Bill Callahan
Bill Callahan went 27–22 as a head coach, 2004–2007, at Nebraska. Share
- Record
- 27–22 career
- Seasons
- 4
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 2005 8–4, No. 24
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Nebraska | 5–6 | 3rd (North) | |||
| 2005 | Nebraska | 8–4 | T–2nd (North) | Alamo Bowl W | 24 | |
| 2006 | Nebraska | 9–5 | 1st (North) | Cotton Bowl L | ||
| 2007 | Nebraska | 5–7 | T–5th (North) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
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Adam CarrikerNo. 13 pick, 2007
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 13 | 3–10 | 23% |
| Against top-10 teams | 6 | 0–6 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 23 | 12–11 | 52% |
| Conference games | 32 | 15–17 | 47% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 2 | 1–1 | 50% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 18 | 10–8 | 56% |
| At home | 27 | 19–8 | 70% |
| On the road | 19 | 7–12 | 37% |
| At neutral sites | 3 | 1–2 | 33% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 28 | 21–7 | 75% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 21 | 6–15 | 29% |
His own 49 games on file, 2004–2007, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Pinkel 2004–2007 | 2–2 | Missouri | 4 | |
| Mark Mangino 2004–2007 | 2–2 | Kansas | 4 | |
| Dan McCarney 2004–2006 | 2–1 | Iowa State | 3 | |
| Bob Stoops 2004–2006 | 0–3 | Oklahoma | 3 |
Bill Callahan’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Iowa Stateseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| Kansas Stateseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| Coloradoseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Missouriseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Kansasseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Oklahomaseries | 3 | 0–3 |
| Wake Forestseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Pittsburghseries | 2 | 2–0 |
Also a player: Bill Callahan’s playing career.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Oak Lawn Community High School high school | Assistant coach | |
| 1979 | De La Salle Institute | Assistant coach | |
| 1987–88 | Northern Arizona | Offensive line coach | |
| 1989 | Southern Illinois | Offensive coordinator | |
| 1990–94 | Wisconsin | Offensive line coach | |
| 1995–97 | Philadelphia Eagles NFL | Offensive line coach | |
| 2004–07 | Nebraska | Head coach | |
| 2008–11 | New York Jets NFL | Assistant head coach and offensive line coach | |
| 2012–14 | Dallas Cowboys NFL | Offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| 2020–23 | Cleveland Browns NFL | Offensive line coach | |
| 2024–25 | Tennessee Titans NFL | Offensive line coach | |
| 2026–present | Atlanta Falcons NFL | Offensive line coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Larry KenteraNorthern Arizona
- Barry AlvarezWisconsin
- Rex RyanNew York Jets
Assistants who became head coaches
- Dennis WagnerWayne State (NE), Western Carolina, Briar Cliff
- Jay NorvellNevada, Colorado State
- John BlakeOklahoma
- Scott DowningSterling, Northern Colorado
- Turner GillBuffalo, Kansas, Liberty
- Keith HeckendorfNorth Carolina
- Shawn WatsonWofford, Southern Illinois
- Joe RudolphPittsburgh
Worked under (3)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Larry Kentera | Northern Arizona | 1987–88 | Offensive line coach | |
| Barry Alvarez | Wisconsin | 1990–94 | Offensive line coach | |
| Rex Ryan | New York Jets NFL | 2009–11 | Assistant head coach and offensive line coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (8)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Wagner | Nebraska, 2004–07: offensive line coach | Wayne State (NE), Western Carolina, Briar Cliff | |
| Jay Norvell | Nebraska, 2004–06: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Nevada, Colorado State | |
| John Blake | Nebraska, 2004–06: defensive line coach | Oklahoma | |
| Scott Downing | Nebraska, 2004–05: recruiting coordinator and tight ends coach | Sterling, Northern Colorado | |
| Turner Gill | Nebraska, 2004: wide receivers coach | Buffalo, Kansas, Liberty | |
| Keith Heckendorf | Nebraska, 2005: offensive quality control coach; 2006–07: graduate assistant | North Carolina | |
| Shawn Watson | Nebraska, 2006: tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator; 2007: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Wofford, Southern Illinois | |
| Joe Rudolph | Nebraska, 2007: tight ends coach | Pittsburgh |
Other assistants under him (4)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Bill Busch | Nebraska, 2004: special teams and outside linebackers coach; 2005–07: special teams and safeties coach | |
| Kevin Cosgrove | Nebraska, 2004–07: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Phil Elmassian | Nebraska, 2004–07: defensive backs coach | |
| Nick Holz | Nebraska, 2007: offensive quality control coach and video intern |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Nebraska | head coachbonuses up to $425,000 | $1,751,250 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2006 | Nebraska | head coachbonuses up to $113,547 | $1,690,317 USA Today via Leeds |
The same USA Today database for 2006–16, from Michael Leeds’ replication data on Harvard Dataverse (CC0): the season’s contract pay.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Callahan’s teams went for it on 22% of fourth downs and on 38% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 50% of plays and took 24.1 seconds a play, 2004–2007.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 11 g | 20 of 94 21% | 34% | 44% | 22.4 | −0.16 | |
| 2005 12 g | 19 of 113 17% | 39% | 56% | 24.0 | −0.19 | |
| 2006 14 g | 24 of 98 24% | 46% | 46% | 27.6 | +0.03 | |
| 2007 12 g | 23 of 82 28% | 33% | 55% | 21.6 | +0.07 | |
| All 49 g | 86 of 387 22% | 38% | 50% | 24.1 | −0.06 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.