Jacob Stephen Spavital (born May 1, 1985) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach who is the offensive coordinator for the

Baylor Bears The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only three private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior t ...

. He previously served as the offensive coordinator at Cal Golden Bears in 2023.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Following his playing career at

Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second-largest u ...

, Spavital became a member of the coaching staff at

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

in 2008 where he worked as an offensive quality control assistant under Gus Malzahn. Following the 2008 season Spavital became a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. While at Houston, Spavital worked under head coach Kevin Sumlin and offensive coordinator

Dana Holgorsen Dana Carl Holgorsen (born June 21, 1971) is an American college football coach. He is currently the offensive coordinator at the University of Nebraska. He served as the head football coach at West Virginia University from 2011 to 2018 and the Un ...

. Spavital became familiar with Holgorsen's offense while working at Houston, and when Holgorsen became the offensive coordinator at

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

in 2010 he took Spavital with him and gave him the same position of graduate assistant. Spavital was an essential piece of Holgorsen's coaching staff at Oklahoma State because he was the only person on the staff familiar with the offense that Holgorsen ran. Spavital helped teach the new offense to QB Brandon Weeden, who was nearly two years older than Spavital. That

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, Oklahoma State went 11–2 and Weeden was third in the nation in yards per game and total yards as well as sixth in the nation in touchdowns. When Holgorsen became head coach at

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

before the 2011 season, he took Spavital with him and made him quarterbacks coach. While at West Virginia, Spavital coached Geno Smith. Under Spavital's coaching Smith would break numerous WVU, NCAA, and bowl records. When Texas A&M offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury left Texas A&M to become the head coach at

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

, A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin offered Spavital the position. At Texas A&M, Spavital started as the co-offensive coordinator with Clarence McKinney and was the quarterbacks coach. In the 2013 season, he coached

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

winner Johnny Manziel. On January 3, 2016 Spavital and Texas A&M mutually parted ways, partially due to the Kyler Murray/ Kyle Allen quarterback controversy during the 2015 season that saw both highly rated QBs transfer out of A&M the same season. On February 11, 2016 Spavital was announced as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the

California Golden Bears football The California Golden Bears football program represents the University of California, Berkeley, in college football as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference at the NCAA Division I FBS level. They were previously a member of the Pac-12 Confer ...

team. On January 8, 2017, following the firing of head coach

Sonny Dykes Daniel "Sonny" Dykes (born November 9, 1969) is an American football coach, and a former college baseball player. He is currently the head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU), and previously served in the same role at Southern Meth ...

, it was announced that Spavital would serve as interim head coach at Cal. On January 13, 2017, it was announced that Spavital would be returning to West Virginia as offensive coordinator, rejoining Holgorsen and offensive line coach Joe Wickline, who he coached with while with Holgorsen at Oklahoma State.

Texas State

On November 28, 2018, Spavital was named the head coach at Texas State, taking over for Everett Withers. On August 29, 2019 Spavital and Texas State lost to No. 12 ranked

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

41–7 in Spavital's first game as head coach. On September 21, Spavital recorded his first win as a head coach when his Bobcats defeated Georgia State, 37–34, in 3 OTs. Texas State fired Spavital following the 2022 season. In four years, Spavital's teams went 13–35 overall and did not appear in a

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

Return to California

On December 6, 2022, Spavital was rehired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at California, now under head coach Justin Wilcox.

Baylor

On November 30, 2023, Spavital was named offensive coordinator at Baylor, under head coach

Dave Aranda David Christopher Aranda (born September 29, 1976) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Baylor University, a position he has held since 2020. He previously served as the defensive coordinator at LSU, Wisconsin, Utah St ...

Personal

Spavital's grandfather, Jim Spavital, was a professional football player who played in the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a major professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many ...

(AAFC),

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), and the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL) and later worked as a coach. His father is Steve Spavital, who is a former head football coach at Broken Arrow High School. His brother, Zac Spavital, was the defensive coordinator under him at Texas State.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Texas State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spavital, Jake 1985 births Living people American football punters American football quarterbacks California Golden Bears football coaches Houston Cougars football coaches Missouri State Bears football players Oklahoma State Cowboys football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches Texas State Bobcats football coaches Tulsa Golden Hurricane football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches Players of American football from Tulsa, Oklahoma Coaches of American football from Oklahoma