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

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

coach who is the offensive coordinator for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club tea ...

. He previously served as the head football coach at

Texas State University Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

from 2019 to 2022.

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. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

, Spavital became a member of the coaching staff at

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

in 2008 where he worked as an offensive quality control assistant under

Gus Malzahn Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III (; born October 28, 1965) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at the University of Central Florida ( UCF). He was the head football coach at Auburn University from 2013 to 2020. During the 20 ...

. 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 respo ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

. While at Houston, Spavital worked under head coach

Kevin Sumlin Kevin Warren Sumlin (born August 3, 1964) is an American football coach who is the head coach and general manager for the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League (USFL). Sumlin served as the head football coach at the University o ...

and offensive coordinator

Dana Holgorsen Dana Carl Holgorsen (born June 21, 1971) is the head football coach at the University of Houston. He was the head coach at West Virginia University from 2011 to 2018. During his coaching career he has served under coaches such as Hal Mumme, Mike ...

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

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, ...

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 Brandon Kyle Weeden (born October 14, 1983) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. After pursuing a baseball career from 2002 to 2006, Weeden enrolled at Oklahoma State to pla ...

, who was nearly two years older than Spavital. That

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

, 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 state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

before the 2011 season, he took Spavital with him and made him quarterbacks coach. While at West Virginia, Spavital coached

Geno Smith Eugene Cyril "Geno" Smith III (born October 10, 1990) is an American football quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at West Virginia, leading the Mountaineers to multiple bowl game ...

. Under Spavital's coaching Smith would break numerous WVU, NCAA, and bowl records. When Texas A&M offensive coordinator

Kliff Kingsbury Kliff Timothy Kingsbury (born August 9, 1979) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously a collegiate football coach from 2008 to ...

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. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

, 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 (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

winner

Johnny Manziel Johnathan Paul Manziel ( ; born December 6, 1992) is an American football quarterback for the FCF Zappers of Fan Controlled Football (FCF). He played two seasons with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) and was also a me ...

. On January 3, 2016 Spavital and Texas A&M mutually parted ways, partially due to the

Kyler Murray Kyler Cole Murray (born August 7, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint at Texas A&M, Murray played college football at Oklahoma, where he won the Heisman Trop ...

Kyle Allen Kyle Allen (born March 8, 1996) is an American football quarterback for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). A native of Scottsdale, Arizona, he played high school football at Desert Mountain and was among the top football ...

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 Pac-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The team plays its home games at California Memorial Stad ...

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 Everett Rowe Withers (born June 15, 1963) is an American football coach and former player. He currently serves as the assistant head coach and defensive passing game coordinator for the Florida Atlantic Owls. He formerly served as the defensive ...

. 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, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

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 Georgia state or ''variation'', may refer to: Primarily * Georgia State University ("State", "Georgia State"), a state university * Georgia (U.S. state) ("Georgia state"), a state of the United States of America Sports * sports teams of Georgia St ...

, 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 is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

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.

Personal

Spavital's grandfather,

Jim Spavital James J. Spavital (September 15, 1926 – March 7, 1993) was an American gridiron football player, coach and executive in six different professional football leagues. He served as the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Foo ...

, was a professional football player who played in the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a 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 of the ...

(AAFC),

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), and the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) and later worked as a coach. His father is Steve Spavital, who is a former head football coach at

Broken Arrow High School Broken Arrow Senior High School is the highest level of secondary education in the Broken Arrow Public Schools system, for students in tenth through twelfth grade. Combined with the Broken Arrow Freshman Academy, it is the largest high school in t ...

. 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 Sportspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma Coaches of American football from Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma