James Robert Cooter (born July 3, 1984) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach who is 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 ...

of the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

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 previously served as the

for 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 ...

from 2015 until 2018, and also worked as running backs coach for the

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

. 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 ...

for the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

, and started out coaching for his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

before becoming an NFL coach.

Early life and education

Jim Bob Cooter attended Lincoln County High School in

Fayetteville, Tennessee Fayetteville is the county seat and the largest city in Lincoln County, Tennessee, United States. The city's population was 7,095 at the 2020 census. History Fayetteville is the largest city in Lincoln County. The city was established in 1809 ...

, and the

, where he was a backup

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 the

Tennessee Volunteers football The Tennessee Volunteers football program (variously called "Vols," "UT" and "Big Orange") represents the University of Tennessee (UT). The Vols have played football for 132 seasons, starting in 1891; their combined record of 870–415–53 ( ...

team. He appeared in three games for the Volunteers, and was named to the Academic All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

team.

Coaching career

Early career

Cooter served as a graduate assistant for Tennessee in 2007 and 2008. He was then hired as an offensive assistant by the

, working for them from 2009 through 2011. Cooter served as the offensive quality control coach for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

in 2012 and then joined the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

as an offensive assistant in 2013 with the support of

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...

Detroit Lions

The Lions hired Cooter as their quarterbacks coach in 2014. After the season, they denied a request of the

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 ...

, who wanted to interview him for their offensive coordinator position. The Lions promoted Cooter to offensive coordinator during the 2015 season, after former offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi was fired midseason. He remained the offensive coordinator for the Lions until January 1, 2019, when it was announced that the Lions would not be renewing his contract.

New York Jets

On February 8, 2019, the New York Jets hired Cooter as the running backs coach under new head coach Adam Gase.

Philadelphia Eagles

While not officially on the coaching staff, Cooter spent the 2021 season as an independent consultant for the

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 ...

. Head coach Nick Sirianni, who had coached with Cooter with the Kansas City Chiefs 2012, "nonchalantly" announced this during a press conference after tying the

early in the season, stating:

I thought the operation was really good. I was calling the play to ffensive coordinatorShane teichen Shane did a good job of getting the call in there when we're in 2-minute situations. assing game coordinatorKevin Patullo is really doing a lot of, "Hey, here's our scenario of what we're in." And Jim Bob Cooter is getting all the scenarios from the 2-minute around the league so we can prepare for it.

During follow-up questions, Sirianni went on to clarify Cooter's role with the team:

Obviously, he's got a lot of experience and he's a great football mind. I think very highly of him. So, he's doing special projects for me and consulting here, which has been great. If I see a play or if we talk about a play that -- I just think this is really important. When you put a new play into your system that you maybe saw on tape, I think it's very easy for a coach to do that and be like, "Oh, I saw that on tape. This looks great. I'm just going to through it my offense." Well, do you know everything there is to know about that play? I'm not saying Jim Bob knows everything there is to know about every play, but what he is able to do is while we're doing something else, he's able to go research that play. I've already seen the benefit of that with a couple new wrinkles we have in this offense. So really excited to have him. I haven't really ever had that on a staff, and sometimes it deters you from putting in a play that you might like. So we have really gotten a lot out of him and really excited he's here.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On February 17, 2022, Cooter was hired by 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 ...

as their passing game coordinator under head coach Doug Pederson.

Indianapolis Colts

On February 20, 2023, Cooter was hired as an

by the

Personal life

Cooter is from Fayetteville. He was arrested for

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (drug), alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether re ...

in June 2006, and was suspended from the Volunteers as a result. In 2009, he was charged with aggravated burglary after climbing into a window and getting into a woman's bed. The charges were later dropped.

References

External links

Indianapolis Colts profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooter, Jim Bob Living people 1984 births American football quarterbacks Denver Broncos coaches Detroit Lions coaches Indianapolis Colts coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Kansas City Chiefs coaches NFL offensive coordinators People from Lincoln County, Tennessee Tennessee Volunteers football players Coaches of American football from Tennessee