Matt Viator
Matt Viator went 25–41 as a head coach, 2006–2020, at McNeese and UL Monroe. Share
- Record
- 25–41 career
- Seasons
- 6
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Sep 3, 1963
- Alma mater
- McNeese 1986
- Best season
- 2006 7–5
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | McNeese interim, games 5–12 | 6–2 | ||
| 2007–15: not a college head coach | ||||
| 2016 | UL Monroe | 4–8 | ||
| 2017 | UL Monroe | 4–8 | ||
| 2018 | UL Monroe | 6–6 | ||
| 2019 | UL Monroe | 5–7 | ||
| 2020 | UL Monroe | 0–10 | ||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game.
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 | 2–4 | 33% |
| Conference games | 45 | 20–25 | 44% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 22 | 12–10 | 55% |
| At home | 30 | 15–15 | 50% |
| On the road | 36 | 10–26 | 28% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 21 | 14–7 | 67% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 45 | 11–34 | 24% |
His own 66 games on file, 2006–2020, 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blake Anderson 2016–2020 | 0–5 | Arkansas State | 5 | |
| Shawn Elliott 2017–2020 | 1–3 | Georgia State | 4 | |
| Everett Withers 2016–2018 | 3–0 | Texas State | 3 | |
| Steve Campbell 2018–2020 | 2–1 | South Alabama | 3 | |
| Chad Lunsford 2018–2020 | 1–2 | Georgia Southern | 3 | |
| Billy Napier 2018–2020 | 0–3 | Louisiana | 3 |
Matt Viator’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 |
|---|---|---|
| Texas Stateseries | 6 | 4–2 |
| South Alabamaseries | 5 | 3–2 |
| Georgia Stateseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Louisianaseries | 5 | 1–4 |
| Arkansas Stateseries | 5 | 0–5 |
| Georgia Southernseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| App Stateseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| Coastal Carolinaseries | 3 | 3–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986–88 | Sam Houston HS (LA) high school | Assistant coach | |
| 1989–90 | Vinton HS (LA) high school | Head coach | |
| 1991–94 | Jennings HS (LA) high school | Head coach | |
| 1995–98 | Sulphur HS (LA) high school | Head coach | |
| 1999 | McNeese State | Linebackers coach | |
| 2000–06 | McNeese State | Offensive coordinator | |
| 2006–15 | McNeese State | Head coach | |
| 2016–20 | Louisiana–Monroe | Head coach | |
| 2021–24 | Louisiana–Lafayette | Quality control coach | |
| 2025–present | McNeese | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Tommy CondellMcNeese
- Tommy TateMcNeese
- Billy NapierLouisiana
- Michael DesormeauxLouisiana
Assistants who became head coaches
- Lance GuidryMiami (OH), Western Kentucky, McNeese
- Scott StokerNorthwestern State
Worked under (4)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tommy Condell | McNeese | 1999 | Linebackers coach | |
| Tommy Tate | McNeese | 2006 | Offensive coordinator | |
| Billy Napier | Louisiana | 2021 | Quality control coach | |
| Michael Desormeaux | Louisiana | 2021–24 | Quality control coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (2)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lance Guidry | McNeese, 2008: defensive backs coach; 2013–15: assistant head coach and defensive coordinator | Miami (OH), Western Kentucky, McNeese | |
| Scott Stoker | UL Monroe, 2016–19: linebackers coach; 2020: interim defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Northwestern State |
Other assistants under him (8)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Ben Norton | McNeese, 2006: co-offensive coordinator | |
| Jason Rollins | McNeese, 2006: co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Manny Michel | UL Monroe, 2016–17: defensive line coach | |
| Matt Kubik | UL Monroe, 2016–19: offensive coordinator | |
| Matt Powledge | UL Monroe, 2016–17: special teams coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| Mike Collins | UL Monroe, 2016–19: assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Rob Sale | UL Monroe, 2016: offensive line coach | |
| Eman Naghavi | UL Monroe, 2017–19: offensive line coach; 2020: 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 | UL Monroe | head coachbonuses up to $50,000; buyout $204,167 | $390,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | UL Monroe | head coachbonuses up to $50,000 | $390,000 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
Viator’s teams went for it on 29% of fourth downs and on 39% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 55% of plays and took 24.7 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 12 g | 16 of 82 20% | 27% | 51% | 24.3 | +0.09 | |
| 2019 12 g | 28 of 96 29% | 47% | 49% | 24.2 | +0.11 | |
| 2020 10 g | 33 of 91 36% | 42% | 65% | 25.7 | −0.10 | |
| All 34 g | 77 of 269 29% | 39% | 55% | 24.7 | +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.