Joe Moorhead: College Football Coach

College football is quite an interstring and serious term and when it comes to coaches in college football who created a long-lasting legacy, Joe Moorhead is definitely one of the names to be considered among the elites.

Born in 1973 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Moorhead stepped into the coaching career quite early in 1996, as he started at the University of Pittsburg, his alma mater. He was a graduate assistant there until 1997.

In the year 1999, Joe Moorhead accepted an offer from Georgetown University, which he continued till 2003. By this time, Moorhead started to make a name for himself as an effective coach who can develop players at offensive positions on a football field. After this, Joe Moorhead moved to New York to coach at the University at Buffalo, followed by his stint at the Northeast in Connecticut to develop young payers at the University of Connecticut. However, during all this time, Moorhead was an assistant coach, or more specifically, his role was restricted to coaching offensive players and quarterbacks. From 2004-2008, Joe Moorhead also served as an assistant coach at the Unversity of Akron.

Joe Moorhead’s first major break came in the year 2012 when he was offered the role of head coach at Fordham University. This was a significant achievement of Joe Moorhead's career as he became the first former player from the Patriot League who eventually became a head coach in the conference league. His tactics brought a revolution in the team’s performance, as Fordham finished with a 2nd largest turnaround (6-5) in 2012. His records show 38-13 during the three-year period. Moorhead gave more freedom to his quarterbacks as they went forward more frequently and played a pivotal part in the success of the team.

Interestingly, Moorhead, who earned the nickname “The Enforcer” by that time was a former player at the Fordham team during 1992-1995. There, he played as a quarterback and also captained the side, earning him a position at the Hall of Fame of Fordham University.

After a successful stint with the Rams, Moorhead went on to become the head coach and offensive coordinator for Penn State University in Pennsylvania. His offensive strategies with the Nittany Lions came caught the eyes of the nation as he gained success with the tempo offense. Moorhead pressed his opponents so badly that their defences were stressed to the endpoint where they cannot counter. This was an innovative offense from Moorhead and his team as the Lions won their first seven games of the season with an average of 30-point margin in 2017. The same year, Joe Moorhead led his team to the Rose Bowl as the Nittany Lions made their way to the “Big Ten Championships.”

It sparked the eyes of everyone that Moorhead enjoyed success everywhere he went as a coach. However, he was never stuck anywhere for quite a long time.

In 2018, Joe Moorhead decided to explore another adventure as he went to Starkville as the head coach of Mississippi State University. This embarks his first season as a head coach in the “National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision” (NCAA FBS). Under Joe Moorhead’s leadership and guidance, the Bulldogs' rank improved as they continuously prowess impressive displays on the field. The Mississippi State Bulldogs were victorious at the Egg Bowl during this time. He was fired there followed by 14-12 in the second season. Following this, Joe Moorhead joined Oregon State University as the offensive coordinator in 2020.

In Oregon, Moorhead’s reported salary was around $1.1 million. However, he shocked the world when he decided to leave his job there and rejoin the University of Akron to reform the team, where is the head coach to date.

Joe Moorhead cemented his legacy in college football due to his offensive style of football. As an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, he is unchallenged. Even the strongest defences were torn apart with this high tempo pressing and offense.

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