Blake Harrell
Blake Harrell went 17–8 as a head coach, 2024–2026, at East Carolina. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 3–2); by them his record is 17–7. Share
- Record
- 17–8 career
- Seasons
- 3
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Oct 20, 1979
- Best season
- 2024 8–5
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | East Carolina interim, remainder of season | 5–1 | 5th | Military Bowl W | ||
| 2025 | East Carolina | 9–4 | T–4th | Military Bowl W | ||
| 2026 | East Carolina | 3–3 (Wikipedia: 3–2) |
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.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 2 | 1–1 | 50% |
| Conference games | 15 | 11–4 | 73% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 2 | 2–0 | 100% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 8 | 5–3 | 63% |
| At home | 12 | 9–3 | 75% |
| On the road | 11 | 6–5 | 55% |
| At neutral sites | 2 | 2–0 | 100% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 15 | 11–4 | 73% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 10 | 6–4 | 60% |
His own 25 games on file, 2024–2026, 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.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Tulsaseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Templeseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Florida Atlanticseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| NC Stateseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Pittsburghseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Memphisseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Riceseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| North Texasseries | 1 | 1–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | Western Carolina | Student assistant | |
| 2003 | McDowell HS (NC) high school | Assistant coach | |
| 2004 | Fuquay-Varina HS (NC) high school | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2005 | Franklin HS (NC) high school | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2006 | Franklin HS (NC) high school | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2007–13 | Lenoir-Rhyne | Defensive coordinator, special teams and linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2014–18 | The Citadel | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2019 | Kennesaw State | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2020–24 | East Carolina | Defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach | |
| 2024–present | East Carolina | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Bill BleilWestern Carolina
- Kent BriggsWestern Carolina
- Fred GoldsmithFranklin HS (NC), Lenoir Rhyne
- Mike HoustonLenoir Rhyne, The Citadel, East Carolina
- Brent ThompsonThe Citadel
- Brian BohannonKennesaw State
Assistants who became head coaches
- Josh AldridgeLiberty
Worked under (6)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill Bleil | Western Carolina | 2001 | Student assistant | |
| Kent Briggs | Western Carolina | 2002 | Student assistant | |
| Fred Goldsmith | Franklin HS (NC) high school | 2005 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Fred Goldsmith | Lenoir Rhyne | 2007–10 | Defensive coordinator, special teams and linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Mike Houston | Lenoir Rhyne | 2011–13 | Defensive coordinator, special teams and linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Mike Houston | The Citadel | 2014–15 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Brent Thompson | The Citadel | 2016–18 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Brian Bohannon | Kennesaw State | 2019 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Mike Houston | East Carolina | 2020–24 | Defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (1)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Aldridge | East Carolina, 2025: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Liberty |
Other assistants under him (5)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| John David Baker | East Carolina, 2024–25: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Matt Mattox | East Carolina, 2024–25: offensive line coach | |
| Jordan Davis | East Carolina, 2026: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Jordon Hankins | East Carolina, 2026: defensive coordinator | |
| Roy Tesh | East Carolina, 2026: co-defensive coordinator |
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 | State payroll | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Kennesaw State | defensive coordinator | $68,103 |
Open Georgia (State of Georgia, unaudited): salary paid in the fiscal year from July to June, shown against the season inside it.
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
Harrell’s teams went for it on 29% of fourth downs and on 56% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 47% of plays and took 23.2 seconds a play, 2025–2026.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 13 g | 31 of 97 32% | 56% | 46% | 22.6 | +0.09 | |
| 2026 6 g | 12 of 53 23% | 55% | 48% | 24.4 | −0.13 | |
| All 19 g | 43 of 150 29% | 56% | 47% | 23.2 | +0.02 |
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.