Broncos make Gase promotion official

As we reported earlier, the Denver Broncos have promoted Adam Gase to offensive coordinator, replacing Mike McCoy. They’ve now officially announced the move, and the press release was full of enough interesting nuggets that we thought we’d pass it along to you.

Check it after the jump.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos on Thursday promoted Adam Gase to offensive coordinator, Head Coach John Fox announced.

Gase, who enters his ninth NFL season and fifth year with the Broncos in 2013, spent the past two seasons as the club’s quarterbacks coach following two years instructing the wide receivers.

“Adam was an integral part of the success we had offensively this season and was heavily involved in all aspects of our game plan, both during the week and on gameday,” Fox said. “Maintaining that continuity with our offense was very important in this decision. While we did speak with several qualified candidates, it became clear that Adam was the best fit to be our offensive coordinator.

“His coaching background along with his familiarity with our players is very strong. He did a great job working withPeyton [Manning] and all of our quarterbacks the last two seasons. Adam is a bright coach with a great future, and I am confident he’ll have success in his new role.”

In 2012, Gase was part of the Broncos’ offensive staff that helped the unit finish No. 4 overall in the NFL with 397.9 yards per game—the second-highest output in team history—in addition to scoring 30.1 points per contest (third-highest mark in club annals).

Denver topped the 30-point mark in a team-record 11 games and finished with the best offensive scoring improvement in the NFL from the previous season (+10.8 points per game).

Before joining the Broncos, Gase was an offensive assistant for San Francisco in 2008 after coaching three seasons (2005-07) with Detroit, including serving as the club’s quarterbacks coach during the 2007 campaign. He began his coaching career in 2000 at Louisiana State University and worked at the school until taking a position in the Lions’ scouting department in 2003.

As a quarterbacks coach, he has worked with several signal-callers, including Manning (2012), Tim Tebow (2011) and John Kitna (2007).

Working with Gase in 2012, Manning set every major franchise single-season passing mark in his first year with the club and was named a Pro Bowl starter. He finished the 2012 regular season with team records for completions (400), passing yards (4,659), completion percentage (68.6%), touchdowns (37) and passer rating (105.8).

In 2011, Gase coached Tebow, who started the season’s final 11 games in addition to two playoff contests and posted a combined 8-5 record that included five fourth-quarter comebacks.

As Detroit’s quarterbacks coach in 2007, Gase helped Kitna total the sixth-most passing yards (4,068) in the NFL while becoming only the ninth player in NFL history to post consecutive 4,000-yard passing seasons.

Gase coached a pair of Broncos wide receivers to Pro Bowl selections during his first two years in Denver, helpingBrandon Marshall (2009) and Brandon Lloyd (2010) turn in career seasons.

Lloyd became the first player in team history to lead the NFL in receiving yards (1,448) in 2010, while setting career highs in receptions (77), receiving average (18.8) and receiving touchdowns (11). He also became just the second player in NFL history to record his first 1,400-yard output in their eighth season or later.

In 2009, Marshall caught 101 passes for 1,120 yards (11.1 avg.) with 10 touchdowns to cap his third consecutive 100-catch season. Included in his 2009 totals was an NFL single-game record for receptions (21 at Ind., 12/13/09).

From 2005-06, Gase coached as an offensive assistant with the Lions, working under Head Coach Steve Mariucciin 2005 and under Head Coach Rod Marinelli in 2006.

The 2005 campaign marked the beginning of Gase’s NFL coaching career, working as an offensive assistant for Detroit. He broke into the NFL in 2003 with the Lions as a scouting assistant and held that position until 2005.

From 2000-02, Gase worked at Louisiana State under Head Coach Nick Saban, serving as a defensive graduate assistant for the school in 2000 while also working in recruiting. During his three years with the Tigers, the school had a 26-12 overall record, won two bowl games (Peach Bowl in 2000, Sugar Bowl in 2001) and earned one Southeastern Conference Championship (2001).

Gase attended Michigan State University from 1996-99 and received a bachelor’s degree from the school. He was born on March 29, 1978, in Ypsilanti, Mich.