Colorado State University Athletics
Rams welcome back Hammerschmidt
12/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 29, 2009
By Zak Gilbert
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Colorado State football program on Tuesday named Dan Hammerschmidt wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator. Head Coach Steve Fairchild made the announcement.
The addition gives the Rams six coaches who played at CSU and graduated from the institution. Plus, CSU now has six staff members who coached previously for the Rams during the program’s most successful period, the Sonny Lubick era.
“Dan and I worked together during the best offensive years in CSU history,” said Fairchild, the Rams’ quarterbacks coach from 1993-96 and offensive coordinator from 1997-2000. “He’s a coach of impeccable character, someone who will fit in well with our staff. I’m very confident in his ability to recruit outstanding players to our program, and I’m also excited about having another CSU grad on our team.”
Hammerschmidt, 45, returns to his alma mater, where he spent four years (1982-85) as a player and 13 seasons (1986, 1996-2007) as an assistant coach. A student assistant under Leon Fuller in 1986, he returned to coach under Lubick as wide receivers coach from 1996-2000, then replaced Fairchild as quarterbacks coach and shared offensive coordinator duties from 2001-07.
“It’s a chance to come home for my family and me,” said Hammerschmidt, whose two children were raised in Fort Collins. “It’s my alma mater, where I coached with Steve. But I also honestly believe this is the best time to be a Ram, with CSU’s new facilities, and the foundation Steve has put in place. The future of the program hasn’t been brighter than it is now.”
Entering his 25th year as a coach in 2010, Hammerschmidt inherits a group of wide receivers that includes returnees T.J. Borcky, Tyson Liggett and Matt Yemm, all of whom were on the roster during his most recent tenure at CSU.
Since the 2007 season, Hammerschmidt spent one campaign at Rice and last year at Wyoming, helping each team to a breakout season ending in a bowl game.
Most recently assistant head coach, wide receivers and tight ends coach at Wyoming, he spent the 2009 season in Laramie, Wyo. Like the Rams in 2008, the Cowboys in ‘09 finished 7-6 and won the New Mexico Bowl, their first postseason game in five years. One of his players, WR David Leonard, finished third in the Mountain West and tied for 32nd in the nation with 5.83 receptions per game, garnering honorable mention all-conference honors.
As wide receivers coach at Rice the year before, 2008, he helped the Owls to a 10-3 overall record, their best mark in more than four decades, and a win in the Texas Bowl, the program’s first postseason victory since 1954. Key in the 10-3 season were Hammerschmidt’s starting wide receivers, Jarett Dillard, a first-team All-American who established the NCAA career record with 60 touchdown catches before Jacksonville chose him in the ‘09 draft, and James Casey, an All-American on some lists and a unanimous first-team all-conference player drafted by the Houston Texans in 2009. Among the most feared offenses in the country, Rice ranked No. 5 in passing (327.2 yards per game), No. 8 in scoring (41.3 points per game) and No. 10 in total yards (470.9).
Hammerschmidt, who has helped his teams to bowl games in eight of the past 11 seasons, has coached in the Mountain West all but one of the conference’s 11 years. He played a key role in four Rams conference titles (1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002) and seven bowl appearances. What’s more, the Rams in 2003 established their single-season record with 5,706 yards of offense.
His NFL players include WR Darran Hall, Tennessee’s sixth-round selection in 1999; QB Bradlee Van Pelt, the Broncos’ seventh-round choice in 2004; Dillard, Jacksonville’s fifth-round selection in 2009; Casey, Houston’s fifth-round choice in 2009; and QB Caleb Hanie, a 2008 Chicago Bears free agent and currently Jay Cutler’s backup. Hammerschmidt also has coached nine all-conference players: WR Jeremy Calhoun (1996), WR Geoff Turner (1997), Hall (1998), WR Dallas Davis (1999), WR Pete Rebstock (2000), Rice’s Dillard and Casey (2008), Duke’s Erwin Sampson (1989) and Van Pelt (2002-03), the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year in both 2002 and ’03.
A four-year starter (1982-85) as a safety for the Rams, Hammerschmidt led CSU with four interceptions in 1985, in addition to returning kickoffs. After signing as a free agent and spending training camp with the Indianapolis Colts, he returned to CSU to begin his coaching career in 1986.
After one year at CSU, he was a graduate assistant at TCU in 1987, when current Rams defensive line coach Scott Brown held the same position with the Horned Frogs.
Steve Spurrier gave Hammerschmidt his first full-time coaching position, making him the Duke outside linebackers and special teams coach in 1988. He was in charge of the Blue Devils’ secondary each of the next five years until moving to the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), where current West Virginia head coach Bill Stewart hired Hammerschmidt to coach the Keydets’ secondary.
Lubick, CSU’s offensive coordinator during most of Hammerschmidt’s college playing career, then brought him back to Fort Collins in 1996.
One of four current Rams coaches who grew up in the San Diego area, Hammerschmidt came to CSU after a stellar career as a quarterback at Helix High School, which later produced the No. 1 and No. 2 overall selections in the NFL Draft, Utah’s Alex Smith (2005) and USC’s Reggie Bush (2006), respectively. Fairchild, running backs coach Anthoney Hill, and quarterbacks coach Daren Wilkinson also left the San Diego area to play quarterback at CSU.
Hammerschmidt graduated in 1987 from Colorado State with a degree in business economics. He has two children, Holly and Michael. His brother, Jeff, Arizona’s special teams coordinator and defensive ends coach, is in San Diego where his No. 20 Wildcats face No. 22 Nebraska in Wednesday’s Pacific Life Holiday Bowl.
Greg Peterson, CSU’s offensive coordinator and receivers coach until being reassigned Nov. 5, will not return to the program in 2010.