Justin Fuente
Justin Fuente went 69–54 as a head coach, 2012–2021, at Memphis and Virginia Tech. Share
- Record
- 69–54 career
- Seasons
- 10
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Jul 30, 1976
- Alma mater
- Murray State
- Best season
- 2016 10–4, No. 16
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Memphis | 4–8 | T–3rd (East) | |||
| 2013 | Memphis | 3–9 | T–9th | |||
| 2014 | Memphis | 10–3 | T–1st | Miami Beach Bowl W | 25 | |
| 2015 | Memphis | 9–3 | 3rd (West) | Birmingham (not coached) | ||
| 2016 | Virginia Tech | 10–4 | 1st (Coastal) | Belk Bowl W | 16 | |
| 2017 | Virginia Tech | 9–4 | 2nd (Coastal) | Camping World Bowl L | 24 | |
| 2018 | Virginia Tech | 6–7 | T–3rd (Coastal) | Military Bowl L | ||
| 2019 | Virginia Tech | 8–5 | 2nd (Coastal) | Belk Bowl L | ||
| 2020 | Virginia Tech | 5–6 | T–6th | |||
| 2021 | Virginia Tech coached 10 of 13 games | 5–5 |
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
Tom HornseyConsensus All‑American, 2013
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 | 24 | 7–17 | 29% |
| Against top-10 teams | 9 | 1–8 | 11% |
| Against rivals | 33 | 18–15 | 55% |
| Conference games | 80 | 45–35 | 56% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 5 | 2–3 | 40% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 40 | 19–21 | 48% |
| At home | 64 | 41–23 | 64% |
| On the road | 51 | 25–26 | 49% |
| At neutral sites | 8 | 3–5 | 38% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 65 | 50–15 | 77% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 58 | 19–39 | 33% |
His own 123 games on file, 2012–2021, 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Cutcliffe 2012–2021 | 5–3 | Duke | 8 | |
| Bronco Mendenhall 2014–2020 | 5–1 | BYU, Virginia | 6 | |
| Pat Narduzzi 2016–2021 | 3–3 | Pittsburgh | 6 | |
| Willie Taggart 2013–2018 | 4–0 | South Florida, Florida State | 4 | |
| Rick Stockstill 2012–2021 | 2–2 | Middle Tennessee | 4 | |
| Steve Addazio 2016–2019 | 2–2 | Boston College | 4 | |
| Brian Kelly 2016–2021 | 1–3 | Notre Dame | 4 | |
| Curtis Johnson 2012–2015 | 3–0 | Tulane | 3 | |
| Larry Fedora 2016–2018 | 3–0 | North Carolina | 3 | |
| Tommy Tuberville 2013–2015 | 2–1 | Cincinnati | 3 |
Justin Fuente’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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dukeseries | 8 | 5–3 |
| North Carolinaseries | 6 | 5–1 |
| Boston Collegeseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| Pittsburghseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| Virginiaseries | 5 | 4–1 |
| Georgia Techseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Miamiseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Cincinnatiseries | 4 | 2–2 |
How he was hired
- Hired by Virginia Tech for the 2016 season from Memphis, where he was head coach.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–03 | Illinois State | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2004–06 | Illinois State | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2007–08 | TCU | Running backs coach | |
| 2009–11 | TCU | Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2012–15 | Memphis | Head coach | |
| 2016–21 | Virginia Tech | Head coach | |
| 2023 | Indiana | Analyst |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Denver JohnsonIllinois State
- Gary PattersonTCU
- Tom AllenIndiana
Assistants who became head coaches
- Barry OdomMissouri, UNLV, Purdue
- Brad CornelsenSam Houston
- Darrell DickeyNorth Texas, Memphis
- Tim BillingsSouthern Miss, Southeast Missouri State
- Ryan WaltersPurdue
- Adam LechtenbergCentral Connecticut
- Brent GuyUtah State
- Jerry KillNorthern Illinois, Minnesota, TCU, New Mexico State, Saginaw Valley State, Emporia State, Southern Illinois
- Tracy ClaeysMinnesota
- J.C. PriceVirginia Tech
- Jon TenutaGeorgia Tech
