Robert Damien DeBesse aka uncle Bob (born September 30, 1959) 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. He was most recently the

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 ...

and quarterbacks coach of the

Georgia Southern Eagles The Georgia Southern Eagles are the athletic team(s) of Georgia Southern University (GS). The Eagles compete in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A) and are members of the NCAA Division I Sun Belt Conference. Prior to jo ...

. He was relieved of his duties by Head Coach

Chad Lunsford Chad Kevin Lunsford (born February 24, 1977) is an American football coach who currently serves as the special teams coordinator for the Auburn Tigers, a position he has held since 2025. He previously served as the head coach of the Georgia Sout ...

during the 2020 season. DeBesse attended Stratford High School in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and earned his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in education at the

Southwest Texas State University Texas State University (TXST) is a public research university with its main campus in San Marcos, Texas, United States, and another campus in Round Rock. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to be one of the largest univer ...

in 1982. He began his coaching career as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

at Southwest Texas State, before being hired as an offensive assistant to

Jim Wacker James Herbert Wacker (April 28, 1937 – August 26, 2003) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Texas Lutheran University (1971–1975), North Dakota State University (1976–1 ...

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

. In 1990 he was appointed offensive coordinator. DeBesse followed Wacker to

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

in 1992. He succeeded Jim Bob Helduser as

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

at his alma mater in 1997. After mediocre success, DeBesse was replaced by

Manny Matsakis Emmanouel M. Matsakis (born April 16, 1962) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently head coach of the Ohio Valley Ironmen, a minor league football team. Matsakis has also served as the head football coach at Emporia St ...

in 2003. He joined

Joe Tiller Joseph Henry Tiller (December 7, 1942 – September 30, 2017) was an American football offensive lineman and coach. He served as the head coach of the Calgary Stampeders as an interim head coach in 1976, University of Wyoming from 1991 to 1996, ...

's staff at

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

wide receivers A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense, WR gets its name from the player being spli ...

coach. From 2006 to 2007, he coached the same position under

Dennis Franchione Dennis Wayne Franchione (born March 28, 1951) is an American former college football coach. He is the former head football coach at Texas State University–San Marcos, Texas State University, a position he held from 1990 to 1991, when the school ...

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. Coach Dennis Franchione resigned from Texas A&M University at the end of the 2007. Bob Debesse wasn't retained by the newly hired head coach of Texas A&M University and has since been hired to coach the defensive backs at

A&M Consolidated High School A&M Consolidated High School, also known as "Consol", is a public high school located in the city of College Station, Texas, United States. It is classified as a 5A school by the UIL. The school is part of the College Station Independent School ...

located in

College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, United States, situated in East-Central Texas in the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin, ...

. In January 2010 DeBesse was hired as the offensive coordinator at

Sam Houston State University Sam Houston State University (Sam Houston, SHSU or Sam) is a public research university in Huntsville, Texas, United States. Founded in 1879, it is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools wes ...

. Following his time at SHSU, he spent five years as OC at New Mexico. Debesse then became Offensive Coordinator at Georgia Southern. Note: Quarterbacks coach, the same position DeBesse held at Texas Christian University, University of Minnesota and Texas A&M University.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Georgia Southern profile
1959 births Living people Georgia Southern Eagles football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches New Mexico Lobos football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football coaches Sam Houston Bearkats football coaches TCU Horned Frogs football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches Texas State Bobcats football coaches High school football coaches in Texas Sports coaches from Boston Sportspeople from Houston {{1990s-collegefootball-coach-stub