Introduction
William Bernard "Rip" Scherer, Jr. (born August 3, 1952) is an American football coach and former player. He is the tight ends coach at UCLA. He previously served as quarterbacks coach/assistant head coach for the Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns, offensive coordinator for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, offensive coordinator for the Kansas Jayhawks, head coach of the Memphis Tigers, head coach of the James Madison Dukes, offensive coordinator of the Arizona Wildcats, offensive coordinator of the Alabama Crimson Tide, quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, quarterbacks coach of the Virginia Cavaliers, running backs coach of the Hawaii Warriors, and quarterbacks coach of the NC State Wolfpack. He started his coaching at Penn State in 1974. Scherer was also previously the associate athletic director at UCLA.
Scherer is the cousin of Kevin Colbert, Vice President of Football Operations for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He the son of longtime Pittsburgh-area high school coach William "Rip" Scherer.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | NCAA# | TSN° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Madison Dukes (NCAA Division I-AA independent) (1992–1994) | |||||||||
| 1991 | James Madison | 9–4 | L NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal | 16 | |||||
| 1992 | James Madison | 4–7 | |||||||
| James Madison Dukes (Yankee Conference) (1993–1994) | |||||||||
| 1993 | James Madison | 6–5 | 4–4 | 3rd (Mid-Atlantic) | |||||
| 1994 | James Madison | 10–3 | 6–2 | T–1st (Mid-Atlantic) | L NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal | 13 | |||
| James Madison: | 29–19 | 10–6 | |||||||
| Memphis Tigers (NCAA Division I-A independent) (1995) | |||||||||
| 1995 | Memphis | 3–8 | |||||||
| Memphis Tigers (Conference USA) (1996–2000) | |||||||||
| 1996 | Memphis | 4–7 | 2–3 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1997 | Memphis | 4–7 | 2–4 | T–4th | |||||
| 1998 | Memphis | 2–9 | 1–5 | T–7th | |||||
| 1999 | Memphis | 5–6 | 4–2 | T–2nd | |||||
| 2000 | Memphis | 4–7 | 2–5 | T–7th | |||||
| Memphis: | 22–44 | 11–19 | |||||||
| Total: | 51–63 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title | |||||||||
Coaching tree
Assistant coaches under Rip Scherer who became NCAA head coaches:
- Clay Helton: USC (2013, 2015–present)
- John Thompson: East Carolina (2003–2004)
- Tommy West: Memphis (2001–2009)
- Sparky Woods: VMI (2008–2014)