David Elson
David Elson went 39–43 as a head coach, 2003–2009, at Western Kentucky. Share
Four seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 2003–06 at Western Kentucky (on file under another coach). They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 39–43 career
- Seasons
- 7
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 2007 7–5
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Western Kentucky * | 9–4 | T–3rd | NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal L | 7 | |
| 2004 | Western Kentucky * | 9–3 | 2nd | NCAA Division I-AA First Round L | 11 | |
| 2005 | Western Kentucky * | 6–4 | T–4th | |||
| 2006 | Western Kentucky * | 6–5 | T–4th | |||
| 2007 | Western Kentucky | 7–5 | ||||
| 2008 | Western Kentucky | 2–10 | ||||
| 2009 | Western Kentucky | 0–12 | 9th |
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. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 4 | 0–4 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 6 | 4–2 | 67% |
| Conference games | 8 | 0–8 | 0% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 9 | 2–7 | 22% |
| At home | 16 | 5–11 | 31% |
| On the road | 20 | 4–16 | 20% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 10 | 7–3 | 70% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 26 | 2–24 | 8% |
His own 36 games on file, 2007–2009, 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rick Stockstill 2007–2009 | 1–2 | Middle Tennessee | 3 | |
| Larry Blakeney 2007–2009 | 0–3 | Troy | 3 | |
| Todd Dodge 2007–2009 | 0–3 | North Texas | 3 |
David Elson’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 |
|---|---|---|
| Middle Tennesseeseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| North Texasseries | 3 | 0–3 |
| Troyseries | 3 | 0–3 |
| Eastern Kentuckyseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Ball Stateseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Florida Atlanticseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Florida Internationalseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Murray Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994–95 | Southern Illinois | Graduate assistant | |
| 1996–2000 | Western Kentucky | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2001–02 | Western Kentucky | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2003–09 | Western Kentucky | Head coach | |
| 2010 | Indiana | Assistant coach | |
| 2011 | Franklin-Simpson HS (KY) high school | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2012–13 | New Mexico State | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2014 | Southern Illinois | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2015 | Southern Illinois | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2016 | Western Illinois | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2017–19 | Ball State | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2020 | Marian (IN) | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2021 | Purdue | Quality control coach | |
| 2022 | Purdue | Linebackers coach | |
| 2023–24 | Wake Forest | Analyst | |
| 2025 | Indiana State | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2026 | Louisville | Assistant coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Shawn WatsonSouthern Illinois
- Jack HarbaughWestern Kentucky
- Bill LynchIndiana
- DeWayne WalkerNew Mexico State
- Doug MartinNew Mexico State
- Mike NeuBall State
- Jeff BrohmPurdue, Louisville
- Brian BrohmPurdue
- Dave ClawsonWake Forest
- Curt MalloryIndiana State
Assistants who became head coaches
- T. J. WeistUConn, South Florida
- Walt WellsEastern Kentucky
Worked under (10)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawn Watson | Southern Illinois | 1994–95 | Graduate assistant | |
| Jack Harbaugh | Western Kentucky | 1996–2002 | 1996–2000: defensive backs coach; 2001–02: defensive coordinator | |
| Bill Lynch | Indiana | 2010 | Assistant coach | |
| DeWayne Walker | New Mexico State | 2012 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Doug Martin | New Mexico State | 2013 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Mike Neu | Ball State | 2017–19 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Jeff Brohm | Purdue | 2021–22 | 2021: quality control coach; 2022: linebackers coach | |
| Brian Brohm | Purdue | 2022 | Linebackers coach | |
| Dave Clawson | Wake Forest | 2023–24 | Analyst | |
| Curt Mallory | Indiana State | 2025 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Jeff Brohm | Louisville | 2026 | Assistant coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (2)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T. J. Weist | Western Kentucky, 2003–09: offensive coordinator and assistant head coach | UConn, South Florida | |
| Walt Wells | Western Kentucky, 2003–09: offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | Eastern Kentucky |
Other assistants under him (7)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Don Martindale | Western Kentucky, 2003: defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach | |
| Dennis Springer | Western Kentucky, 2007: defensive coordinator | |
| Kevin Wright | Western Kentucky, 2007–08: offensive coordinator | |
| Travaris Robinson | Western Kentucky, 2008: defensive backs coach | |
| Kurt Barber | Western Kentucky, 2009: outside linebackers coach | |
| Mike Dietzel | Western Kentucky, 2009: defensive coordinator | |
| Walter Wells | Western Kentucky, 2009: offensive 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 | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Ball State | defensive coordinator | $130,000 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
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
Elson’s teams went for it on 21% of fourth downs and on 34% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 42% of plays and took 22.7 seconds a play, 2007–2009.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 9 g | 11 of 59 19% | 30% | 34% | 23.1 | −0.07 | |
| 2008 10 g | 23 of 87 26% | 39% | 43% | 25.1 | −0.16 | |
| 2009 12 g | 17 of 92 18% | 31% | 46% | 20.4 | −0.09 | |
| All 31 g | 51 of 238 21% | 34% | 42% | 22.7 | −0.11 |
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.