Mark Whipple Mark Whipple ( born April 1 , 1957 ) is a former American football coach and former player . He is the former quarterbacks coach for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League ( NFL ) . Whipple served as the head football coach at University of New Haven ( 1988 – 1993 ) , Brown University ( 1994 – 1997 ) , and the University of Massachusetts Amherst ( 1998 – 2003 ) . His 1998 UMass team won the NCAA Division I - AA Football Championship . Before joining the Browns in January 2011 , Whipple worked for two seasons as the offensive coordinator at the University of Miami . He previously coached in the NFL , working as a quarterback coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2004 to 2006 and as an offensive assistant coach with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2007 and 2008 . Early life and playing career . Whipple was born in Tarrytown , New York before moving to Phoenix , Arizona at the age of nine . He is a graduate of Camelback High School , where he was an All - State performer in both football and baseball . Whipple was named the Arizona Scholar - Athlete of the Year in 1975 . Whipple went on to play football at Brown University , where he was a 1979 graduate with a bachelor ’ s degree in political science . Whipple was the starting quarterback for the Bears in 1977 and 1978 , leading Brown to a 13 – 5 record and a pair of second - place Ivy League finishes . He was a member of the Bears ' 1976 Ivy League championship team , the first Ivy football championship in school history . During his three - year varsity career , he completed 175 of 340 passes for 2 , 365 yards and 13 touchdowns , while running for 518 yards and 10 touchdowns . A two - time honorable mention All - Ivy pick in football , Whipple also earned four varsity letters on the baseball diamond as Brown ’ s starting shortstop . He was inducted into the Brown Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996 . Coaching career . Whipple began his coaching career as an assistant coach at St . Lawrence University in 1980 , before serving as the offensive coordinator at Union College for next two seasons . In 1984 , Whipple was hired as an assistant coach at his alma mater ( Brown ) where he worked with the wide receivers . The following season , Whipple spent as a member of the coaching staff for the United States Football League ' s Arizona Wranglers under George Allen , assisting with the quarterbacks . Whipple served as the offensive coordinator at the University of New Hampshire for two years before receiving his first head coaching opportunity , as the new head coach of the University of New Haven Chargers in 1988 . While at New Haven , his 1992 squad finished 12 – 1 and ranked No . 5 nationally . The team led all NCAA divisions in scoring offense ( 50 . 5 points per game ) and total offense ( 587 . 7 yards per game ) . His 1993 New Haven team was named " Sports Illustrated " ' s " Best Offense in College Football " while averaging 52 . 5 points and 557 . 6 yards of total offense per game . His 1993 squad ranked as high as No . 2 nationally . In 1994 , he was hired by his alma mater to serve as head football coach at Brown University , where he spent the next four seasons . While at Brown , his 1997 squad set Ivy League and school records for total offense ( 474 . 3 yards per game ) which included a single - game record of 629 yards against Yale . His 1995 team set several single - season records including most points ( 282 ) , total offense ( 4 , 165 yards ) , passing offense ( 2 , 502 yards ) and first downs ( 227 ) . The highlight of his college career was coaching University of Massachusetts Amherst , where he posted a record of 49 – 25 with two conference championships . He was coach of UMass from 1998 to 2003 and won the NCAA Division I - AA national title in his first season at the school . His UMass teams rewrote the record books , setting more than 40 team records . In 1998 his national championship team posted school records in points scored ( 524 ) , touchdowns ( 73 ) , total yards ( 7 , 074 ) , passing yards ( 4 , 050 ) , completions ( 306 ) and first downs ( 354 ) . Whipple left college football for a position as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL in 2004 where he was instrumental in the development of Ben Roethlisberger , who in his rookie season became the first NFL quarterback to finish a season undefeated with a 13 – 0 record in games he started . Roethlisberger later became the youngest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl . On January 25 , 2007 , Whipple was let go by new Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and replaced with Ken Anderson . The next day , Whipple was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles . On January 7 , 2009 , Whipple was named the University of Miami Hurricanes football team offensive coordinator . Whipple was fired along with head coach Randy Shannon , following the end of the season loss to South Florida on November 27 , 2010 . Whipple signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns on January 30 , 2011 to be their quarterback coach . College head coaching job opportunities . After coach Tom O ' Brien left Boston College to coach North Carolina State , it was reported that Mark Whipple was the leading candidate to replace him . That job eventually went to Jeff Jagodzinski . He was reported to be the leading candidate for the Connecticut Huskies head football coach , an opening created when Randy Edsall left to replace Ralph Friedgen as the head coach at the University of Maryland following the 2010 season . However , Connecticut hired Paul Pasqualoni on January 13 , 2011 .