Meet Chandler Whitmer, Indiana Football’s ‘Phenomenal’ QB Coach with NFL Pedigree

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — For Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti and quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the magic number of discontinuities is four.

Mendoza is Cignetti’s fourth consecutive starting signal caller secured from the transfer portal. Cignetti and Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan’s system is the fourth different playbook the transfer quarterback from the University of California has learned in four years.

Cignetti’s system works. In his final two years as head coach at James Madison University, both of his transfer quarterbacks won Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year awards. In 2024, Kurtis Rourke, who transferred to Indiana from Ohio University, finished ninth in Heisman Trophy voting.

Now, it’s Mendoza’s turn — but Cignetti’s blueprint has a twist: Quarterbacks coach Chandler Whitmer was hired in December to replace now-UCLA offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri.

Whitmer joins Cignetti at a different spot in his career than Sunseri did in 2021. Sunseri had only been a graduate assistant, though his two years at the University of Alabama included a national championship and master's degree in coaching from Nick Saban.

The 33-year-old Whitmer has four years of NFL coaching experience. He spent 2021-23 as an offensive quality control coach for the Los Angeles Chargers and 2024 as the Atlanta Falcons’ pass game specialist. Prior to his NFL endeavors, Whitmer was a graduate assistant at Yale University, Ohio State University and Clemson University.

Cignetti turned to Sunseri looking for ideas from Saban and then-Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, and he blended some of the Crimson Tide’s concepts into his own system. But Cignetti also had to coach and nurture Sunseri, who lacked Whitmer’s seasoning.

Sunseri’s tenure netted four years of high-level quarterback play for Cignetti and Shanahan. The Hoosiers are banking on Whitmer extending the streak to five.

“Chandler has been around a lot of good people,” Cignetti said in the spring. “He's older. They're two different people, and Chandler understands what it takes. He's got a great work ethic in every detail.”

Cignetti said he coaches all his staff members to some degree, even those who have been around him at previous stops. For Whitmer, Cignetti’s lessons center around the history of his system and the standards and expectations within it.

Spring practice is designed for players — and, in Whitmer’s case, coaches — learning and implementing schemes and plays. Cignetti said Whitmer did “a really nice job” throughout the spring in his own development.

But Cignetti brought Whitmer, who played quarterback at UConn from 2012-14 and earned a minicamp invite from the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015, to Bloomington to develop signal callers. He aced the test in the spring — just ask Mendoza.

“Coach Whitmer is the best quarterback position coach I've been around,” Mendoza said this spring. “Although I'm a veteran, I've been learning so much and I feel like I've been getting better every day. And I'm only on the up curve. I'm extremely grateful to have him.

“He's a phenomenal coach, phenomenal person. I'm blessed. He's a special quarterbacks coach. Nothing like I've ever had before.”

Mendoza has a built-in friend to help him learn his new playbook in younger brother Alberto Mendoza, a redshirt freshman and the Hoosiers’ backup quarterback. But when Fernando Mendoza had deeper questions about the system, he found that Whitmer, despite equal or less time on campus, often had the answer — quickly.

It’s merely a glimpse at the mental makeup that Whitmer has, Mendoza appreciates and Cignetti believes in.

“His mind, he's extremely detailed, extremely thorough with all his explanations,” Mendoza said. “However, he makes it very digestible for the quarterback. He's a very Type-A personality, so he'll have all the details of a play.

“Any scenario that you can think of, all different coverage combinations, package combinations, he will have a distinct answer and have a thorough answer.”

Cignetti interviewed Whitmer after receiving several recommendations in the winter. Once they met, Whitmer impressed Cignetti with his knowledge and teaching skills. Indiana agreed to terms with Whitmer on the morning it faced Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. Mendoza committed to Indiana four days later.

Whitmer and Mendoza quickly formed chemistry. Mendoza said on the Hoosier Hysterics podcast this winter that he and Whitmer watched 50 plays of Mendoza’s film together. After each clip, Whitmer compared the play to an NFL rep, pointing out what Mendoza did right and, perhaps more importantly, what he did wrong.

Mendoza, who described Sunseri’s departure as “extremely saddening,” had no issue trusting Whitmer, who’s coached former Indiana star Michael Penix Jr. and Pro Bowl NFL quarterbacks Justin Herbert and Kirk Cousins.

And as their relationship blossomed in the spring, Whitmer’s nuanced mind validated Mendoza’s early belief.

“To have the mental support, the physiological support and him as a whole has been a blessing,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza has NFL aspirations, and Whitmer has the experience and connections to help Mendoza get closer to reaching that goal. But that’s the extent of the NFL’s influence on Indiana’s offense this fall.

Unlike he did with Sunseri’s Alabama-driven advice, Cignetti doesn’t plan on leaning into Whitmer for any schematic tips. College football is a different game, Cignetti said. Hash marks differ, as does the proficiency of the players and the time allotted to meet with them. Plays and concepts that work in the NFL don’t always translate to the college level.

So while Cignetti conceded that Indiana may “steal a thing or two” from Whitmer’s NFL concepts, the Hoosiers spent the spring more focused on immersing Whitmer into their own system.

The early returns were promising. Cignetti said Mendoza, with Whitmer’s tutelage, progressed at the same rate as his previous three transfer quarterbacks. In the Hoosiers’ final three spring practices — including one scrimmage — the offense clicked for Mendoza, Cignetti said.

But fall practice, which begins July 30 in Bloomington, is when each of Cignetti’s past quarterbacks took their biggest steps.

Mendoza is next in line — and he’ll embark on the challenge next to Whitmer, whose decorated resume and spring progress inspire confidence he’s ready to help orchestrate one of the nation’s highest-flying offenses.

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