Alex Bayer - Football Coach - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Alex Bayer

Title:
Special Teams Coordinator
Email:
falconrecruit@bgsu.edu
Phone:
419-372-7083

Coach Bayer
Hometown	Pickerington, Ohio
College	Bowling Green (2013)
Family	Wife, Molly, sons, Briggs and Brody
Coaching History
2016-18	Otterbein, Graduate Assistant
2019-20	Wake Forest, Special Teams Analyst
2021	Valparaiso, Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends
2022	Bowling Green, Special Teams Coordinator
2023-24	Bowling Green, Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends
2025-pres.	Bowling Green, Special Teams Coordinator

Alex Bayer joined Scot Loeffler's staff on Jan. 13, 2022 as the special teams coordinator. Bayer, a 2013 BGSU alum, returned home after spending 2021 at Valparaiso as the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. In 2023 Bayer started coaching tight ends in addition to being the special teams coordinator.

Bayer's first season as the tight ends coach in 2023 was a success. Harold Fannin Jr. earned first-team All-MAC accolades in addition to being named a CFN third-team All-American and a Hero Sports first-team Group of Five All-American. Fannin finished the year No. 6 in the nation and No. 1 in the MAC among tight ends with both 623 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns. His 44 receptions ranked No. 1 in the MAC and No. 12 in the nation among tight ends. Fannin's 406 yards after catch (YAC) ranked second in the nation behind only John Mackey Award winner Brock Bowers (486) from Georgia.

In his lone season at Valparaiso, Bayer was part of a Valpo coaching staff that led the team to its second-straight season with a .500 or better record in the Pioneer League. It marked the first time Valpo had achieved that feat in consecutive seasons since 1999 and 2000. The Beacons won four Pioneer Football League games in the same season for just the third time ever and four league games in any conference for just the third time since 1968.

Bayer guided the special teams unit to numerous accomplishments in the fall of 2021, including leading the nation in blocked kicks with nine, the second-most in program history and most since 1991. Valpo was the only team in all of Division-I college football (both FCS and FBS) to block nine kicks during the season. During a game at San Diego, Valpo tied a PFL record for blocked kicks in a single game with three. Brett Bittner blocked three kicks during the season, finishing as one of just six players in the FCS nation with three or more. Elsewhere on special teams, Valpo made 12 field goals, tied for the fifth-most in program history.

Under Bayer’s tutelage in 2021, punter Ben Niesner averaged 43.2 yards per punt, which ranked third in program history. He finished the season 16th nationally in punting average while leading the PFL. Niesner was selected to the FCS Bowl, Tropical Bowl USA and received FCS Bowl Special Teams MVP honors.

A loaded Fall 2021 specialist group also featured Brian Bartholomew, who finished the season tied for second in single-season program history with 12 made field goals. He also cracked the program record book by finishing with 32 made PATs, a total that ranked fifth all-time. He led the PFL in both field-goal percentages and made field goals per game.

Bartholomew and Niesner represented Bayer’s unit on the 2021 All-PFL First Team, while return specialist Chuck Maxwell received second-team All-PFL honors and long snapper Doug Haugh was named All-PFL honorable mention. In addition, Connor Hebbeler represented the tight end group with All-PFL honorable mention status.

Bayer was a member of the St. Louis Rams active roster from May 2014 to August 2015 and the San Diego Chargers practice squad from September 2015 to January 2016.

Bayer arrived at Valpo after serving as a special teams analyst at Wake Forest during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. During Bayer’s time at Wake Forest, placekicker Nick Sciba earned first-team All-America honors (ESPN, 2019) and was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award (2019, 2020). Sciba left Wake Forest (2018-21) as the NCAA, ACC and Wake Forest record holder with 34 consecutive made field goals.

Bayer also previously spent time as an offensive graduate assistant at Otterbein University from July 2016 to April 2019.

A former tight end at Bowling Green, Bayer was a two-time All-MAC selection and finished his career with 115 receptions for 1,543 yards and 10 touchdowns. He owns the BGSU school record for career receptions by a tight end.

Bayer was a member of the Falcons’ 2013 MAC Championship team playing for Clawson, then the BGSU head coach. Bayer hauled in a season-high seven catches for 124 yards in the MAC title game to help defeat No. 14 Northern Illinois. He later went on to play in the East-West Shrine Game.

A native of Pickerington, Ohio, Bayer was a first-team all-conference, first-team all-district and honorable mention All-Ohio selection for Pickerington North High School. He graduated with six school records and was ranked among ESPN.com’s Top-75 tight ends in the class of 2009.

Bayer and his wife, Molly, have two sons, Briggs and Brody.