Texas State Athletics

JAKE SPAVITAL FILE
Personal Information
Birthday	May 1
Hometown	Tulsa, Okla.
Education	Missouri State, 2008
Family	Wife: Mehgan; Daughter: Madison Grace; Son: Landyn Zachary
Coaching History
2008	Tulsa Offensive Quality Assistant
2009	Houston Offensive Graduate Assistant/Quarterbacks
2010	Oklahoma State Offensive Graduate Assistant/Quarterbacks
2011-12	West Virginia Quarterbacks
2013	Texas A&M Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
2014-15	Texas A&M Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
2016-17	California Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
2017	California Interim Head Coach
2017-18	West Virginia Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
2019-present	Texas State Head Coach

Follow Coach Spavital on Twitter @JakeSpavital

Jake Spavital is in his fourth year as the head coach at Texas State and will once again call the offensive plays in 2022 for the third straight season.

Hired on Nov. 30, 2018 as the 20th head coach in program history, Spavital, 37, came to Texas State having overseen some of the nation’s most prolific offenses and worked with multiple national award candidates.
 
In his first three years, the Bobcats have earned the program’s first FBS All-American honor, 19 All-Sun Belt accolades, three NFF Hampshire Honor Society awards, and 31 Sun Belt Commissioner’s List academic selections.
 
The team has steadily improved in his tenure, including a 2021 campaign that saw the Bobcats finish second in the Sun Belt’s West Division and play in seven one-score games. Texas State was also able to end the season with a win in its last game for the first time in seven years.
 
In 2020, the Bobcats dramatically improved their rushing game (131.2 yards/game), which helped them average 369.7 total yards and 27.7 points. Those totals were their most since 2015 and 2014, respectively.
 
Texas State also produced the program’s first FBS All-American during the 2020 season as Jeremiah Haydel was named a return specialist on the ESPN All-America First Team and punt returner on the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Phil Steele All-America Second Teams. He ranked third nationally in combined kick return yardage and was one of only two FBS players to return a kickoff and punt for touchdowns.
 
Dalton Cooper joined Haydel with national honors as the redshirt freshman garnered Freshman All-American honors from The Athletic after starting all 12 games at left tackle.
 
In Spavital’s first season leading Texas State in 2019, seven different Bobcats earned all-conference honors and the team equaled its conference victories from the three prior seasons combined.
 
A native of Tulsa, Okla. and son of a former high school football coach, Spavital was an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before taking the helm at Texas State. Across eight seasons, Spavital piloted the offenses at West Virginia, Cal and Texas A&M working under head coaches Dana Holgorsen, Sonny Dykes and Kevin Sumlin. He also worked with college star quarterbacks Will Grier (West Virginia), Davis Webb (Cal), Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M), and Geno Smith (West Virginia).
 
As offensive coordinator, Spavital piloted offenses on teams that finished top-20 in the country in total offense six times, reached seven bowl games, and earned a spot in the national rankings in seven different seasons.
 
In the two years prior to Texas State, Spavital was the offensive coordinator for West Virginia and helped lead the Mountaineers to a pair of bowl games and a top-25 finish in both the AP and coaches final poll in 2018.
 
In 2018, West Virginia finished top-10 in the country in total offense (512.3, 8th), passing offense (351.3, 4th), and scoring offense (40.3, 10th). Meanwhile, in 2017, working with Will Grier, Spavital and the Mountaineers were featured in the polls throughout the season and top-25 in total offense, passing offense and scoring offense.
 
Spavital rejoined working for Holgorsen after a 2016 season in which he was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Cal under Dykes. He tutored quarterback Davis Webb to Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year awards and top-10 finishes in several major passing categories. The entire offensive unit, meanwhile, was 10th in the country in total offense.
 
Spavital briefly served as Cal’s interim head coach in January 2017 before returning to Morgantown.
 
While Spavital stems from the Holgorsen coaching tree – having worked with him in six different seasons starting in 2009 at Houston as a graduate assistant – the former college quarterback spent three seasons at Texas A&M from 2013 to 2015 under Sumlin. He began his time with the Aggies as the co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2013 before assume sole play-calling responsibilities in 2014 and 2015 as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
 
Working with quarterbacks Johnny Manziel, Kenny Hill, Kyle Allen, and Kyler Murray at Texas A&M, Spavital helped the Aggies finish the 2013 season ranked No. 18 in the final polls, reach three straight bowl games, and post a pair of 8-win campaigns in both of his two seasons as the lone play-caller in 2014 and 2015.
 
In his first season at Texas A&M, Spavital led the Aggies to be one of the nation’s most prolific offenses. They finished fourth in the country in total offense as well as fifth in scoring offense.
 
In his first stint at West Virginia in 2011 and 2012 as the quarterbacks coach, Spavital piloted the Mountaineers to finish top-15 in total offense in both seasons as well as reach bowl games. In 2011, working with Heisman candidate Geno Smith, Spavital and the Mountaineers reached the Orange Bowl, won 10 games, and finished No. 17 and 18 in the final AP and coaches poll, respectively.
 
He started his career in offensive quality control and graduate assistant positions at Tulsa (2008), Houston (2009) and Oklahoma State (2010).
 
Spavital was a two-year letterman as a quarterback and punter for Missouri State from 2004 to 2007. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2008.

He was a consensus first-team all-state quarterback at Tulsa’s Union High School, posting a 26-1 career record as the starting quarterback and leading Union to the Class 6A state title in 2002.

Spavital is married to the former Mehgan Morris, one of the top gymnasts in West Virginia history. They have a daughter, Madison Grace, and a son, Landyn Zachary. His father, Steve, is a former high school football coach, while his brother Zac is the defensive coordinator at Texas State.