TAMPA, Fla. — Clyde Christensen, a longtime NFL assistant who spent time coaching at South Carolina and Clemson in the early 90s. is retiring after 43 years in the profession.
For the past four seasons, Christensen has been the quarterbacks coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he helped the Bucs win Super Bowl LV for the 2020 season.
Christensen spent the 1991 season as a part of Sparky Woods’ first state at South Carolina, coaching the Gamecock wide receivers.
After taking a job at Maryland, Christensen would return to the Palmetto State, working under Tommy West at Clemson from 1994-1005.
The following season, Christensen would begin a long NFL career which would start in 1996 as the tight ends coach for Tampa Bay. From 1999-2000, he was the quarterbacks coach before serving as the offensive coordinator for the 2001 season.
Christensen would depart for Indianapolis where he had several duties during his time there including wide receivers coach, quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. He was on that 2006 Colts staff which won Super Bowl XLI with Peyton Manning at quarterback.
He was with the Colts from 2002-2015 before returning to Florida as an assistant with the Dolphins. From 2016-2017, he was Miami’s offensive coordinator before accepting a role as Director of Football/Player Development in the 2018 season. He would return to Tampa Bay for his second stint with that franchise starting in 2019. Clyde would work as the quarterbacks coach for the past four seasons, a stint that was highlighted by Tampa Bay’s win over Kansas City in Super Bowl LV. at Raymond James Stadium, the home of the Buccaneers.
Christensen’s decision to retire came on the same day as several Tampa Bay offensive assistants were fired or were given the option to retire. For Clyde, this decision could coincide with the expected departure of quarterback Tom Brady and after working with the seven-time Super Bowl champion, perhaps Clyde figured this was how he wanted to leave the NFL stage.