Dave Christensen Biography

Dave Christensen, universally recognized as one of the best college football offensive coaches in the country, was named Head Football Coach Wyoming Athletics Director Tom Burman announced in early December of 2008.

"We are thrilled to be able to attract a coach with the experience that Coach (Dave) Christensen brings to the Wyoming Cowboys Football program," said Burman. "He is one of the great offensive minds in college football, and he will bring a very exciting brand of football to Jonah Field."

"I don't know if it's been announced yet, but he will be taking the head coaching job at Wyoming," Pinkel said on a Big 12 conference call. "I'm very proud of him, and I think it's a great reflection on our program. He's just done a great job."

Pinkel said Christensen would remain with the 20th-ranked Tigers through the Big 12 championship game against No. 2 Oklahoma and whatever bowl game they play in, although he'll devote some time to hiring a staff and recruiting for Wyoming. "He'll finish his responsibilities (at Missouri.) That's his desire," Pinkel said.

Christensen promised big changes to the Wyoming program, starting with preventing turnovers. Wyoming ranked second to last in the football bowl subdivision for turnovers this year. "We're going to continue, again, to play rock solid on defense," he said. "And we're going to do some things pretty exciting offensively, I think." He said he will install a "fast-tempo, no-huddle spread offense." Missouri's Christensen designed offense was fourth in the nation with 45 points per game and sixth with 509 yards per game in the recently concluded 2008 season."

"I can't tell you how excited I am to be given the opportunity to lead the Wyoming Cowboy Football program," said Christensen. "The opportunity to become a head coach is something I've been preparing for my entire career."

"This is a great job at an outstanding university. Wyoming has a rich football tradition, and combined with the new, state-of-the art facilities, I know we can win here. I have already begun to put my coaching staff together, and we will strive to provide the people of Wyoming with a great product in all phases of the game. I can't wait to get started, and my family can't wait to become a part of this great state and this great University."

"I want to thank Tom Burman and President Buchanan for the confidence they've shown in giving me this opportunity. I also want to thank Gary Pinkel (head coach at Missouri), who I have coached with for the past 17 years, for his friendship and for the opportunities he has provided me professionally through the years."

"Finally to the Wyoming players. I am a blue-collar coach, and I know that the Cowboys have a reputation for being a blue-collar team. I can't wait to get back to Laramie, meet all of you and go to work."

When Wyoming decided to start over with new coach Dave Christensen, not knowing exactly what they had, they might have expected a slow start as he got up to speed. So when Christensen made the Cowboys restart a spring practice after three periods, the message was loud and clear to the players as well as the administration.

"I tried to tell these guys, you know, we will not accept mediocrity in this program," Christensen told the Casper Star-Tribune. "There is no coming out here just to get through it -- we're going to practice extremely well, or we'll start over." It's an attitude the Cowboys need if they want to erase the memory of underachieving in the final years of the previous regime, including a 4-8 record in 2008.

Christensen has brought the spread offense that he used so effectively as offensive coordinator at Missouri. He retained the Cowboys' 3-4 scheme on defense that has been the strength of the team. The hope is that the offense becomes as formidable as the defense and gets Wyoming competing for conference championships.

Christensen has started his quest by preaching physical play and practicing at an up-tempo pace. The Cowboys have embraced his style, but the change has come with a price. Wyoming had as many as 17 players out during the final practices in the spring because of the physical play at practice. Christensen needs his players to appreciate the toughness necessary for a team to enjoy success at a high level.

"It doesn't matter how many guys we've got left," Christensen told the Star-Tribune. "I told them we could have 11 guys left (when the season starts), but those 11 guys will be ready to go to war and those that survive will be champions."

Dave Christensen had been at the University of Missouri since the 2001 season. He started his tenure at Missouri as the Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach. He will have completed his eighth season coaching football at Missouri under Gary Pinkel as he leaves for the Head Football Coaches job with Wyoming at the completion of the 2008 season.

He has helped lead the Missouri Tigers to the Big 12 Championship game each of the past two seasons -- 2007 and 2008.

His 2008 Tiger offense has averaged 45.0 points per game to rank No. 4 in the nation in scoring offense. Missouri has averaged 344.3 yards passing this season, which also ranks No. 4 in the country, and the Tigers have accounted for 509.4 yards of total offense per game, ranking No. 6 in the NCAA.

