004 and 2005 seasons, Lazor served as an offensive assistant.

Seattle Seahawks

Lazor coached quarterbacks for two seasons with the

under head coaches

Mike Holmgren Michael George Holmgren (born June 15, 1948) is an American former American football, football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career as a quarterbacks' coach and later as an offensive coordinator wit ...

and Jim Mora.

University of Virginia

On January 28, 2010, Lazor was officially announced as the new

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

of the University of Virginia Cavaliers.

Philadelphia Eagles

On January 29, 2013, Lazor accepted a position with the Philadelphia Eagles as the quarterbacks coach, coaching alongside

Chip Kelly Charles Edward Kelly (born November 25, 1963) is an American professional American football, football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as a college foo ...

Miami Dolphins

On January 15, 2014, Lazor was named offensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins. He was fired on November 30, 2015.

Cincinnati Bengals

On January 18, 2016, Lazor was named quarterback coach for the Cincinnati Bengals, replacing recently promoted Ken Zampese. On September 15, 2017, Lazor was named the Bengals offensive coordinator, taking the place of the recently fired Zampese. Lazor was promoted to full time offensive coordinator for the Bengals on January 3, 2018. On January 11, 2019, Lazor was fired by the Bengals.

Chicago Bears

On January 16, 2020, Lazor was hired by the

as their offensive coordinator, replacing Mark Helfrich. On November 13, 2020, head coach

Matt Nagy Matthew Nagy ( or ; born April 24, 1978) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was the head coach of the Chicago ...

relinquished play-calling duties to Lazor. The Bears offense noticeably improved, increasing from scoring an average of 19 points per game in the first 9 weeks of the season, compared to the 27 points per game in the latter 5 weeks where Lazor was in charge. On April 2, 2021, head coach

announced during a press conference that he would resume calling plays in the 2021 season. During the post game press conference after the week 4 win at home against the Detroit Lions, head coach

announced that he allowed Bill Lazor to act as the play caller following a highly criticized 26–6 loss on the road against the Cleveland Browns in week 3, In the same press conference, Nagy did not explicitly say that Lazor would continue calling plays alone going forward, rather Nagy continued to be vague regarding the future of the play calling. He was let go by the Bears after the 2021 season.

Houston Texans

On February 24, 2023, Lazor was hired to be the

Senior offensive assistant.

Personal life

Lazor earned his bachelor's degree in Human Development and Family Studies from

in 1994. He is married to wife Nicole, with whom he has three kids, Nolan, Marin, and Charlotte.

References

External links

Virginia Cavaliers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazor, Bill 1972 births Living people American football quarterbacks Atlanta Falcons coaches Buffalo Bulls football coaches Cincinnati Bengals players Cornell Big Red football players Cornell Big Red football coaches Players of American football from Scranton, Pennsylvania Seattle Seahawks coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches Washington Redskins coaches Miami Dolphins coaches Philadelphia Eagles coaches Cincinnati Bengals coaches Chicago Bears coaches Houston Texans coaches NFL offensive coordinators Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania