Jerry Sullivan (born July 13, 1944) is a former

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 was an offensive assistant for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

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). He spent 25 years in the NFL, 24 of them as a

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. He also spent over 20-years as a college football coach.

Collegiate coaching career

His first coaching job was with Kansas state in 1971. From 1973 to 1974, Sullivan was an assistant coach with the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas, United States. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams us ...

under head coach

Jim Carlen James Anthony Carlen III (July 11, 1933 – July 22, 2012) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at West Virginia University (1966–1969) and Texas Tech University (197 ...

. Sullivan then became wide receivers coach at

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

from 1976 to 1982. In 1983, he spent a one-season as the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the demonym for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

wide receivers coach. From 1984 to 1990, Sullivan moved to

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

as the wide receivers coach and he was also the wide receivers coach at

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

in 1991. In 2017, Sullivan returned to the college ranks as a football consultant at LSU primarily focusing on wide receivers. On January 11, 2018, he moved to a full-time role on the coaching staff as senior offensive assistant/passing game coordinator. On January 9, 2019, Sullivan announced his retirement.

Professional coaching career

In 1992, Sullivan moved to the professional coaching ranks with the NFL

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

. He remained Chargers wide receivers coach until 1996. He then became the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

wide receivers coach from 1997 to 2000. Starting in 2001, he was wide receivers coach with the

for two-seasons before being promoted to

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 ...

for the

2003 NFL season The 2003 NFL season was the 84th regular season of the National Football League (NFL). Regular-season play was held from September 4, 2003, to December 28, 2003. Due to damage caused by the Cedar Fire, Qualcomm Stadium was used as an emergen ...

. Sullivan then became 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 ...

wide receivers coach in 2004 and from 2005 to 2010 he was the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

wide receivers coach. From 2012 to 2016, he was the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

wide receivers coach. On August 12, 2019, it was announced Sullivan would rejoin the Cardinals as an offensive assistant and help coach the Cardinals' wide receivers. On May 10, 2022, it was announced Sullivan had retired again after the 2021 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Jerry 1944 births Living people Arizona Cardinals coaches Detroit Lions coaches Florida State Seminoles football players Indiana Hoosiers football coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Kansas State Wildcats football coaches LSU Tigers football coaches Miami Dolphins coaches NFL offensive coordinators Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches San Diego Chargers coaches San Francisco 49ers coaches South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches Texas Tech Red Raiders football coaches Sports coaches from Miami Players of American football from Miami