Lou Spanos
Lou Spanos went 1–9 as a head coach, 2021, at UConn. Share
- Record
- 1–9 career
- Seasons
- 1
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Mar 27, 1971
- Alma mater
- Tulsa 1994
- Best season
- 2021 1–11
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | UConn interim, final 10 games | 1–9 |
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 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 3 | 1–2 | 33% |
| At home | 5 | 1–4 | 20% |
| On the road | 5 | 0–5 | 0% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 10 | 1–9 | 10% |
His own 10 games on file, 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.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Yaleseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Massachusettsseries | 1 | 0–1 |
| Clemsonseries | 1 | 0–1 |
| Vanderbiltseries | 1 | 0–1 |
| Houstonseries | 1 | 0–1 |
| Armyseries | 1 | 0–1 |
| UCFseries | 1 | 0–1 |
| Middle Tennesseeseries | 1 | 0–1 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Tulsa | Student assistant | |
| 1995–2009 | Pittsburgh Steelers NFL | Defensive quality control and assistant linebackers coach | |
| 2010–11 | Washington Redskins NFL | Linebackers coach | |
| 2012–13 | UCLA | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2014–17 | Tennessee Titans NFL | Linebackers coach | |
| 2018 | Alabama | Analyst | |
| 2019–21 | UConn | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2021 | UConn | Interim head coach | |
| 2023–25 | Ole Miss | Defensive analyst | |
| 2026–present | LSU | Assistant defensive line and pass rush specialist |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- David RaderTulsa
- Jim MoraUCLA
- Nick SabanAlabama
- Randy EdsallUConn
- Lane KiffinOle Miss, LSU
- Pete GoldingOle Miss
Assistants who became head coaches
- Jim MoraUCLA, UConn, Colorado State, Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks
Worked under (6)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Rader | Tulsa | 1993 | Student assistant | |
| Jim Mora | UCLA | 2012–13 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Nick Saban | Alabama | 2018 | Analyst | |
| Randy Edsall | UConn | 2019–21 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Lane Kiffin | Ole Miss | 2023–25 | Defensive analyst | |
| Pete Golding | Ole Miss | 2025 | Defensive analyst | |
| Lane Kiffin | LSU | 2026 | Assistant defensive line and pass rush specialist |
Coached under him, later head coaches (1)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Mora | UConn, 2021: offensive assistant | UCLA, UConn, Colorado State, Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks |
Other assistants under him (3)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Frank Giufre | UConn, 2021: offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| Jarren Horton | UConn, 2021: star and nickel and dime coach; 2021: interim defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Noel Mazzone | UConn, 2021: offensive assistant |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | UConn | interim head coach in 2021 | $391,411 | |
| 2021 | UConn | interim head coach | $337,263 | |
| 2020 | UConn | defensive coordinator | $363,792 | |
| 2019 | UConn | defensive coordinator | $278,161 |
Connecticut’s state payroll (Open Data Portal): what the state actually paid in the calendar year, salary and special payments together.
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
Spanos’s teams went for it on 23% of fourth downs and on 38% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 57% of plays and took 23.5 seconds a play, in 2021.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 12 g | 29 of 124 23% | 38% | 57% | 23.5 | −0.19 |
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.