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From Cortland State Athletics:
Former SUNY Cortland standout quarterback Dan Pitcher ’10, M ’11 is heading to Super Bowl LVI on Sunday, Feb. 13 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles as the quarterbacks’ coach for the AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals.
Pitcher is in his 10th season in the NFL and his sixth as an assistant coach with the Bengals. He was promoted to his current position from assistant quarterbacks coach prior to the 2020 season. Pitcher has played a key role in developing second-year Cincinnati QB Joe Burrow, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft.
Cincinnati’s passing offense ranked No. 7 in the NFL during the 2021 regular season at 259 yards per game. Burrow led the league in completion percentage (70.4%) and yards per attempt (8.9). He was second only to Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers in quarterback rating (108.3). In Burrow’s rookie season in 2020, which was cut short by injury, he set an NFL record with 264 completions through his first 10 games — the most ever by any player through their first 10 games.
Prior to this postseason, the Bengals had not won a playoff game since 1991. The team will play in a Super Bowl for the first time since 1988.
Pitcher started his coaching career assisting with the SUNY Cortland staff in 2012. He spent four seasons in player personnel with the Indianapolis Colts, serving as a scouting assistant from 2012-13 and pro scout from 2014-15. He joined the Bengals’ staff in 2016 and worked with the team’s wide receivers for two years before becoming assistant QB coach in 2019.
Pitcher graduated from Cortland High School in 2005 and was a member of the football team at Division I Colgate University in 2005 and 2006 but didn’t see any game time. He enrolled at SUNY Cortland in the spring of 2008.
A four-year member of the Red Dragon squad, Pitcher was the backup QB on Cortland’s 2008 team that advanced to the NCAA Division III quarterfinals. He was injured in the second game of the 2009 season and missed the remainder of that year, but came back as a graduate student in 2010 and earned first team All-New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) honors while leading the Red Dragons to a league title and the NCAA second round.
Due to a medical hardship waiver, Pitcher was able to compete again for the Red Dragons in the fall of 2011 and enjoyed one of the best seasons in school history. He completed 197-of-317 passes (62 percent) for 2,712 yards and 31 touchdowns with just five interceptions in 11 games.
Pitcher was one of 10 finalists for the 2011 Gagliardi Trophy, the Division III national player of the year award, was a D3football.com honorable mention All-American, and was named the NJAC Offensive Player of the Year. Pitcher also was honored as a College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) First Team Academic All-American.
Pitcher finished his Cortland playing career with 402 completions for 5,033 yards and 54 touchdowns. He still shares school records for single-season TD passes (31 in 2011), single-game TD passes (five at Brockport in 2011), and consecutive games throwing at least one TD pass (13 between 2010-11). His 54 career TD passes were a school record when he graduated and still rank third in school history.
Pitcher resides in Cincinnati with his wife, Marissa Goodstein Pitcher ’12. Marissa was an inclusive special education major at Cortland and was a standout gymnast for the Red Dragons; she was Division III national runner-up on vault in 2012 and still holds a share of the school record in the event (9.825).
