With Jon Kitna finally being named the Cowboys quarterbacks coach, Dak Prescott now knows who will be in charge of his ongoing tutelage. A look back at Kitna’s resume shows him to be a seasoned vet who has seen a little bit of everything and gained a wealth of football experience along the way. He’s an avid student of the game, to be sure, but he’s always wanted to be a teacher.

In 2013, having just retired from playing, Kitna was coaching other football coaches at a clinic. In a series of short videos posted recently by Bobby Belt, Kitna shows some of the quarterback-centric philosophies he picked up over his long career and still subscribes to now.

Among the clips, Kitna talks about a life-changing lesson he learned from Lions offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Martz, about taking shots downfield (from the perspectives of both the QB and the OC) and then follows by urging the roomful of coaches to always tailor their gameplans to suit whatever their quarterbacks do best.

Jon Kitna using Tony Romo as an example of playing to a quarterback's strengths: pic.twitter.com/0VDz3kG9ot — Bobby Belt (@BobbyBeltTX) January 30, 2019

The clips are a fascinating glimpse into what the Cowboys certainly expect Kitna to bring to the Dallas coaching staff, and they give a preview of some of the nuts-and-bolts things he’ll be working on with Dak Prescott from Day One.

Jon Kitna on the nuances of throwing to the left side of the field as a right-handed quarterback: pic.twitter.com/e8zqmFL3Vi — Bobby Belt (@BobbyBeltTX) January 30, 2019

Prescott, for one, says he’s eager to zero in on his mechanics in an attempt to perfect the finer points of his play.

Dak Prescott on working w/ Jon Kitna going forward: “I’m excited for what I can learn, what he can teach me, knowing how serious he takes footwork…knowing those are going to be a lot of things that will help me become the player I want to be.” — David Moore (@DavidMooreDMN) January 31, 2019

Kitna thought he’d be a coach from the very beginning. After quarterbacking the Central Washington Wildcats to the NAIA championship in 1995 and earning a degree in math education, Kitna was on track to join a high school faculty and take over its team. He figured his playing days were behind him and his football career would play out on a sideline full of teenagers under Friday night lights. But a chance day throwing passes during a Seattle Seahawks tryout for a Central Washington wide receiver led to Kitna being the one invited to Seahawks camp.

That jump-started an unlikely playing career that spanned 18 years and saw stints with 4 NFL teams including the Cowboys, learning behind greats like Warren Moon and mentoring young prospects like Carson Palmer. Kitna enjoyed highs as a player; a championship season with the Barcelona Dragons of the NFL Europe developmental league, NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors as a Bengal in 2003, and back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons as a Lion.

But he also dealt with lows; helplessly watching most of Detroit’s 0-16 season while hurt, and turning in a career-high passer rating over 9 Cowboys games (in relief of Tony Romo in 2010) only to suffer his own season-ending injury.

Kitna walked away in 2012 and returned to his high school alma mater in Washington, leading a few coaching clinics on the side (like the one in the earlier videos). But the math teacher and high school coach was called out of retirement in late 2013 by the Cowboys to back up Kyle Orton in the season finale following another Romo injury. Kitna famously donated his salary for the one-game return to his high school’s booster club.

After three seasons coaching his alma mater, Kitna took over head coaching duties at a high school in Waxahachie, Texas. In February 2018, he accepted the job as coach at a prep school in Phoenix but was gone by June when he was named the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Fleet of the new Alliance of American Football.

But Kitna was hired away from that gig, too, and now takes over as quarterbacks coach for the Cowboys, where he will be tasked with grooming Prescott as he enters his fourth year as a pro.

In 2018, Prescott ranked No. 15 among league quarterbacks in passing yards, No. 14 in passer rating (among quarterbacks with over 25 pass attempts), and No. 12 in completion percentage.

The Cowboys look to help Prescott add to those numbers in 2019. The math teacher they just hired as his tutor sounds like a good start.

Follow Todd on Twitter @ToddBrock24f7.