Will Grier Lands First Coaching Job in NFL Days After Retiring From Football
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Will Grier Lands First Coaching Job in NFL Days After Retiring From Football
Nov 23, 2018; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Will Grier (7) hugs West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Dana Holgorsen during senior night activities before their game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports
Schuyler Callihan·West Virginia Mountaineers On SI
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3 min read
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Well, that didn't take long. A little over a week afterannouncing his retirement, former West Virginia quarterbackWill Grieraccepted his first job in coaching, becoming an offensive assistant for theDallas Cowboys, according to ESPN's Todd Archer.
Grier spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons with the Cowboys and then returned to the organization for the 2024 and 2025 campaigns, serving as a backup in both stints. During that time, he became close friends with starting quarterbackDak Prescott, as well as tight endJake Ferguson, whose wedding he officiated this summer.
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This is a very similar path to the one Kellen Moore had, who also joined the Cowboys' coaching staff after having played for them for three seasons. Moore transitioned from backup quarterback to quarterback coach over the offseason and then became the team's offensive coordinator one year later.
I wouldn't expect Grier to have that meteoric rise, although it's not impossible. It's just very rare to see a coach make that quick an ascension. That said, Grier has the IQ and obviously the connections, having played for six different teams in the NFL, so it shouldn't take long for him to land a job coaching quarterbacks sometime in the near future, assuming he wants to stay in the league.
Not every high-level college football player who spent several years in the NFL has similar success as a coach, but man, it would be pretty interesting to see him at the college level and run an air-raid-style offense, much like the one he ran at WVU. Perhaps it could be in the cards one day down the line.
One of the best to ever do it at West Virginia
Sep 3, 2017; Landover, MD, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Will Grier (7) walks out of the tunnel before their game against the Virginia Tech Hokies at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
In his two seasons as the Mountaineers' starting quarterback, Grier completed 516/785 passes (65.7%) for 7,354 yards and 71 touchdowns to just 20 interceptions. He averaged 351.3 yards per game in his senior season, ranking second nationally behind onlyGardner MinshewII of Washington State. That year, he finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting, which tied running back Steve Slaton for the second-highest finish by a Mountaineer in the history of the award.
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The deep ball he threw to Gary Jennings against Texas, plus the successful two-point conversion to complete the incredible comeback, will be a sequence Mountaineer fans never forget. Unfortunately, that's been one of the brightest moments WVU football has had over the last eight years.
