Chandler Whitmer, a championship-winning quarterbacks coach exits for the NFL, paving the way for a familiar face's triumphant return to Bloomington. Tino Sunseri is coming back to Indiana to take his old job back.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Chandler Whitmer only spent one year at Indiana, but it sure was a heck of a year. As the Hoosiers' quarterbacks coach working with Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza every day, Whitmer played a big role in Indiana going 16-0 and winning its first football national championship.
But Whitmer's background is in the NFL, not college football, and when his friend Zac Robinson was hired as the offensive coordinator or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one of his first calls was to Whitmer. The duo worked together in Atlanta before Whitmer came to Bloomington, and now they are pairing up in Tampa Bay.
Whitmer replaced Tino Sunseri at Indiana. Sunseri left after the 2024 season to become offensive coordinator at UCLA, but after a poor start, the coach who hired him — DeShaun Foster — was fired. Sunseri was let go a week later.
With Whitmer leaving, Sunseri is going to return to Indiana to take his old job back. The 37-year-old Sunseri worked for Curt Cignetti at James Madison for three years before much of that staff came to Bloomington with Cignetti. He's worked closely with Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan all of that time, too.
Whitmer's move doesn't come as a complete surprise, because he's been working with NFL teams since 2021. He was a great hire by Cignetti, and Whitmer loved his time working with the Hoosiers. He said his coaching mindset blended well with Cignetti's methods — and he loved working with Mendoza every day.
"There was very little that I needed to adjust to when I got here, because I am wired into the details as well,'' Whitmer said during an exclusive interview at the Rose Bowl. "At the end of the day, he set the standard, but I'm pretty self-motivated as well. We were all on the same page as to how we operated.
"When this opportunity came about, I knew about Fernando and I knew the talent that he had. All of that was very attractive to me. We joined up together and got on the same page quickly in the spring, and he just continued to get better every day.''
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"I was spoiled having that quaterbacks room at Indiana. I was super fortunate,'' Whitmer said. "It was a great group of kids, and they were all so close. They were like a family, and, of course, Fernando and Alberto (Mendoza,) they are blood. It was so much fun watching them enjoy all of this together.''
Indiana's quarterbacks room will look completely different in 2026. Fernando Mendoza is the likely first-overall pick of the Las Vegas Raiders in the 2026 NFL draft, and TCU's Josh Hoover, a three-year starter, was signed in the transfer portal. After Hoover arrived, Alberto Mendoza entered the portal and signed with Georgia Tech.
The Buccaneers have a veteran quarterback in Baker Mayfield, and they're looking for a bounce-back year after missing out on the playoffs in 2025. They had won four straight NFC South division titles before then.