Pitt offensive coordinator Mark Whipple will not return to Pitt for the 2022 season, sources have confirmed to Pittsburgh Sports Now.
Whipple’s departure was first reported on Tuesday by Johnny McGonigal of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He will not coach the team in the Peach Bowl later this month.
The 64-year-old’s contract with the team was set to expire after three seasons as offensive coordinator. A PSN source characterized the departure as largely mutual and had been expected, though Whipple was recruiting Florida State transfer Chubba Purdy on Monday.
Whipple has been rightfully credited with development of quarterback Kenny Pickett, the 2021 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner and a Heisman Trophy finalist. Pickett has thrown for 4,319 yards an 42 touchdowns as a senior this season.
Pitt finished fifth in the nation in total offense at 502.9 yards per game and third in scoring offense at 43 points per game. The team’s 559 total points scored is a program record, breaking the mark set by Matt Canada’s unit in 2016.
Before coming to Pitt, Whipple was the head coach at UMass twice, from 1998-2003 and 2014-18. He also was the quarterbacks coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns and the offensive coordinator at Miami.
Heard a rumor he interviewed for the same position at Nebraska. Good luck to him if he goes that route.
Don’t have to overthink this one and just promote Marion to OC.
Kind of a bummer if you ask me. I think he’s done pretty well with the talent he’s had to work with the past three years.
He’s had some fairly nice talent to work with considering that he had a likely Biletnikoff award winner as a receiver.
Good guy that did a nice job but this is no big deal. Pitt will move on and most likely will be better off in the long run.