"I'm going to stay coaching at Missouri with our kids through the bowl game," Christensen said. "I owe it to the program for what it's done for me and I want an opportunity to finish the season off with the kids who are here. They are very, very dedicated and I owe it to them to do that."

Christensen and Pinkel know each other well and obviously work well together as a team. Pinkel was Christensen's head coach at the University of Toledo for nine seasons before they both came to the University of Missouri prior to the 2000 season.

At Missouri where the Tigers with Christensen coaching the offense have become one of the strongest attacks in school history. In 2002 Mizzou averaged 30.0 points per game while amassing 360 points scored on the season, the third most in Missouri history. The balanced offensive attack provided the opportunity for Brad Smith a red shirt freshman quarterback to become just the second player in NCAA Division I-A history to tally 2000 yards passing and 1000 yards rushing in a season.

The 2007 season saw Missouri conclude the season ranked No. 4 in the final Associated Press ranking. That was the highest season-ending ranking in school history for the Tigers. Mizzou finished the season by defeating Arkansas, 38-7, in the Cotton Bowl, giving the Tigers a school record 12th win on the season. His 2007 offense ranked No. 5 in the nation in total offense , No. 8 in scoring offense and No. 9 in passing offense.

For all of his offenses' exploits, Christensen was a finalist for the 2007 Frank Broyles Assistant Coach of the Year Award, given annually to the nation's top assistant. Christensen finished as runner-up in the final voting. His offense is drawing attention from all over the nation, as evidenced by the fact that the offensive coordinator from the University of Florida attended the Tigers spring practice in 2008 to observe just how they do things. In the spring of 2008 Rivals.com ranked Christensen as the nation's #1 offensive coach for the 2007 season.

His offense produced no fewer than three major national awards candidates, as junior quarterback Chase Daniel was a Heisman Trophy finalist (finishing fourth in final Heisman voting), while senior tight end Martin Rucker and freshman wide receiver Jeremy Maclin were both consensus 1st-Team All-Americans (the first time in Mizzou history it has had two consensus first teamers in a single year).

Additionally, Christensen's star offensive lineman, senior Adam Spieker, was a finalist for the Rimington Award, which goes each year to the nation's top center. Spieker won 3rd-Team All-American honors from the Associated Press, while three other Tiger linemen won various All-Big 12 honors in 2007 for their play - Tyler Lullen (2nd-Team), Colin Brown (Hon. Men.) and Kurtis Gregory (Hon. Men.).

Mizzou's unique no-huddle spread offense has drawn numerous accolades since Christensen conceived and installed it prior to the 2005 season. In 2007, the Tiger offense was undoubtedly one of the nations' most potent, as it scored a school record 558 points (smashing the old mark of 399), and ranking among the NCAA's top 10 in three major categories - total offense (5th ), scoring offense (8th) and passing offense (9th ).

Mizzou lost the most prolific quarterback in their history, Brad Smith, to graduation after the 2005 season, but in spite of losing Smith the offense continued its record setting pace in 2006. First-year starter Chase Daniel kept the offense humming, and set numerous school passing records himself.

The Tigers finished the 2006 season with the nation's 8th-ranked offense, averaging 425.62 yards per game and that included the nation's 10th-ranked passing attack, at 276.15 yards an outing. The Tiger offense set numerous team and individual records, including total offense (5,533 yards) and passing yards (3,590). Two of Christensen's linemen earned All-Big 12 honors, as senior tackle Joel Clinger earned 1st-Team honors by league coaches, while Clinger and center Adam Spieker both earned honorable-mention status from the Associated Press.

Christensen's offense, which underwent a big transformation to a spread, no-huddle attack in 2005, was very successful. The Christensen designed attack, executed by record-setting quarterback Brad Smith, ended the 2005 season ranked in the top four in the Big 12, and in the top-40 nationally in three major categories, rushing, ( 3rd in Big 12 &17th in the NCAA), total offense ( 4th in the Big 12 & 24th in the NCAA) and scoring (4th in the Big 12 & 34th in the NCAA).

Three of Christensen's linemen won all-Big 12 honors in 2005, led by senior left guard Tony Palmer, who earned 1st-Team league honors. He was joined by sophomore center Adam Spieker and junior right tackle Joel Clinger, who both won honorable mention acclaim by league coaches. Palmer eventually became a 7th-round draft pick in the 2006 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams.

