Former Crimson quarterback Joel Lamb, who guided the nation’s No. 3 offense last season, is in his eighth season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2013.

• Joel Lamb Photos

Lamb’s Harvard offense piled up 487.5 yards per game in 2012 and ranked fourth nationally with 39.4 points per game and a passing efficiency rating of 157.25. Those numbers came a year after the Crimson ranked second in the nation in scoring offense and 11th in scoring offense in 2011.

A 1993 Harvard graduate, Lamb returned to Cambridge in 2006. Harvard has ranked among the nation’s top 25 in either rushing or passing in each of the last six seasons and finished in the top 20 in both categories last season.

Lamb was named the Assistant Coach of the Year by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston in 2008. His seven seasons have seen five Harvard quarterbacks earn All-Ivy League honors, including Ivy League offensive players of the year Colton Chapple ’13 in 2012 and Chris Pizzotti ’08-09 in 2008. Pizzotti went on to sign with the New York Jets.

Running back Gino Gordon ’11 also earned Ivy player-of-the-year honors, in 2010. In all, Harvard offensive players have gained 50 All-Ivy honors under Lamb: 20 first-team selections, 18 second-team picks and 12 honorable mentions. At least six players have garnered all-league recognition each season, and offensive players accounted for six of Harvard’s 10 first-team picks in 2012.

Lamb oversees the Crimson's recruiting efforts in Massachusetts and the midwestern states, including Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kentucky.

Lamb returned to Harvard following nine years as the quarterbacks coach at Yale. He was the Bulldogs' offensive coordinator for three seasons, during which time Yale twice led the Ivy League in passing offense. His 2003 unit led the Ivies in passing offense, scoring offense and total offense.

Lamb helped Yale to the 1999 Ivy League championship, which was the Bulldogs' first league title in 10 years. He coached three of the four most prolific quarterbacks in Yale history: all-time passing leader Alvin Cowan, runner-up Joe Walland and Peter Lee, who ranks fourth in school history. Lamb's 2005 quarterback, Jeff Mroz, finished second on Yale's single-season passing chart and tied Cowan's school record with 22 touchdown passes before signing with the Dallas Cowboys.

Before joining the staff at Yale, Lamb was the quarterbacks coach at Amherst College for four years.

Lamb was a four-year member of Harvard's football program as an undergraduate and was the 1992 winner of the team's Henry N. Lamar Award, which recognizes dedication to the program, concern for his fellow man and contributions to Harvard football.

He went on to play competitively in England in 1994 with the Leeds Cougars of the British American Football Association.

A native of Natick, Mass., Lamb was a three-sport captain at Natick High School and was an all-state quarterback. He also was a standout in baseball and basketball. Lamb graduated from Harvard in 1993 after concentrating in psychology. He holds a master's degree in sports management from the University of Massachusetts.

Lamb's father, Tom, was the longtime athletic director and football coach at Natick High School, while Joel's wife, Ainslee, is the head field hockey coach at Boston College. They have a daughter, Brooklyn.