Fernando Mendoza’s quarterbacks coach at Indiana is also making the leap to the NFL.
Chandler Whitmer has agreed to become the next QBs coach of the Buccaneers, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Tuesday. Whitmer, after one year as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under head coach Curt Cignetti, jumps back to the pros.
He previously spent time as an offensive assistant with the Chargers (2021-23) and the Falcons (2024).
Mendoza, after a solid season with California in 2024, made a huge leap as a junior with the Hoosiers this season, throwing for 3,535 passing yards and leading the FBS with 41 touchdowns and 10.78 adjusted air yards per attempt. It was a special season for Mendoza that culminated in the Heisman Trophy and an Indiana national championship, the first in the program’s history.
Whitmer previously told The Post’s Zach Braziller that Mendoza’s spring was a messy one filled with questionable decision-making. But as time went on, Mendoza, who has since declared for the NFL draft, developed into a star quarterback.
“His preparation is at a whole other level,” Whitmer said before the national title game. “He just loves football. It’s one of the top things I look for when it comes to quarterbacks and when you evaluate them is do they love football, because you have to have at that position. You can’t just show up and play. He enjoys it, what he does for fun in his free time is football.”
As for Whitmer, he comes to a Buccaneers team that finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs because of a tiebreaker. At season’s end, head coach Todd Bowles cleaned house by letting go of five assistants, including quarterbacks coach Thaddeus Lewis, who had been with the organization for five years.
Whitmer will get to work with two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Baker Mayfield as Tampa Bay hopes to turn things around in the NFC South.