In 2003, the Tiger rushing attack proved to be one of the most potent in the nation, as MU led the Big 12 Conference, and ranked 6th nationally which marked the first time since 1960 that Mizzou won a conference rushing championship, when the Tigers led the old Big Eight. Its 3,087 rushing yards for the season ranked as second-best in school season history.

Senior center A.J. Ricker and senior tackle Rob Droege each earned 1st-Team All-Big 12 honors for their play, while sophomore guard Tony Palmer earned Honorable Mention All-Big 12 status. Ricker and Droege both signed free agent contracts in the spring of 2004 with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League.

In the 2002 season under Coach Christensen's guidance, Missouri featured one of the most potent attacks in school history. The Tigers averaged 30.0 points per game, and the 360 points scored were the third-most in Missouri's history at the time. Christensen's balanced run-pass attack turned redshirt freshman quarterback Brad Smith into one of the nation's most talked about players, as he became just the second player in NCAA Division I-A history to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a season.

Christensen's front five were a consistent unit which allowed the Tigers' to move the ball seemingly virtually at will. The discipline instilled by head coach Pinkel and demanded by coach Christensen paid off in a big way. The offense led the country in fewest turnovers coughing up the ball just 11 times in 12 games Mizzou's emphasis on a disciplined attack also produced an offense that led the nation in fewest turnovers, with just 11 offensive giveaways in 12 games.

Three of Christensen's linemen earned honors in 2002, including juniors Rob Droege (1st-Team All-Big 12) A.J. Ricker (2nd-Team All-Big 12) and red shirt freshman Tony Palmer (4th-Team Freshman All-American).

Under Christensen the Mizzou offense turned the corner in the 2001 season, his first at Missouri. The Tigers running game was one of the most improved in the Big 12 conference. They were 5th in the conference with 167.4 yards per game gained on the ground. The Tigers were 4th in the conference with 4.6 yards per carry. You could see the discipline starting to take hold as the team had just 16 turnovers putting them near the top of the conference with three other teams who had the same or fewer turnovers.

Another mark of improvement in the Tigers football team in the 2001 season, as well as a signal of things to come, was the greatly improved protection the offensive line provided the Mizzou quarterbacks. Tiger quarterbacks were sacked only six times in the season which led the Big 12 and put the Tigers third in the nation for fewest sacks allowed.

At Toledo Christensen coached the offensive line for his first five years and added Assistant Head Coach to his duties the last four years. During his tenure at Toledo the Rockets last six teams had a won/lost record of 50-18-1 (.735) winning percentage. Three of the teams in this stretch advanced to post season play.

Christensen came to Toledo from Idaho State University where he coached the offensive line, tight ends and running backs for two years. Prior to his stint at Idaho State, he served two years as an assistant coach under Don James at the University of Washington. He also played football for the Huskies from 1980-82.

The Rockets won a Mid-American Conference championship and three MAC West Divisions titles. Three of the last five Rocket teams Christensen helped coach were ranked in the nation's top 25. The 1995 edition of the Toledo Rockets produced an astounding 11-0-1 record and was one of only two NCAA Division IA schools to complete the season without a loss. National champ Nebraska was the other.

Beginning with the 1994 edition of the Toledo Rockets the offense set 75 school records. The Toledo running game, behind Christensen's powerful offensive line, provided the Rockets the offensive firepower to effect this dramatic improvement. In the 1999 season the Rockets were 10th in the nation in rushing with over 239 yards per game to their credit and they led the nation in yards per carry with a 5.35 yards gained per carry mark.

They saved the best for last when in the 2000 season the Rockets ranked ninth in the country in rushing, averaging over 253 yards per game, 2,792 yards for the season with a whopping 5.43 yards per carry average. The Toledo Rockets were 37th in the nation in total offense, averaging over 404 yards per game.

During Christensen's tenure at Toledo the offensive linemen won all conference honors 12 times. Seven of Toledo's top 20 single season rushing records were set while he was the offensive coach. The Christensen coached offensive line allowed only eight quarterback sacks during the 1999 season and a minuscule three the entire 2000 season.

Christensen received his BA degree in sociology from Western Washington University and a MS degree in college instruction/sports science from Eastern Washington University.

Christensen and his wife, Susie, have three children, Katie, D.J., and Emily.

Some of his accomplishments are: