Former Lions assistant Jim Bob Cooter is getting another shot as an offensive coordinator, as he’s reportedly set to be hired by the Colts.
Jim Bob Cooter has not been an offensive coordinator since being let go after Matt Patricia’s first season as Detroit Lions head coach. But that’s about to change, with ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reporting Monday afternoon Cooter is expected to be named the new offensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts.
Cooter spent this past season as the Jacksonville Jaguars passing game coordinator. He was an offensive consultant with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021, which is where he overlapped with new Colts head coach Shane Steichen, who was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator.
Before that year with the Eagles, Cooter spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons as the running backs coach for the New York Jets. His first NFL job was as an offensive assistant with the Colts from 2009-2011.
Cooter spent a season-plus as the Lions’ quarterbacks coach. Then he was promoted to offensive coordinator midway through the 2015 season, and held that post through the 2018 campaign. In his three full seasons running the Lions offense, they were a top-12 passing offense twice (2016, 2017) and a top-10 scoring offense once (2017).
Jim Bob Cooter was a pretty in-demand offensive coordinator candidate
Call it the “Trevor Lawrence Effect.” Along with the interest he had from the Colts that yielded his hiring, Cooter interviewed for the offensive coordinator openings with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers. Both of those jobs were filled recently.
Steichen said when he was hired that, as was easily expected, he will call the offensive plays for the Colts. So Cooter will have more of a weekly game-planning, quarterback development role, as Indianapolis is line to finally reset with a young quarterback via a top-five pick in the draft.
Cooter most recently worked with Lawrence of course, but he has also worked with Peyton Manning, Matthew Stafford (obviously) and Jalen Hurts over the course of his career.