Former Little Giants Standout Now A Division I Coordinator

It’s been 25 years since Joel Gordon played high school football for the Waynesboro Little Giants.

Gordon may have left Waynesboro, but football never left him. 

Following an outstanding high school career at Waynesboro, Gordon played collegiate football at Shepherd and then started his coaching career, a career that now has the former Little Giant working as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Division I South Florida.

“I was head coach at Waynesboro for about 13 years. Joel may have been the best all-around player we had,” said former Little Giants head coach C. Jay DeWitt. “He was an outstanding quarterback. Smart, could really throw the football and he could also run it. He played safety on defense, and he may have led us in tackles his senior year.”

After leading the Little Giants on the gridiron, Gordon went to Shepherd where he re-wrote the record books. He was a four-year starter at QB and a three-time captain of the Rams football team from 1999-2002. He graduated with career records in passing yards (7,236), completions (522), total offense (7,677) and touchdown passes (66). 

Following his playing career at Shepherd, Gordon’s coaching career started as a student assistant in 2003 when he returned to Shepherd to finish his degree.

Gordon then spent one season as a graduate assistant and QB coach at N.C. Wesleyan before returning to Shepherd for the first of two coaching stints. Gordon coached the quarterbacks and wide receivers at Shepherd from 2005-07 and the Rams went 32-4 and made the Division II playoffs each year.

Gordon left Shepherd and ventured to Division III Emory & Henry where he was the offensive coordinator, but after three seasons at E&H he made his way back to Shepherd for another four-year run as the Rams QB and wide receivers coach. The Rams were 49-9 and qualified for the D-II playoffs each year. The 2011 team broke the school record for points per game with a 43.5 average and in 2015, Gordon coached in the Division II National Championship Game.

“I’ve been willing to learn everywhere I’ve been. If you don’t keep improving, you become stale,” Gordon said. “Coaches at Shepherd were a big influence. Coach (Jack) Ginn was a big influence. Monte Cater, Ernie McCook, those guys showed me the ropes. I learned a lot coaching for Don Montgomery at Emory & Henry where he put my in charge of the offense.”

In 2016, Gordon was headed back to the Division III ranks to be the offensive coordinator at Ferrum College, but he never coached a game for the Panthers. 

That's when the big break in Gordon’s coaching career came when he was hired as an offensive analyst for the Iowa State Cyclones under head coach Matt Campbell. 

A relationship he built while working at Emory & Henry helped pave the way to a Division I job. While at E&H, Gordon worked with Tom Manning who was the Wasps offensive line coach in 2008. Manning went on to coach at Iowa State and mentioned Gordon to Campbell when the Cyclones had an opening for an offensive analyst.

“Coaching is all about relationships and football allowed me to create those relationships. I had no relationship with Coach Campbell at Iowa State, but I did have a good relationship with Tom Manning and Manning had a long relationship with Coach Campbell. That opened the door for me to move to Division I, Without knowing Coach Manning, my coaching path would look a lot different, ” Gordon said. 

After two seasons as an offensive analyst, Gordon moved up to quarterbacks coach where he played a big role in the development of Brock Purdy, now the starting QB for the San Franscisco 49ers. Purdy set or tied 32 Iowa State records during his career.

From 2019 through 2021, with Gordon as quarterbacks coach, the Cyclones produced three of the most productive offenses in the history of Iowa State football. In 2020, Iowa State made the Big 12 Championship Game and qualified for New Year’s Day Six Bowl where they defeated Oregon 34-17 in the Fiesta Bowl. The Cyclones finished the 2020 season ranked No. 9 in the nation,

A year after Purdy graduated, the Cyclones offense continued to roll with Hunter Dekkers at the helm. Dekkers completed 66 percent of his passes and led the conference in pass completions.

Following the 2022 season, Gordon was hired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Alex Golesh’s first USF staff. Golesh and Gordon worked together for several seasons at Iowa State.

Golesh established himself as one of the premier young offensive minds in the college game with two record-breaking seasons as a play-caller in the SEC at Tennessee.

“Coach Golesh is definitely an offensive guy,” said Gordon. “I’m excited to be working with him.”

In their first season together at USF, Golesh and Gordon put a high-octane offense on the field and led the 2023 Bulls to a winning record. USF won the Boca Raton Bowl, the program’s first bowl victory since 2017, to finish with a 7-6 record. The previous year the Bulls finished 1-11.  

The Bulls high-powered offense produced the program’s first 3,000-yard passer and its first 1,000-yard receiver. Freshman QB Byrum Brown was one of only two FBS quarterbacks to finish the season with at least 3,000 passing yards and 800 rushing yards. The other was LSU Heisman Trophy winner and first-round draft pick Jayden Daniels.

According to Gordon, the best is still to come.

“Last year was a little up and down,” Gordon admitted. “We played hard. We have to be more consistent. We have to improve and become more efficient on offense. We will compete in our league, no doubt. I believe we have an opportunity to do something special here at South Florida.”

The landscape of college football continues to change with the formation of super-conferences along with a new 12-team college football playoff. 

The new playoff format gives teams like South Florida a legitimate shot to make the playoffs and compete for a championship.

“With the expanded playoffs, South Florida has an opportunity to get right in the middle of the playoff hunt. As long as we continue to progress, the opportunity will be there,” Gordon said. “There is now a path for teams in the Group of Five conferences to earn a playoff spot.”