Chad Lunsford
Chad Lunsford went 29–22 as a head coach, 2017–2024, at Georgia Southern and Florida Atlantic. Share
- Record
- 29–22 career
- Seasons
- 6
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Feb 24, 1977
- Best season
- 2018 10–3
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Georgia Southern interim, last 6 games | 2–4 | T–10th | |||
| 2018 | Georgia Southern | 10–3 | 3rd (East) | Camellia Bowl W | ||
| 2019 | Georgia Southern | 7–6 | 2nd (East) | Cure Bowl L | ||
| 2020 | Georgia Southern | 8–5 | 3rd (East) | New Orleans Bowl W | ||
| 2021 | Georgia Southern coached four of 12 games | 1–3 | ||||
| 2022–23: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2024 | Florida Atlantic interim, final 2 games | 1–1 | T–13th | |||
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 | 7 | 2–5 | 29% |
| Against top-10 teams | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 8 | 4–4 | 50% |
| Conference games | 33 | 18–15 | 55% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 3 | 2–1 | 67% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 22 | 13–9 | 59% |
| At home | 24 | 18–6 | 75% |
| On the road | 24 | 9–15 | 38% |
| At neutral sites | 3 | 2–1 | 67% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 28 | 22–6 | 79% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 23 | 7–16 | 30% |
His own 51 games on file, 2017–2024, 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawn Elliott 2017–2020 | 2–2 | Georgia State | 4 | |
| Steve Campbell 2018–2020 | 3–0 | South Alabama | 3 | |
| Matt Viator 2018–2020 | 2–1 | UL Monroe | 3 | |
| Jamey Chadwell 2017–2020 | 1–2 | Coastal Carolina | 3 | |
| Billy Napier 2019–2021 | 0–3 | Louisiana | 3 |
Chad Lunsford’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 |
|---|---|---|
| South Alabamaseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Coastal Carolinaseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| App Stateseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Georgia Stateseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Louisianaseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| Troyseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| UL Monroeseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Massachusettsseries | 2 | 2–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Georgia Military | Student assistant | |
| 1997–99 | Georgia Military | Running backs coach | |
| 2000 | Georgia Military | Running backs and linebackers coach | |
| 2001–02 | Appalachian State | Tight ends coach | |
| 2003–05 | Georgia Southern | SB | |
| 2006 | Griffin HS (GA) high school | Linebackers coach | |
| 2007–08 | Georgia Military | Special teams and linebackers coach | |
| 2013 | Georgia Southern | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2014–15 | Georgia Southern | Tight ends coach | |
| 2016–17 | Georgia Southern | Special teams coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2017 | Georgia Southern | Interim head coach | |
| 2018–21 | Georgia Southern | Head coach | |
| 2022 | Florida Atlantic | Special teams and tight ends coach | |
| 2023–24 | Florida Atlantic | Assistant head coach and special teams and tight ends coach | |
| 2024 | Florida Atlantic | Interim head coach and special teams and tight ends coach | |
| 2025 | Auburn | Special teams coach | |
| 2026–present | Arkansas | Special teams coordinator |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Jerry MooreApp State
- Mike SewakGeorgia Southern
- Jeff MonkenGeorgia Southern
- Willie FritzGeorgia Southern
- Dell McGeeGeorgia Southern
- Tyson SummersGeorgia Southern
- Willie TaggartFlorida Atlantic
- Tom HermanFlorida Atlantic
- D.J. DurkinAuburn
- Hugh FreezeAuburn
- Ryan SilverfieldArkansas
Assistants who became head coaches
- Bob DeBesseTexas State
- Scot SloanSamford
- Kevin WhitleyGeorgia Southern
- Brian YoungStetson
- David BeatyKansas
Worked under (11)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerry Moore | App State | 2001–02 | Tight ends coach | |
| Mike Sewak | Georgia Southern | 2003–05 | SB | |
| Jeff Monken | Georgia Southern | 2013 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Willie Fritz | Georgia Southern | 2014–15 | Tight ends coach | |
| Dell McGee | Georgia Southern | 2015 | Tight ends coach | |
| Tyson Summers | Georgia Southern | 2016–17 | Special teams coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Willie Taggart | Florida Atlantic | 2022 | Special teams and tight ends coach | |
| Tom Herman | Florida Atlantic | 2023–24 | Assistant head coach and special teams and tight ends coach | |
| D.J. Durkin | Auburn | 2025 | Special teams coach | |
| Hugh Freeze | Auburn | 2025 | Special teams coach | |
| Ryan Silverfield | Arkansas | 2026 | Special teams coordinator |
Coached under him, later head coaches (5)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bob DeBesse | Georgia Southern, 2018–20: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Texas State | |
| Scot Sloan | Georgia Southern, 2018–21: defensive coordinator | Samford | |
| Kevin Whitley | Georgia Southern, 2019–21: cornerbacks coach | Georgia Southern | |
| Brian Young | Georgia Southern, 2020: SDA | Stetson | |
| David Beaty | Florida Atlantic, 2024: wide receivers coach | Kansas |
Other assistants under him (8)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Bryan Cook | Georgia Southern, 2017: offensive coordinator | |
| Juston Wood | Georgia Southern, 2017: wide receivers coach; 2018: quarterbacks coach | |
| Lorenzo Costantini | Georgia Southern, 2017: defensive coordinator | |
| Lamar Owens | Georgia Southern, 2019: wide receivers coach | |
| Doug Ruse | Georgia Southern, 2020–21: offensive coordinator | |
| Brandon Harris | Florida Atlantic, 2024: co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach; 2024: interim defensive coordinator | |
| Charlie Frye | Florida Atlantic, 2024: offensive coordinator | |
| Roc Bellantoni | Florida Atlantic, 2024: 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Georgia Southern | head coach | $688,587 | |
| 2019 | Georgia Southern | head coach | $706,461 | |
| 2018 | Georgia Southern | head coach | $692,836 | |
| 2017 | Georgia Southern | interim head coach | $419,313 |
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
Lunsford’s teams went for it on 15% of fourth downs and on 26% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 21% of plays and took 30.9 seconds a play, 2018–2020.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 13 g | 12 of 93 13% | 23% | 18% | 32.0 | +0.09 | |
| 2019 13 g | 15 of 111 14% | 24% | 22% | 30.9 | +0.01 | |
| 2020 13 g | 17 of 93 18% | 32% | 23% | 29.9 | +0.03 | |
| All 39 g | 44 of 297 15% | 26% | 21% | 30.9 | +0.04 |
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.