Mark Tommerdahl is in his second season working with special teams and the tight ends. He was hired Feb. 24, 2018.
Tommerdahl’s first season at Purdue saw tight ends Brycen Hopkins and Cole Herdman team up for 52 receptions for 779 yards and two touchdowns. Hopkins, who led the team with an average of 17.1 yards per reception, was named honorable mention All-Big Ten. On special teams, senior kicker Spencer Evans connected on 78.3 percent of his field goal attempts (18 of 23), while freshman Rondale Moore’s 744 combined kick return yards helped lead him to winning the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player.
Tommerdahl joined the Boilermakers after spending the 2017 season at Utah State as the Aggies’ special teams coordinator and running backs coach. Utah State went 6-6 in the regular season and played in the Arizona Bowl. The Aggies averaged 171.4 yards rushing per game.
A veteran of 34 years of collegiate coaching, including 23 as a special teams coordinator, Tommerdahl has coached in 15 bowl games and been a part of six conference championships over the course of his career.
Prior to Utah State, Tommerdahl spent four seasons at California (2013-16) as special teams coordinator, while also serving as assistant head coach (2015-16), tight ends coach (2014), fullbacks coach (2014) and inside receivers coach (2013).
The Golden Bears led the Pac-12 and ranked 14th nationally in kickoff return defense in 2016, limiting the opposition to merely 18.0 yards per return. That same season, kicker Matt Anderson broke the school record with 117 points, equaled the school record with 22 field goals and tied the school record with five goals in a game against UCLA.
Cal went 8-5 in 2015 and played in the Armed Forces Bowl. The postseason appearance was the Golden Bears’ first since 2011, and the 55-36 victory over Air Force was Cal’s first bowl win since 2008. Tommerdahl’s special teams blocked three punts and allowed six punt returns for 62 yards for the season.
Under Tommerdahl’s guide, Cal’s Trevor Davis became the 20th player in FBS history and the third in the Pac-12 to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in a game with consecutive returns of 100 and 98 yards at Washington State in 2014. Davis averaged a school-record 32.6 yards per kick return that season, ranking second in the nation.
Tommerdahl spent four seasons at Louisiana Tech (2009-12) as special teams coordinator and inside receivers coach. The Bulldogs won the WAC title in 2011 and went to the Poinsettia Bowl.
Punter Ryan Allen became the first player to win the Ray Guy Award in back-to-back seasons in 2011 and 2012 and just the second two-time recipient. Allen, who currently plays for the New England Patriots, was named a unanimous All-American in 2012 after leading the nation with a 48.0-yard punting average.
In 2009, Tommerdahl coached tight end Dennis Morris to All-America honors after he finished the season with 38 catches for 623 yards receiving and 12 touchdown catches, the most by any tight end in the nation that season.
Bulldog wide receiver Phillip Livas, who played his final two seasons under Tommerdahl, tied the NCAA record with eight career touchdown returns – four on punts and four on kickoffs.
In 2008, Tommerdahl served as Louisiana Monroe’s assistant head coach, special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. Before that, he spent five years (2003-07) as Texas A&M’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. The Aggies appeared in three bowls, including the 2005 Cotton Bowl.
Tommerdahl’s special teams units at Texas A&M were among the nation’s best, ranking in the top 25 in the nation in net punting in 2006 (37.0, 25th) and 2007 (39.2, 5th), and in kickoff returns in 2003 (23.9, 10th), 2006 (26.1, 3rd) and 2007 (23.5, 20th).
Martellus Bennett, who was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft and played 10 seasons in the league, finished his career at Texas A&M as the school’s all-time leader in receptions (105) and receiving yards (1,246) among tight ends.
Tommerdahl spent the 2001 and 2002 seasons at Alabama, serving as special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. The Crimson Tide finished the 2002 season ranked 11th in the Associated Press poll after winning the Southeastern Conference West Division. In 2001, the Tide won the Independence Bowl.
Tommerdahl also has served as special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at TCU (1998-2000), New Mexico (1997) and Minnesota (1995-96). In his two seasons with the Golden Gophers, he also served as recruiting coordinator. The Horned Frogs won WAC titles in 1999 and 2000, while also winning the 1998 Sun Bowl and 1999 Mobile Alabama Bowl and appearing the 2000 Mobile Alabama Bowl. The Lobos went 9-3 and appeared in the Insight.com Bowl in Tommerdahl’s lone season at New Mexico.???????
Tommerdahl began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Wyoming in 1984. After two seasons in that role, he spent nine more seasons on the staff, serving as recruiting coordinator (1986-89), tight ends coach (1987-90) offensive coordinator (1990) and backfield coach (1991-94). Wyoming won WAC titles in 1987, 1988 and 1993 and played in the Holiday Bowl in 1987 and 1988 and the Copper Bowl in 1990 and 1993.
A native of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Tommerdahl (born Feb. 20, 1961) earned a bachelor’s degree in business and physical education from Concordia College in Minnesota in 1982. He earned his MBA with an emphasis in marketing from Wyoming in 1986.
Tommerdahl’s wife, Annette, holds a Ph.D in counseling education with an emphasis in university administration.
Mark Tommerdahl