Greg Rex Olson is an American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 coach

Coach (sport)

In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...

. He is currently the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...

.

Coaching career

Greg Olson was offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Central Washington University

Central Washington University

Central Washington University, often abbreviated CWU, is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington in the United States.This location was selected by the state legislature as a consolation prize after Ellensburg lost its bid to be state capital...

 from 1990-1993. Prior to joining the CWU coaching staff, he was a graduate assistant at Washington State University

Washington State University

Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...

 for three seasons. He coached the defensive backs at WSU for one season and was the linebacker coach for two years. He also coached running backs at Spokane Falls Community College

Spokane Falls Community College

Spokane Falls Community College is part of the Community Colleges of Spokane.The college, also known as The Falls, opened in 1967 in west Spokane, south of Riverside State Park, on a campus....

 in 1986. After leaving CWU, Olson coached quarterbacks at Purdue University.

Olson previously served as the quarterbacks coach of the Detroit Lions

Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...

, where he worked with Joey Harrington

Joey Harrington

John Joseph "Joey" Harrington, Jr. is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions third overall in the 2002 NFL Draft, where he played for most of his professional career. He ranks third all-time in Detroit history in pass completions, with 986...

. He served as Lions offensive coordinator following the firing of Steve Mariucci

Steve Mariucci

Stephen Ray "Steve" Mariucci is a former National Football League coach. He coached for the San Francisco 49ers and most recently for the Detroit Lions.-Early career:...

 and the demotion of Ted Tollner

Ted Tollner

Ted Alfred Tollner is a football coach who has worked as a head coach in college football and was also formerly the passing game coordinator of the Oakland Raiders.-Playing career:...

 during the 2005 season.

He was the offensive coordinator

Offensive coordinator

An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of a gridiron football team who is in charge of the offense. Generally, along with his defensive counterpart, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach...

 of the St. Louis Rams

St. Louis Rams

The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...

. During his first season in St. Louis, he did not call the offensive plays for the team until near the end of the year. He developed game plans with head coach Scott Linehan

Scott Linehan

Scott Thomas Linehan is an American football coach, currently the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions of the NFL. He was previously the head coach of the St...

, and worked to develop the offense in general. Linehan decided to hand over play-calling duties to Olson so that he could manage games better, without having to focus on one side of the ball.

Olson was fired after the 2007 season.

In January 2008, Olson was hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...

 to be their Quarterbacks coach following the dismissal of Paul Hackett. On September 3, 2009, the day before the team's final preseason game, the Buccaneers announced that Olson would replace Jeff Jagodzinski

Jeff Jagodzinski

-United Football League:-External links:*...

as Offensive Coordinator

Personal life

Olson is a 1981 graduate of Richland High School. At Richland, he lettered in football, baseball and wrestling. In football, he earned all-conference honors at quarterback and linebacker.

He played two seasons at Spokane Falls, earning all-conference quarterback honors in 1982, prior to transferring to Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. He earned a BA degree from CWU in 1986 and a MS in physical education from Washington State in 1990