After officially introducing Tim Lester as its next offensive coordinator on Jan. 31, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz announced that Jon Budmayr has been elevated to wide receivers coach for the Hawkeyes on Wednesday.
Budmayr joined Iowa as an offensive analyst ahead of the 2022 season after serving as Colorado State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2021.
Colorado State ranked as the nation’s No. 57 total offense in 2021, averaging 415.8 yards per game. The Rams’ top two receivers, Dante Wright and Ty McCullouch, combined for 68 grabs, 969 yards and four touchdowns.
Prior to that, Budmayr was the Wisconsin Badgers‘ quarterbacks coach from 2018-20. In 2019, Wisconsin quarterback Jack Coan passed for 2,727 yards and 18 touchdowns against just five interceptions. Coan registered a school-record 236 completions and his passing yards and completion percentage (69.6%) each ranked third in school history.
Budmayr played quarterback at Wisconsin from 2009-11 before starting his coaching career as a student assistant in 2012-13 at Wisconsin. Then, after one season as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh, Budmayr returned and served as one of Wisconsin’s graduate assistants in 2015.
After two seasons in 2016 and 2017 as an offensive quality control coach with Wisconsin, Budmayr was elevated to the Badgers’ quarterbacks coach.
Jon Budmayr has been elevated to Wide Receivers Coach!#Hawkeyes
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) February 14, 2024
“Jon is an excellent coach and a perfect fit for this position. He has a wealth of knowledge and a familiarity with our program that make him a natural to take this role,” Ferentz said of Budmayr in a statement.
Budmayr will look to develop and improve an Iowa wide receivers room that features juniors Seth Anderson and Kaleb Brown. Those are Iowa’s only two returning receivers that caught a pass a season ago. That duo combined for 33 receptions for 365 yards and two touchdowns.
“My wife and I are very appreciative to have the opportunity to be at Iowa. I have so much respect for Coach Ferentz and the program he’s built over many years. I’m excited to work for him and alongside the great people on our staff. I’m also very appreciative of the opportunity to work with an incredible group of student athletes and help them develop on and off the field,” Budmayr said.
Other key offensive returnees include senior quarterback Cade McNamara, senior tight end Luke Lachey, senior running back Leshon Williams and junior running back Kaleb Johnson. Iowa kicks off its season on Aug. 31 versus Illinois State.
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