Worked under (3)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver Johnson | Illinois State | 2001–06 | 2001–03: quarterbacks coach; 2004–06: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Gary Patterson | TCU | 2007–11 | 2007–08: running backs coach; 2009–11: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Tom Allen | Indiana | 2023 | Analyst |
Coached under him, later head coaches (11)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barry Odom | Memphis, 2012–14: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Missouri, UNLV, Purdue | |
| Brad Cornelsen | Memphis, 2012–14: quarterbacks coach; 2015: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Virginia Tech, 2016–21: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Sam Houston | |
| Darrell Dickey | Memphis, 2012–14: offensive coordinator and running backs coach; 2015: assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach | North Texas, Memphis | |
| Tim Billings | Memphis, 2012–13: defensive line coach | Southern Miss, Southeast Missouri State | |
| Ryan Walters | Memphis, 2014: cornerbacks coach | Purdue | |
| Adam Lechtenberg | Memphis, 2015: interim wide receivers; Virginia Tech, 2018–19: assistant head coach; 2020: running backs coach; 2021: running backs coach and ORC | Central Connecticut | |
| Brent Guy | Memphis, 2015: safeties coach | Utah State | |
| Jerry Kill | Virginia Tech, 2019: assistant to head coach | Northern Illinois, Minnesota, TCU, New Mexico State, Saginaw Valley State, Emporia State, Southern Illinois | |
| Tracy Claeys | Virginia Tech, 2020: linebackers coach | Minnesota | |
| J.C. Price | Virginia Tech, 2021: co-DL and recruiting coordinator | Virginia Tech | |
| Jon Tenuta | Virginia Tech, 2021: defensive assistant | Georgia Tech |
Other assistants under him (6)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Holmon Wiggins | Memphis, 2012–15: wide receivers coach; Virginia Tech, 2016–18: wide receivers coach | |
| Galen Scott | Memphis, 2015: defensive coordinator | |
| Brian Mitchell | Virginia Tech, 2016–19: defensive backs coach | |
| Bud Foster | Virginia Tech, 2016–19: assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Justin Hamilton | Virginia Tech, 2018: director of player development – defense; 2019: safeties coach; 2020–21: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Tyrone Nix | Virginia Tech, 2018: safeties 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Virginia Tech | head coachbonuses up to $435,000; $125,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $15,000,000 | $3,250,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Virginia Tech | head coachbonuses up to $400,000 | $3,200,000 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Memphis | head coachbonuses up to $725,000; $235,000 in bonuses paid | $1,400,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Memphis | head coachbonuses up to $725,000 | $1,006,779 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
Fuente’s teams went for it on 19% of fourth downs and on 32% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 44% of plays and took 23.8 seconds a play, 2012–2020.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 12 g | Memphis | 28 of 105 27% | 38% | 39% | 21.5 | −0.07 | |
| 2013 12 g | Memphis | 26 of 108 24% | 47% | 47% | 21.8 | −0.11 | |
| 2014 13 g | Memphis | 14 of 118 12% | 18% | 43% | 22.6 | −0.01 | |
| 2015 13 g | Memphis | 18 of 103 17% | 28% | 47% | 22.4 | +0.13 | |
| 2016 14 g | Virginia Tech | 16 of 111 14% | 28% | 45% | 23.5 | +0.04 | |
| 2017 13 g | Virginia Tech | 27 of 117 23% | 35% | 44% | 24.6 | −0.02 | |
| 2018 13 g | Virginia Tech | 27 of 115 23% | 40% | 49% | 24.3 | +0.05 | |
| 2019 13 g | Virginia Tech | 13 of 97 13% | 21% | 39% | 26.8 | +0.04 | |
| 2020 11 g | Virginia Tech | 13 of 79 16% | 31% | 38% | 26.7 | +0.15 | |
| All 114 g | 182 of 953 19% | 32% | 44% | 23.8 | +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.