Jeffrey Scott Horton (born July 13, 1957) is a retired

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach. His final position was the Associate Head Coach at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

. Prior to that he was the interim head coach at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, having replaced

Tim Brewster Tim Brewster (born October 13, 1960) is an American football coach and former player. He is the tight ends coach for Charlotte. He also served as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for the North Carolina Tar Heels football program. ...

, who was fired midway through the Golden Gophers' 2010 season. Horton previously served as the head coach at the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and prim ...

in 1993 and at the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the ...

from 1994 to 1998. From 2006 to 2008, he was a special assistant/offense and assistant offensive line coach for the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

of the

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), where he worked under head coach

Scott Linehan Scott Thomas Linehan (born September 17, 1963) is an American football coach who serves as a senior offensive assistant for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He recently was an offensive analyst at Montana. He was the ...

. Horton coached the quarterbacks for the NFL's

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

in 2009.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Horton's first coaching job was as 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 ...

for

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

in 1984 under

Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former college football coach and television analyst. He served as the head football coach at the College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the N ...

. The following year, he joined his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

as assistant in Reno. In 1990 and 1991, he was the

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

s coach. In 1992, he left to become the

Wide Receivers A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense, WR gets its name from the player being spli ...

coach at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

Head coach at Nevada

After the 1992 football season ended, Wolf Pack head coach

Chris Ault Christopher Thomas Ault (born November 8, 1946) is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served three stints at the head football coach at the University of Nevada, Reno (1976–1992, 1994–1995 and 20 ...

stepped down to focus on his duties as the university's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

. Horton was Ault's hand-picked successor, and he returned from Las Vegas to take over as head coach of the Wolf Pack. Horton lead Nevada to a 7–4 record and a second-place finish in the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

. On November 22, 1993, Horton accepted the position of head coach at UNLV.

Head coach at UNLV

Following the 1993 season, Horton accepted the head coaching position at in-state rival UNLV, a move commonly referred to as the "Red Defection" by Wolf Pack fans. In his first season in 1994, the Rebels won a share of the

Big West The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

title (officially the first and only conference championship in program history) and the 1994 Las Vegas Bowl, winning Horton that conference's Coach of the Year award. However, this would not last, and Horton would win only six more games over the next three years. He was fired after the Rebels finished 0–11 in the 1998 season, the only winless season in school history until the 2020 UNLV team finished 0–6 under head coach Marcus Arroyo.

Wisconsin

After being fired, he was hired as the quarterbacks coach for the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

. The quarterbacks during his tenure (

Jim Sorgi James Joseph Sorgi Jr. (born December 3, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers and was selected by the Indianapo ...

Brooks Bollinger Brooks Michael Bollinger (born November 15, 1979) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions. He was ...

, and John Stocco), rank first, second, and fourth in Badgers history in passing yards.

St. Louis Rams

Horton was hired as the special assistant/offense to the

. In that position, he assisted head coach

with administrative duties, offensive play-calling, and preparation.

Detroit Lions

Horton spent one season (2009) with the

as the quarterbacks coach.

Minnesota

Horton was hired by Minnesota coach

in January 2010, after

Jedd Fisch Jedd Ari Fisch (born May 5, 1976) is an American football coach, currently the head coach at the University of Washington. He was previously the head coach at the University of Arizona for three seasons. Prior to his tenure at Arizona, Fisc ...

left to be the quarterbacks coach for the NFL

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

. On October 17, 2010, Brewster was relieved of his head coaching duties. Horton was tapped to replace Brewster on an interim basis. He went 2–3 as coach, beating the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 20 sports, 7 for men and 13 for women; The teams participate in Division I of the Nati ...

on November 27 to win the

Floyd of Rosedale Floyd may refer to: As a name * Floyd (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Floyd (surname), a list of people and fictional characters Places in the United States * Floyd, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Floyd, Iowa ...

trophy. It was the first trophy-game win for the Gophers since 2006.

Jerry Kill Jerry R. Kill (born August 24, 1961) is an American college football coach who currently serves as a consultant at Vanderbilt. He was the head coach at New Mexico State University from 2022 to 2023. He played college football at Southwestern Co ...

was hired as Minnesota's next coach and Horton was not retained on the staff.

San Diego State

Horton spent 12 years at San Diego State before retiring. His roles included running backs coach, offensive coordinator, and associate head coach. In 2016, San Diego State made NCAA history as it became the first program to ever produce a 2,000-yard rusher and 1,000-yard rusher in the same season. Once dubbed a "running back whisperer" in the press, the Aztecs were bowl eligible in all twelve seasons under Horton at San Diego State and won three Mountain West titles.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

San Diego State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horton, Jeff 1957 births Living people Detroit Lions coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Nevada Wolf Pack football coaches San Diego State Aztecs football coaches Sportspeople from Arlington, Texas St. Louis Rams coaches University of Nevada, Reno alumni University of San Francisco alumni UNLV Rebels football coaches Wisconsin Badgers football coaches