Jimmy Raye II

James Arthur Raye, Jr. (born March 26, 1946) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently serving as the Senior Offensive Assistant to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League.

Playing career
As a player, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams for the position of cornerback but was quickly traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. In college, as a quarterback, he was the backup for the Michigan State Spartan football team that played in the 1966 Rose Bowl and started for the 1966 Spartans in the famous 10-10 tie with Notre Dame, a game often referred to as "The Game of the Century."

Coaching career
Raye previously coached the NY Jets following two seasons as the assistant head coach/offensive coordinator of the Oakland Raiders. He brings 29 years of NFL coaching experience, and previously spent two seasons with the Jets, adding the title of assistant head coach in 2003 after serving as senior offensive assistant in 2002. Raye has served as an NFL offensive coordinator for 11 seasons.

Note: There were 28 teams in the NFL until 1995. From 1995 until 1999 there were 30 teams. From 1999-2001 there were 31 teams. In 2002, the entry of the Houston Texans brought the number of teams to its current total of 32.

Raye was a standout quarterback for the Michigan State Spartans (1965–67) and led the Spartans to two Big Ten titles and the 1966 Rose Bowl. The Fayetteville, North Carolina native began his coaching career in 1971 at his alma mater, Michigan State, where he stayed for five years (1971–75). He served a brief stint at Wyoming in 1976 before moving to the NFL ranks, beginning with the San Francisco 49ers (1977), Detroit Lions (1977–79), Atlanta Falcons (1980–82, 1987–89), the L.A. Rams (1983–84, 1991), Tampa Bay (1985–86) and New England (1990).

He was hired by the San Francisco 49ers as the official Offensive Coordinator on January 29, 2009. After the 2009 season, he was praised for his ability to adapt the offense after key players were injured and continued as the 49ers' offensive coordinator to start the 2010 season. This was the first time that the 49ers had an offensive coordinator return to the team for consecutive seasons in seven years.

On September 27, 2010, he was fired by the 49ers and quarterbacks coach Mike Johnson was promoted to replace him.

On February 9, 2012, he returned to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, this time in the capacity of Senior Offensive Assistant

Personal
His son, Jimmy Raye III, is currently director of player personnel for the San Diego Chargers.