Jay Sawvel
Jay Sawvel went 11–20 as a head coach, 2024–2026, at Wyoming. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 3–3); by them his record is 10–20. Share
- Record
- 11–20 career
- Seasons
- 3
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Mar 14, 1971
- Alma mater
- Mount Union 1993
- Best season
- 2026 4–3
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Wyoming | 3–9 | T–10th | |||
| 2025 | Wyoming | 4–8 | T–9th | |||
| 2026 | Wyoming | 4–3 (Wikipedia: 3–3) |
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 | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 7 | 2–5 | 29% |
| Conference games | 19 | 7–12 | 37% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 11 | 5–6 | 45% |
| At home | 15 | 7–8 | 47% |
| On the road | 16 | 4–12 | 25% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 9 | 4–5 | 44% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 22 | 7–15 | 32% |
His own 31 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.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ken Niumatalolo 2024–2026 | 2–1 | San José State | 3 |
Jay Sawvel’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 |
|---|---|---|
| San José Stateseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Colorado Stateseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Hawai’iseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Air Forceseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| San Diego Stateseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| New Mexicoseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Washington Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Akronseries | 1 | 1–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994–95 | Eastern Kentucky | Graduate assistant | |
| 1996–98 | Notre Dame | Graduate assistant | |
| 1999–2000 | Ferris State | Defensive backs and special teams coach | |
| 2001–07 | Southern Illinois | Defensive backs and special teams coach | |
| 2008–10 | Northern Illinois | Defensive backs and special teams coach | |
| 2011–15 | Minnesota | Defensive backs and special teams coach | |
| 2016 | Minnesota | Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| 2017–18 | Wake Forest | Defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach | |
| 2020–23 | Wyoming | Defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| 2024–present | Wyoming | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Lou HoltzNotre Dame
- Bob DavieNotre Dame
- Jerry KillSouthern Illinois, Northern Illinois, Minnesota
- Tom MatukewiczNorthern Illinois
- Tracy ClaeysMinnesota
- Dave ClawsonWake Forest
- Craig BohlWyoming
Worked under (7)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lou Holtz | Notre Dame | 1996 | Graduate assistant | |
| Bob Davie | Notre Dame | 1997–98 | Graduate assistant | |
| Jerry Kill | Southern Illinois | 2001–07 | Defensive backs and special teams coach | |
| Jerry Kill | Northern Illinois | 2008–10 | Defensive backs and special teams coach | |
| Tom Matukewicz | Northern Illinois | 2010 | Defensive backs and special teams coach | |
| Jerry Kill | Minnesota | 2011–15 | Defensive backs and special teams coach | |
| Tracy Claeys | Minnesota | 2015–16 | 2015: defensive backs and special teams coach; 2016: defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Dave Clawson | Wake Forest | 2017–18 | Defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach | |
| Craig Bohl | Wyoming | 2020–23 | Defensive coordinator and safeties coach |
Coached under him (4)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Aaron Bohl | Wyoming, 2024–26: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Jay Johnson | Wyoming, 2024–25: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Jovon Bouknight | Wyoming, 2025: offensive coordinator | |
| Christian Taylor | Wyoming, 2026: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Minnesota | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $147,500 | $550,000 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
Sawvel’s teams went for it on 24% of fourth downs and on 40% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 48% of plays and took 27.4 seconds a play, 2024–2026.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 12 g | 25 of 108 23% | 37% | 47% | 26.8 | −0.07 | |
| 2025 12 g | 23 of 102 23% | 44% | 52% | 26.5 | −0.06 | |
| 2026 7 g | 12 of 44 27% | 37% | 42% | 29.7 | +0.01 | |
| All 31 g | 60 of 254 24% | 40% | 48% | 27.4 | −0.05 |
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.