John Van Dam begins his first season as the Leopards’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
He last served as the offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In 2016, Southern Illinois set a program record for passing yards in a season with 3,660. The Salukis averaged 332 yards per game passing, which led the Missouri Valley Football Conference and ranked second in MVFC history. Southern Illinois also led the MVFC in total offense, averaging more than 470 yards per game, and ranked second in scoring offense at 30.9 points per game.
Prior to arriving at Southern Illinois, Van Dam worked as an offensive quality control assistant and assistant quarterbacks coach at the University of Florida under Jim McElwain for the 2015 season. The season prior he served in a similar role at Michigan under Brady Hoke.
That followed two seasons at Alabama as an offensive graduate assistant under Nick Saban, primarily coaching the wide receivers while running the offensive and special teams scout teams. During his time in Tuscaloosa, Alabama won the 2012 SEC title and the 2013 BCS National Championship.
Van Dam earned his master’s degree in Human Environmental Sciences at Alabama in 2014. Van Dam spent the 2008-11 seasons at Augustana College first as a graduate assistant and tight ends coach for 2008 and 2009 and then as the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator in 2010 and 2011. He completed his master’s degree in Education at the school in Sioux Falls, S.D.
A native of East Lansing, Mich., Van Dam played quarterback at Michigan State alongside Kirk Cousins, Drew Stanton and Brian Hoyer before starting his coaching career.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education while majoring in Kinesiology with a minor in Earth Science. He garnered Academic All-Big 10 honors in 2006-08. Van Dam and his wife, Heather, have a daughter, Vada, and a son, Joseph.
