HUNTSVILLE – Sam Houston State head football coach K.C. Keeler announced the addition of Tim Cramsey as the Bearkat offensive coordinator on Wednesday, handing over the reins to one of the nation's top offenses for the upcoming 2017 season.

Cramsey spent last season as offensive coordinator at Nevada, but is no stranger to the FCS level after also having directed offenses at New Hampshire and Montana State in stops prior to joining the Wolf Pack.

“I coached against Tim when I was at Delaware and I always thought those teams were tremendously coached,” Keeler said. “I loved that he had direct experience with Chip Kelly and playing fast. I wanted to find someone who could improve the way we run the football and I think Tim is the guy who can keep what we do in our pass game but improve what we do in our run game.”

That balance was evident in Reno where Cramsey's offense with the Wolf Pack averaged 174.0 yards on the ground and 208.2 yards in the air a year ago.

“I couldn't be more excited to get to a program that is a winning program and has athletes that are set to win,” Cramsey said upon his hiring. “Coach Keeler being here was a big draw for me after coaching against him in previous years, and I'm excited to be able to join forces with him and to be a part of Texas football.”

Cramsey will take over an offense that led the FCS with 547.3 yards and 49.5 points per game and returns the bulk of its weapons for 2017, including three all-conference wide receivers, two all-conference running backs and quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe who claimed the Walter Payton Award at the season's end.

“It's going to be great to work with Jeremiah,” Cramsey said. “He has had a great career to this point and hopefully we can let him be him and put him in good positions to do what he does best, which is spread people out and throw the ball around the yard to the terrific skill players we have.”

Prior to joining Nevada, Cramsey directed one of the most dominant offenses in the FCS for three seasons, engineering a juggernaut offense at Montana State during his tenure. The Bobcats averaged 37.6 points and 475 yards of total offense per game in three seasons under Cramsey. His coaching career began at his alma mater, New Hampshire, where he played quarterback from 1994-97.

“He also has a reputation of being an outstanding QB coach, which with our corps of QBs, that was an area that I wanted to make sure we improved on,” Keeler said.

Cramsey's offense was among the nation's elite in 2015, his third season at MSU. The Bobcats scored 41.9 points per game and ranked third in FCS and also averaged nearly 520 yards of total offense, ranking fourth in FCS. Cramsey helped MSU exceed 35 points in 10-of-11 games last season while also eclipsing 40 points in seven games.

Cramsey's prolific offense averaged 303.8 passing yards per game, ranking seventh in FCS, and 216 rushing yards per game, ranking 18th in FCS. The Bobcats also led the Big Sky in scoring offense and total offense, while ranking second in pass offense and pass efficiency. Cramsey mentored junior quarterback Dakota Prukop, who led the FCS in points responsible for per game (22.2) and was named a First Team All-American by the Associated Press after completing 216-of-344 passes for 3,025 yards and 28 touchdowns. Cramsey guided seven offensive players to All-Big Sky honors and three to All-America honors in 2015.

In his second season at MSU, Crawley set school records with 3,177 rushing yards and 496 total points during the 2014 season. The Bobcats averaged 38.2 points per game and 488.7 yards of total offense per game. Crawley engineered a dominant rushing attack that ranked second in the Big Sky with 244.5 yards per contest, leading MSU to an 8-5 record on the year. Crawley guided 10 of his offensive players to All-Big Sky honors on the season.

Cramsey was hired by Rob Ash for his first season at Montana State in 2013 as the Bobcats went 7-5. The MSU offense averaged 32.9 points per game in Cramsey's debut season, ranking fourth out of 13 teams in the Big Sky.

“With Tim's personality, he can come in with an experienced staff here and mesh very quickly with personalities and coaching styles,” Keeler said. “I think you'll see Tim lean heavily on the experience that we already have here,” Keeler said.

Prior to coaching at Montana State, Cramsey earned FBS experience at Florida International as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during the 2012 season.

Cramsey began his collegiate coaching career at his alma mater, New Hampshire, under Chip Kelly where he served under multiple roles from 2003-11, taking over as the Wildcat offensive coordinator from 2010-11.

His offense led the Colonial Athletic Association in passing (274) while ranking third in scoring (32.8) per game. Cramsey's starting quarterback also passed for 3,272 yards and a league-best 22 touchdowns.

In his first season in charge of the offense, UNH ranked second in passing offense in the CAA with 220.1 yards per game in 2010. The Wildcats also led the conference in red zone offense with an 88.4 scoring percentage.

Cramsey also previously mentored UNH's quarterbacks from 2008-09, running backs from 2006-07 and tight ends and fullbacks from 2003-05.

Prior to serving in the college ranks, Cramsey coached for two seasons at the high school level. He was an assistant coach at Emaus High School in 2002 and at Allentown Central Catholic in 2001.

“One of the things that appealed to us was that he has come into situations where he had to keep terminology and general structure of offense and then build from there,” Keeler said. “We are not changing our core, but want to build on it.”

Cramsey played collegiately at New Hampshire as the starting quarterback for two seasons. He was a letter winner at UNH from 1994-97. Cramsey also received his Bachelor's degree from UNH in 1998.

Cramsey and his wife, Amy, have two sons; Brock (4) and Bryce (3).

The File on Tim Cramsey

Born: October 8, 1975

Hometown: Allentown, Pa.

Education: New Hampshire, Bachelor's, 1998

Family: Wife, Amy; Sons, Brock (3) and Bryce (1)

Coaching Career

2016: Offensive Coordinator, Nevada

2013-15: Offensive Coordinator/QBs, Montana State

2012: Offensive Coordinator/QBs, Florida International

2009-11: Offensive Coordinator/QBs, New Hampshire

2008: Quarterbacks, New Hampshire

2006-07: Running Backs, New Hampshire

2003-05: Tight Ends/Fullbacks, New Hampshire

2002: Assistant Coach, Emaus High School

2001: Assistant Coach, Allentown Central Catholic

Playing Career

New Hampshire, 1994-97, Quarterback/Long Snapper