Craig Stutzmann is in his second season as the Cougars’ co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
In his first season in Pullman, the run-n-shoot offense saw five Cougars earned All-Pac-12 Conference honors while producing the Pac-12’s top red zone offense and third-best passing game. Stutzmann coached true freshman quarterback Jayden de Laura to producing the league’s fifth-best passing yards-per-game average. De Laura, the first true freshman quarterback to start a season-opener in program history, earned Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week after opening the season with a win at Oregon State.
Stutzmann worked four seasons in the same role for head coach Nick Rolovich at Hawai’I (2016-19), helping UH to three bowl games including a 10-5 mark and Hawaii Bowl win over BYU in 2019. The former Hawaii wide receiver helped direct a Hawai’i offense that improved in total offense and passing offense in each of the past four seasons, producing the country’s ninth-rated passing offense in 2018, the fifth-best passing attack in 2019 and an offense that averaged over 30 points-per-game in each of the past two seasons.
In 2019, Stutzmann was named one of six finalists for the FootballScoop National Quarterback Coach of the Year after mentoring two-time All-Mountain West Conference quarterback Cole McDonald. The senior finished 2019 third in the country in passing yards (4,135), seventh in passing yards-per-game (295.4), eighth in touchdown passes (33) and was second on the team with seven rushing touchdowns.
In 2018, Stutzmann helped the Hawai’i offense finish ninth in the country in passing offense as McDonald passed for the sixth-most touchdowns (36) and eighth-most yards (3,875) nationally while wide receiver John Ursua led the country with 16 touchdown catches and was fifth in receiving yards (1,343).
In his first two seasons working the quarterbacks, Stutzmann coached two-year starter Dru Brown, who finished his Hawai’i career sixth on the school’s career passing list (5,273) and eighth in total offense (5,586),
The Honolulu native helped the Hawaii offense earn 12 All-Mountain West selections in his four seasons highlighted by 2018 Biletnikoff Award Semifinalist and Polynesian Football Hall of Fame College Player of the Year Finalist wideout John Ursua who was later selected in the seventh round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks.
Prior to his return to Hawai’i, Stutzmann coached two seasons (2014-15) at Emory & Henry College in Virginia where he served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. As the primary play-caller for E&H’s spread-and-shred offense, the Wasps averaged 36.6 ppg and 466 yards/g in his first season and 32.7 ppg and 440.0 yards of total offense in 2015.
Stutzmann spent two years (2012-13) coaching the wide receivers at Weber State in Ogden, Utah and one season (2011) at Division III Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., where he helped the Lynx average nearly 300 passing yards per game, which ranked 15th nationally.
Stutzmann began his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at UH under former head coach Greg McMackin during the 2008 season and was part of the offensive coaching staff which included Nick Rolovich and Brian Smith. Stutzmann followed with a one-year stint as wide receivers coach at Portland State (2009), his first full-time coaching position, where he took charge of implementing the pass game and oversaw the kickoff returners and worked the 2010 season as a graduate assistant at Memphis.
Stutzmann coached at Kalaheo High School in Kailua, O‘ahu, where he spent the 2003 seasons as a teacher and offensive coordinator before moving on to his alma mater, Saint Louis School, where he coached for four years (2004-07), three as junior varsity head coach. At Saint Louis, he coached Marcus Mariota, the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner and second overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft for the Tennessee Titans.
Stutzmann was a four-year letterman (1998-2001) and three-year starter at Hawai’i where he ranked fifth on the school’s all-time receiving list (2,025 yards) and was a two-time honorable-mention all-WAC selection. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 2002 and master’s degree in 2014, both at Hawai’i.
