Jake Spavital is in his second year as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Baylor.
One of the nation’s most skilled offensive minds, Spavital transformed the Baylor offensive attack in his first year into one of the nation’s best units. The Bears finished the regular season on a six-game winning streak, the longest such streak in program history, and was fueled by an electric offensive attack that ranked in among the nation’s top six units over the final two months of the year.
In October and November, Baylor ranked fifth in yards per game, fifth in yards per play and sixth in points per game nationally. While settling on a starting offensive line through the first six games of the year, with BU owning a 2-4 mark, the Bears averaged 41.3 points per game over the final six games of the regular season, including 505.5 yards per game and 242 rushing yards per contest.
Overall on the year, the Bears ranked among the NCAA leaders in fewest tackles for a loss allowed (fourth), scoring offense (19th), passing efficiency (19th), total offense (20th), passing yards per completion (22nd), first-down offense (27th), third-down conversion percentage (32nd), passing offense (34th) and rushing offense (42nd). BU finished the year ranked No. 23 in FEI offensive rating, and 20th among power-four conference schools.
The offensive line played a huge part in the resurgence over the last half of the year, with Spavital helping direct a unit that finished No. 112 in offensive line efficiency rating in 2023 to No. 6 in 2024.
Individually, Spavital helped spur a bevy of Baylor talents to historic seasons, including freshman All-America running back Bryson Washington, who shattered the program record for rushing yards in a season (1,028), while rolling to 12 TDs and six games with over 100+ rushing yards, despite playing in just 11 games. QB Sawyer Robertson ranked fifth nationally, and tops in the Big 12 in QB Rating, while slinging 28 TDs and 3,071 yards and rushing for four TDs. WR Josh Cameron hauled in 10 TDs over his 52 catches for 754 yards, with four Bears totaling 30 or more catches.
Spavital returned to the Lone Star State in 2024 after spending the 2023 season as California’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Spavital is widely considered one of the best offensive minds in college football and brings a bevy of experience to Waco, including four years as the head coach at Texas State. He has also worked as the OC/QB coach at West Virginia (2017-18; 2010-11), Cal (2016) and Texas A&M (2013-15). He got his start in coaching at Tulsa in 2008, also working graduate assistant stints at Houston (2009) and Oklahoma State (2010).
He has coordinated offenses that ranked among the nation’s top-30 in FEI in five of six years between West Virginia, Cal and Texas A&M, including a No. 10 mark in 2018 at WVU, also checking in No. 30 in 2017 at WVU, No. 22 at Cal in 2016, No. 12 at Texas A&M in 2014 and No. 2 in 2013 at Texas A&M.
At Cal, Spavital rejuvenated a Golden Bears offense that ranked fourth in the Pac-12 in rushing offense (181.1 yards per game) in 2023 and averaged 31.6 points per game. Spavital helped Cal become bowl eligible for the first time in four seasons after winning three-straight games to close out the 2023 campaign, averaging 34 points across the trio of victories.
In 2023, Spavital saw his squad pick up four Pac-12 Player of the Week honors, including three Offensive Lineman of the Week accolades. Behind that front, sophomore running back Jaydn Ott led all Pac-12 players in all-purpose yards per game (136.45) and rushed for a league-leading 1,260 yards (10th nationally) with 11 touchdowns.
In his first game back with the Bears, Spavital’s offense set a school record with 681 yards of total offense, the most by a Cal team in a road game all-time.
As an offensive coordinator, Spavital has led six top-20 offenses and helped his squad earn a spot in the AP Top 25 poll in seven different seasons.
Spavital has recruited and worked with several elite college and future NFL quarterbacks, including Will Grier (West Virginia), Case Keenum (Houston), Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M), Kyler Murray (Texas A&M), Geno Smith (West Virginia), David Webb (California) and Brandon Weeden (Oklahoma State). Murray was the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals, while Weeden and Manziel were each selected in the first round by the Cleveland Browns in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Smith was a second-round choice of the New York Jets in 2013.
Prior to Cal, Spavital served as the head coach at Texas State for four seasons (2019-22) where he took over a program that had recently moved to the FBS level and logged a second-place finish in the Sun Belt’s West Division in 2021. Under his tutelage, return specialist Jeremiah Haydel became the program’s first FBS All-American (ESPN, FWAA, Phil Steele) and left tackle Dalton Cooper was recognized as a Freshman All-American (The Athletic).
Spavital spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons as the OC at West Virginia, his second stint with the Mountaineers. There, he helped WVU to a pair of bowl games and an AP No. 20 finish after an eight-win season in 2018. His squads ranked in the top-10 nationally in 2018 in passing offense (351.3, No. 4), team passing efficiency (168.66, No. 5), total offense (512.3, No. 8) and scoring offense (40.3, No. 10) after the 2017 team ranked in the top-25 in passing offense (309.3, No. 13), total offense (459.6, No. 20) and scoring offense (34.5, No. 22). Spavital also mentored Grier to All-Big 12 Second Team honors after an illustrious career and a standout 2018 season in which he ranked second in the country with 351.3 passing yards per game and threw 37 touchdowns, which placed fifth nationally.
In 2016, Spavital made his first stop in the Golden State with Cal and coached an offense that ranked in the top-25 nationally in eight categories, including a fourth-place spot in passing offense (358.8) and 10th-place ranking in total offense (513.2). He helped Cal establish multiple single-season records and was instrumental in the recruitment of Webb, who went on the become the Senior Bowl MVP and ranked among the nation’s leaders in nearly every passing category.
Previously, Spavital spent three years with Texas A&M (2013-15) and helped the Aggies to a 25-14 record during his tenure as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. As the Co-OC in 2013, Spavital coached Heisman Trophy winner Manziel as TAMU set single-season SEC and school records with 4,593 passing yards and had 6,999 total yards of offense, which ranked second in the league’s history. Ahead of the Chick-fil-A Bowl game, Spavital took over play-calling duties and compiled 541 yards of total offense and rallied from 21 points down to beat Duke, 52-48, in TAMU’s largest comeback in school history.
Spavital’s first stop at West Virginia came during the 2011 and 2012 seasons, in which he served as the quarterbacks coach for Smith, who finished his career with 11,662 passing yards and 98 TD passes. There, Spavital’s Mountaineers ranked in the top-10 nationally in multiple offensive categories and logged a 10-win season in 2011 which included a win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
Before getting his start as a full-time position coach, Spavital made stops at Oklahoma State (2010), Houston (2009) and Tulsa (2008) following the end of his playing career at Missouri State (2004-07) where he was a two-year letterwinner as a quarterback and punter.
At Union High School in Tulsa, Okla., Spavital was a consensus first-team all-state quarterback for a program that won the 2002 Class 6A state title. He led UHS to a 26-1 record during the ’02 and ’03 seasons and ranked second and third in the nation, respectively.
Spavital’s father, Steve, is a former high school football coach and his brother, Zac, was the defensive coordinator at Texas State during Jake’s tenure as head coach.
Spavital earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Missouri State in 2008. He and his wife, Mehgan, who was one of the top collegiate gymnasts in West Virginia history, have two children: Madison Grace and Landyn Zachary.
Spavital File
2008: Offensive Quality Control – Tulsa
2009: Graduate Assistant – Houston
2010: Graduate Assistant – Oklahoma State
2011-12: Quarterbacks – West Virginia
2013-15: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – Texas A&M
2016: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – Cal
2017-18: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – West Virginia
2019-22: Head Coach – Texas State
2023: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – Cal
2024-25: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – Baylor
