Jimmie Dougherty enters his third season with Arizona in 2023 after being hired as the Wildcats passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach on January 4, 2021 by head coach Jedd Fisch. Dougherty's offense took off during the 2022 campaign leading to tremendous growth in passing behind transfer QB Jayden de Laura. He arrived in Tucson following four seasons at UCLA as Passing Game Coordinator and Wide Receivers Coach. The Bruins' offense finished atop the Pac-12 in total offense in 2020 and second in scoring as a trio of UCLA offensive players earned second team all-conference honors.
In his second season with Arizona in 2022, the Wildcats averaged 461.9 yards of total offense per game to finish 22nd nationally. Arizona passed for 318.4 yards per game, representing the 8th ranked passing attack nationally. The Wildcats development and growth on offense was historical as quarterback Jayden de Laura threw for 3,685 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2022, which ranked sixth and third respectively in program history for a season. Dougherty was nominated for the Broyles Award, which honors the nation's top assistant coach.
Wide receiver Jacob Cowing finished his 2022 season with 85 catches for 1,034 yards, which were the third-most catches and the seventh-most yards in a season by a Wildcat. His 85 catches were the most by an Arizona wide out since Bobby Wade's 93-reception season in 2002.
Fellow receiver, Tetairoa McMillan, finished his freshman season with 39 catches for 702 yards and eight touchdowns. His 702 yards were the most ever by an Arizona freshman and his yardage and eight touchdown catches were tops among all FBS true freshmen during the regular season. McMillan and offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea made Arizona the only school with two honorees on 247 Sports Freshmen All-American team.
These notable individual accomplishments propelled Arizona's offense into becoming one of the most improved in the nation. Arizona went from the 124th in the nation in scoring offense in Fisch's first season to 48th in 2022. Similarly, Arizona rose to 22nd in the NCAA in total offense in 2022 after finishing 101st the year prior.
The Wildcats also rushed for the most yards in a game in the Territorial Cup victory (280 yds) since a 312-yard performance against Texas Tech in 2019, encapsulating a span of 48 games. Arizona had seven players selected to All-Pac-12 Performance awards with six named Honorable Mention.
During his first season in Tucson in 2021, Daugherty navigated numerous injuries at the quarterback position to produce a passing attack that averaged nearly 215 yards per game. Wide receiver Stanley Berryhill III set career-high marks in receptions (83) and receiving yards (744) en route to earning All-Pac-12 honors in Dougherty's passing game.
Dougherty also played a key role in building Arizona's 2022 signing class that ranked second in the Pac-12 (22nd nationally) and included the first five-star signee in program history.
Under his tutelage at UCLA, Kyle Phillips set the school record for most catches by a freshman in 2019. Dougherty has now coached four difference UCLA receivers to top single-season marks in program history, including Phillips, Jordan Lasley, Theo Howard and Darren Andrews. UCLA's receiving corps established a new school record for most passing yards in a season at 4,478 in 2017.
Prior to hit stint at UCLA, he served as an offensive analyst under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan in 2016 when the Wolverines boasted the 12th-best scoring offense in the nation at 41.0 points per game.
Dougherty spent three seasons, from 2013 to 2015, at San Jose State. During the 2013 and 2014 seasons, he served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Spartans and was promoted to Assistant Head Coach in 2014. In 2013, he directed an offense that set 10 single-season team records and saw players establish more than 35 individual school marks. The Spartans were ranked sixth nationally in passing offense (355.9 yards per game), 15th in total offense (493.3) and averaged 32.4 points per game that season. Dougherty worked directly with quarterback David Fales, who went on to be an NFL draft selection of the Chicago Bears, on a passing game that gained more than 4,000 yards for the second season in a row.
In 2014, he coached quarterback Joe Gray, who tied a Mountain West record for consecutive games passing of at least 300 yards. In 2015, he transitioned to coach the wide receivers. The Spartans ranked eighth in the country in completion percentage (.675), 12th nationally in third down conversion percentage (.478) and 18th in the NCAA in red zone offense (.889) in 2013 as Dougherty received national accolades as a Broyles Award nominee as one of the top assistant coaches in NCAA Division I FBS Football.
Prior to coaching at San Jose State, Dougherty coached at Washington for four years from 2009-12 where he served as the wide receivers coach. In his last season at Washington, he added the title of passing game coordinator. Dougherty worked closely with Jermaine Kearse, who went on to become a starter on the Seahawks' Super Bowl XLVIII winning team and amassed over 3,000 yards in the NFL.
A quarterback at Missouri from 1997 to 2001, Dougherty began his coaching career as a defensive backs coach at Illinois Wesleyan during the 2002 and 2003 seasons. Dougherty earned his bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Missouri in 2002 and received his master's degree in Sport Management from Illinois State in 2004.
Jimmie and his wife, Harper, have two daughters, Collins and Ellie, and a son, Maverick.
