Tino Sunseri has been named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the UCLA football team.
Sunseri spent three seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 2013 to 2015, earning a Grey Cup championship with the team as a rookie while backing up Darian Durant and Drew Willy. He completed 62.3 percent of his passes for 1,368 yards with six touchdowns versus four interceptions and carried the ball 27 times for 143 yards and one major.
After his playing career, Sunseri took his first coaching job in 2016 with Florida State. He served as a quality control assistant for the Seminoles until 2018, when he moved to Tennessee in the same role.
The Pittsburgh native was a graduate assistant on the offensive side of the ball for Alabama and head coach Nick Saban in 2019 and 2020. Working primarily with the quarterbacks, Sunseri aided the development of Heisman Trophy finalists and NFL first-round draft picks Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones. Jones set the completion percentage record 77.4 percent in 2020, leading the 13-0 Crimson Tide to a College Football Playoff National Championship win.
Sunseri also had standouts under centre as quarterbacks coach at James Madison from 2021-2023, starting with CFPA FCS National Performer of the Year Cole Johnson. Johnson set JMU single-season records for passing yards (3,779), passing touchdowns (41) and completions (287) in 2021.
The 35-year-old will join the UCLA staff upon completion of Indiana's season. The Hoosiers were selected to compete in the College Football Playoff, set to begin Friday, Dec. 20. He joins the Bruins from Indiana, where he served as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach as the Hoosiers saw their total offence rate rise more than 100 yards per game from 2023 to 2024.
Indiana tallied 10 wins for the first time in program history. The Hoosiers are ranked second nationally in scoring offence, averaging 43.3 points per game. Indiana leads all FBS programs with a team passing efficiency rating of 179.1, thanks in large part to Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke. Rourke has completed 70.4 percent of his pass attempts for 2,827 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and four interceptions.
"Tino Sunseri is a natural leader of young men and rising star in coaching," UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster said in a statement. "He puts his quarterbacks in positions to succeed and it shows when you look at their production. Players will feed off his passion for development and I can't wait to have him in our building."
Sunseri is the son of Sal Sunseri, a coaching veteran of nearly four decades between the collegiate and NFL ranks. Sal helped Alabama (2009, 2011 and 2013) and Florida State (2013) to national titles and was a Broyles Award finalist in 2011. He was most recently defensive line coach at Colorado in 2023.
