Timothy Frederick Lester (born February 8, 1977) 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

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 ...

at the University of Iowa football. He was previously on the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

coaching staff. Prior to that, Lester was the head football coach at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. B ...

from 2017 to 2022. He played

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 ...

at Western Michigan from 1996 to 1999 and professionally for the

Chicago Enforcers The Chicago Enforcers were an American football team of the XFL based at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. The XFL was begun by Vince McMahon of the WWE and by NBC, a major television network in the United States. NBC dropped XFL broadcasts ...

of the XFL in 2001. He then served as the head football coach at Saint Joseph's College in 2004 and at

Elmhurst College Elmhurst University is a private university in Elmhurst, Illinois, United States. It has a tradition of service-oriented learning and an affiliation with the United Church of Christ. The university changed its name from Elmhurst College on July ...

from 2008 to 2012.

Early life

Lester attended

Wheaton Warrenville South High School Wheaton Warrenville South High School (WWSHS), locally referred to as "South", is a public four-year high school in Wheaton, Illinois. It is one of two high schools part of Community Unit School District 200 (DuPage County, Illinois), Community ...

Wheaton, Illinois Wheaton is a city in and the county seat of DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It is located in Milton and Winfield Townships, approximately west of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, Wheaton's population was 53,970, making it the 27th-mos ...

. As a senior, Lester threw for 1,732 yards and 17

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s (TDs) with two interceptions before succumbing to a knee injury in the playoffs. He was subsequently named second-team all-state by the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''. In two years as a starting quarterback, he completed 60 percent of his passes for 3,632 yards and 38 TDs with six interceptions. Prior to his injury, Lester had been considered a

blue chip Blue chip may refer to: * Blue casino token * Blue chip (stock market), a corporation with a national reputation for quality, reliability, and the ability to operate profitably * Blue chip (sports), collegiate athletes who are targeted by professio ...

prospect and planned on committing to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and head coach

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former football player and coach. He played ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often referred to by his nicknam ...

College career

Lester threw for 11,299 passing yards with 87 TDs during his career, setting 17 school records after being recruited to WMU and winning MAC Freshman of the Year under head coach

Al Molde Al Molde (born November 15, 1943) is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Sioux Falls College (1971–1972), the University of Minnesota Morris (1973–1979), Central Mis ...

and subsequently

Gary Darnell Gary Brent Darnell (born October 15, 1948) is an American former college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Tennessee Technological University from 1983 to 1985 and Western Michigan University from 1997 to 2004 and ...

and

Bill Cubit William John Cubit (; born October 14, 1953) is an American football coach and former player. Cubit was the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, first on an interim basis in the 2015 season and then promoted t ...

. Lester finished his career ranked fourth all time in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

for passing yards and sixth in touchdowns. Following his senior season, Lester participated in the 1999 Blue-Gray Classic. In 2011, Lester was named to the Western Michigan University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Although Lester was scouted by several professional teams in college, he went undrafted in the

2000 NFL draft The 2000 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Theat ...

. Lester was drafted by the

in the sixth round of the 2001 XFL Draft. He played in four games, completing 40 of 76 passes for 554 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions, and losing all four games as started; he was benched and eventually released midseason. Lester also spent time in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

in 2001 with the

Nashville Kats The Nashville Kats were an Arena Football League team, located in Nashville, Tennessee. They were last coached by Pat Sperduto, who coached the team's original incarnation to two ArenaBowl appearances prior to the original franchise's move to A ...

and

Carolina Cobras The Carolina Cobras were an expansion franchise in the Arena Football League. The team was formed prior to the 2000 season, which endured a player strike. The team was originally based in Raleigh, North Carolina, but moved to Charlotte followin ...

; and the Arena Football League 2 in 2002 with the

Memphis Xplorers The Memphis Xplorers were a professional arena football team. They were a 2001 expansion member of the af2. They played their home games at DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi (a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee). The team's logo featu ...

