Alfonza "Pep" Hamilton (born September 19, 1974) is an

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

coach who is the offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He previously served as the quarterbacks coach for the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

and served as the head coach and general manager of the

DC Defenders The DC Defenders are a professional American football team based in Washington, D.C. The team was founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL owned by Dwayne Johnson’s Alpha Acquico. Th ...

of the XFL.

Playing career

College

A native of

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

who graduated from

West Charlotte High School West Charlotte High School (also called Dub-C or WC) is a comprehensive high school in west Charlotte, near Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is state-funded. History West Charlotte High School was founded in 1938. The original ...

, Hamilton played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

from 1993 to 1996 at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

. While at Howard, Hamilton earned the team's scholar-athlete award in 1995 and 1996.

Coaching career

Early career

Hamilton started his coaching career at

, where he served as the team's

quarterbacks coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

before becoming the team's offensive coordinator. Hamilton coached in the

for the New York Jets and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-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 of the league's National ...

before taking a position as quarterbacks coach for 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

on March 5, 2007.

College coaching

In 2010, Hamilton was hired by the

University of New Mexico Lobos The New Mexico Lobos are the athletic teams that represent the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque. The university participates in the NCAA Division I in the Mountain West Conference (MW) since 1999, after leaving the Western Athlet ...

after

Tee Martin Tamaurice Nigel "Tee" Martin (born July 25, 1978) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach at th ...

left for the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,47 ...

and was named co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. However, after Ron Turner left

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

for 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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 20 ...

, Hamilton left New Mexico before the start of the season to be the wide receivers coach at Stanford. In 2011, he was promoted to offensive coordinator under new head coach David Shaw.

Indianapolis Colts

In 2013, Hamilton was named as the new offensive coordinator of the

, after former OC

Bruce Arians Bruce Charles Arians (born October 3, 1952) is an American football executive and former coach in the National Football League (NFL). Since 2022, he has been a senior football consultant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Arians was previously the he ...

left to become the head coach of 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, an ...

. The move reunited Hamilton with former Stanford starting quarterback

Andrew Luck Andrew Austen Luck (born September 12, 1989) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. One of the most highly touted amateur prospects during his ...

, tight end

Coby Fleener Jacoby Fleener (born September 20, 1988) is a former American football tight end. After playing at Joliet Catholic Academy during high school, Fleener played college football at Stanford University. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in ...

, and wide receiver

Griff Whalen Griff Whalen (born March 1, 1990) is a former football wide receiver. He played college football at Stanford and was signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Whalen has also been a member of the Miami Dolphins, San ...

. Hamilton turned down an offer to become the offensive coordinator of the

Virginia Tech Hokies The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams representing the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in intercollegiate athletics. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 22 v ...

, citing a desire to be reunited with his former protege

. On December 30, 2014 the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

interviewed Hamilton concerning their coaching vacancy, but opted to hire

Jack Del Rio Jack Louis Del Rio Jr. (born April 4, 1963) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a linebacker at the University of Sout ...

. On November 3, 2015, the Colts fired Hamilton.

Cleveland Browns

In January 2016, Hamilton was named as the associate head coach and quarterbacks coach for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Michigan Wolverines

In 2017, Hamilton was signed by the Wolverines to a four-year $4.25m contract.

DC Defenders

In February 2019, Hamilton joined the XFL's

to be their

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all ...

for the

2020 XFL season The 2020 XFL season was the first season in the reboot of the XFL, and the second in the history of the XFL brand created and owned by professional wrestling magnate Vince McMahon, coming 19 years after the 2001 XFL season. The season began on F ...

Los Angeles Chargers

In April 2020, Hamilton joined the

to be their quarterbacks coach for the

2020 NFL season The 2020 NFL season was the 101st season of the National Football League (NFL). The regular season started with the NFL Kickoff Game on September 10, in which defending Super Bowl LIV champion Kansas City defeated Houston. The playoffs wer ...

. He was an integral part of the success of

Justin Herbert Justin Patrick Herbert (born March 10, 1998) is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oregon, where he won the 2019 Pac-12 Championship and was named ...

who won the offensive rookie of the year award.

Houston Texans

On March 10, 2021, Hamilton was hired by the Houston Texans as their passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach under head coach

David Culley David Wayne Culley (born September 17, 1955) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach of the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). Culley has 45 years of coaching experience in both collegiate an ...

. On February 7, 2022, Hamilton was promoted to offensive coordinator.

Head coaching record

XFL

References

External links

Michigan profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Pep Living people 1974 births African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football American football quarterbacks Chicago Bears coaches Cleveland Browns coaches DC Defenders coaches Houston Texans coaches Howard Bison football coaches Howard Bison football players Indianapolis Colts coaches Los Angeles Chargers coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches National Football League offensive coordinators New York Jets coaches Players of American football from North Carolina San Francisco 49ers coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches Sportspeople from Charlotte, North Carolina 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople