Football
Matt Cavanaugh
- Title:
- Senior Offensive Assistant
Longtime pro football player and coach Matt Cavanaugh, who first worked alongside Jedd Fisch with the Baltimore Ravens in 2004, joined Fisch’s UW staff as senior offensive assistant in the spring of 2026.
Cavanaugh, a college quarterback at Pitt and for 13 seasons in the NFL, brings a long and successful history as a college and NFL coach, spending 22 years coaching professional football and another six, over two stints, at his alma mater.
A native of Youngtown, Ohio, Cavanaugh joined the Pitt football program in 1974. Two years later, he was the starting quarterback for a Panthers team that went 12-0 and won the national championship under coach Johnny Majors. Cavanaugh shared the Pitt backfield with 1976 Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett. Cavanaugh was named MVP of the Sugar Bowl game that capped the perfect season.
As a senior in 1977, Cavanaugh earned first-team All-America and finished seventh in the Heisman voting, leading new coach Jackie Sherrill’s Panthers to a 9-2-1 mark.
Selected by the Patriots in the second round of the 1978 NFL Draft, he spent five seasons in New England (1978-82), followed by three more with the 49ers, four with the Eagles and two with the New York Giants. Cavanaugh was part of two Super Bowl champion teams – the 49ers in Super Bowl XIX (1985) and the Giants in Super XXV (1991).
Following that Super Bowl victory, Cavanaugh entered the coaching profession, spending two years (1992-93) as tight ends coach at his alma mater.
From there, Cavanaugh, serving as a quarterbacks coach and eventually as an offensive coordinator, made stops with the Cardinals, 49ers, Bears, Ravens (where he was offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl XXXV champs), Jets and Commanders, with a four-year (2005-08) stint as offensive coordinator at Pitt in the middle. He retired from his senior offensive assistant position with the Jets following the 2021 season, and had been retired before joining the UW staff.
Cavanaugh is a member of both his high school and college Halls of Fame.
COACHING HISTORY
New York Jets
2021: Senior offensive assistant
Washington Commanders
2019: Senior offensive assistant
2017-18: Offensive coordinator
2015-16: Quarterbacks
Chicago Bears
2013-14: Quarterbacks
New York Jets
2009-12: Quarterbacks
Pittsburgh
2005-08: Offensive coordinator
Baltimore Ravens
1999-2004: Offensive coordinator
Chicago Bears
1997-98: Offensive coordinator
San Francisco 49ers
1996: Quarterbacks
Arizona Cardinals
1994-95: Quarterbacks
Pittsburgh
1992-93: Tight ends
Cavanaugh, a college quarterback at Pitt and for 13 seasons in the NFL, brings a long and successful history as a college and NFL coach, spending 22 years coaching professional football and another six, over two stints, at his alma mater.
A native of Youngtown, Ohio, Cavanaugh joined the Pitt football program in 1974. Two years later, he was the starting quarterback for a Panthers team that went 12-0 and won the national championship under coach Johnny Majors. Cavanaugh shared the Pitt backfield with 1976 Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett. Cavanaugh was named MVP of the Sugar Bowl game that capped the perfect season.
As a senior in 1977, Cavanaugh earned first-team All-America and finished seventh in the Heisman voting, leading new coach Jackie Sherrill’s Panthers to a 9-2-1 mark.
Selected by the Patriots in the second round of the 1978 NFL Draft, he spent five seasons in New England (1978-82), followed by three more with the 49ers, four with the Eagles and two with the New York Giants. Cavanaugh was part of two Super Bowl champion teams – the 49ers in Super Bowl XIX (1985) and the Giants in Super XXV (1991).
Following that Super Bowl victory, Cavanaugh entered the coaching profession, spending two years (1992-93) as tight ends coach at his alma mater.
From there, Cavanaugh, serving as a quarterbacks coach and eventually as an offensive coordinator, made stops with the Cardinals, 49ers, Bears, Ravens (where he was offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl XXXV champs), Jets and Commanders, with a four-year (2005-08) stint as offensive coordinator at Pitt in the middle. He retired from his senior offensive assistant position with the Jets following the 2021 season, and had been retired before joining the UW staff.
Cavanaugh is a member of both his high school and college Halls of Fame.
COACHING HISTORY
New York Jets
2021: Senior offensive assistant
Washington Commanders
2019: Senior offensive assistant
2017-18: Offensive coordinator
2015-16: Quarterbacks
Chicago Bears
2013-14: Quarterbacks
New York Jets
2009-12: Quarterbacks
Pittsburgh
2005-08: Offensive coordinator
Baltimore Ravens
1999-2004: Offensive coordinator
Chicago Bears
1997-98: Offensive coordinator
San Francisco 49ers
1996: Quarterbacks
Arizona Cardinals
1994-95: Quarterbacks
Pittsburgh
1992-93: Tight ends
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