Coaching career

Immediately following his playing career at WMU, Lester returned to his alma mater Wheaton Warrenville South high school as a math teacher. He also served as offensive coordinator for the varsity football team for one season. He continued to hold that job while playing for the XFL, effectively playing as a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

. Lester then spent one season as the head coach of

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

Saint Joseph's College in 2004. Following the season he was named the 2004 Independent Football Alliance (IFA) Coach of the Year. Lester returned to WMU to serve as quarterbacks coach from 2005 to 2006. The move reunited him with new Broncos head coach Bill Cubit. The two had previous success with Lester as quarterback and Cubit as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 1997 to 1999. Lester was instrumental in recruiting quarterback Tim Hiller, an All-MAC performer that surpassed several of Lester's previous school passing records. Lester voluntarily left his position following the 2006 season in order to find employment closer to his family in the

Chicago area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities ...

. He found that at

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

North Central College North Central College is a private college in Naperville, Illinois. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and has 73 undergraduate majors of study, 17 minors, 25 graduate programs, and 4 certificate programs offered by four undergradu ...

, where he served as defensive coordinator for the 2007 season.

Elmhurst

In 2008, Lester was named the head coach of the Division III

Bluejays. In 2012 Lester was named the

College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. CCIW schools have accounted for 50 national championships in ...

(CCIW) Coach of the Year after leading the Bluejays to their first NCAA Playoff appearance in school history. The conference championship was the first for the football program since 1980. The 2012, the Bluejays featured running back Scottie Williams, the Gagliardi Trophy award winner as the most outstanding player in Division III.

Syracuse

In 2013, Lester resigned from Elmhurst to accept an offer to be the quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator at Syracuse. The move reunited him with Orange head coach

Scott Shafer Scott Shafer (born January 6, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He has served as the defensive coordinator for the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders. Previously, he served as the head coach at Syracuse University until N ...

and offensive coordinator George McDonald, all of whom had previously served on the same Western Michigan staff from 2005 to 2006. On October 6, 2014, McDonald was demoted from offensive coordinator to wide receivers coach by Shafer. Lester was promoted from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator and play caller. He was let go after new athletics director

Mark Coyle Mark Coyle is the 23rd director of athletics at the University of Minnesota, replacing Norwood Teague. He resigned as the athletics director at Syracuse University in May 2016 after spending only 11 months with the Syracuse Orange. Prior to th ...

fired head coach

Purdue

On December 28, 2015, Purdue hired Lester to become its quarterbacks coach. Lester coached

David Blough David Marshall Blough (born July 31, 1995) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the assistant quarterbacks coach for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football ...

, and Purdue averaged 294.9 passing yards a game, ranking 21st in the country. He was not retained by incoming head coach

Jeff Brohm Jeffrey Scott Brohm (born April 24, 1971) is an American college football coach and former professional quarterback. He is the head football coach at his alma mater, the University of Louisville, a position he has held since the 2023 season. Bro ...

Western Michigan

On January 13, 2017, Lester was hired as head coach at Western Michigan. Lester's base contract pays him $800,000 per year. Western Michigan fired Lester following the 2022 season, in which the team finished 5–7. In six seasons, Lester's teams compiled a 37–32 record.

Green Bay Packers

On March 10, 2023, Lester was hired by the

as their senior analyst. Lester and Packers head coach

Matt LaFleur Matthew Robert LaFleur ( ; born November 3, 1979) is an American professional American football, football coach who is the head coach for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He has served as the quarterback coach of the W ...

had been teammates at Western Michigan in 1998 and 1999.

Iowa

On January 31, 2024, Lester was hired as offensive coordinator by

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

Green Bay Packers bio

Western Michigan profile

Syracuse profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lester, Tim 1977 births Living people American football quarterbacks Carolina Cobras players Chicago Enforcers players Elmhurst Bluejays football coaches Memphis Xplorers players Nashville Kats players North Central Cardinals football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football coaches Saint Joseph's Pumas football coaches Syracuse Orange football coaches Western Michigan Broncos football coaches Western Michigan Broncos football players High school football coaches in Illinois High school football coaches in Tennessee Players of American football from Wheaton, Illinois Coaches of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Illinois