Matt Wells
Matt Wells went 57–51 as a head coach, 2013–2021, at Utah State and Texas Tech. Share
- Record
- 57–51 career
- Seasons
- 9
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Aug 10, 1973
- Alma mater
- Utah State 1996
- Best season
- 2018 11–2
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Utah State | 9–5 | 1st | Poinsettia Bowl W | ||
| 2014 | Utah State | 10–4 | T–2nd | New Mexico Bowl W | ||
| 2015 | Utah State | 6–7 | T–2nd | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl L | ||
| 2016 | Utah State | 3–9 | 6th | |||
| 2017 | Utah State | 6–7 | T–4th | Arizona Bowl L | ||
| 2018 | Utah State | 10–2 | T–1st | New Mexico W | ||
| 2019 | Texas Tech | 4–8 | 9th | |||
| 2020 | Texas Tech | 4–6 | 8th | |||
| 2021 | Texas Tech coached eight of 13 games | 5–3 |
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.
Players he coached
Savon ScarverConsensus All‑American, 2018
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 | 17 | 4–13 | 24% |
| Against top-10 teams | 3 | 0–3 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 23 | 9–14 | 39% |
| Conference games | 71 | 37–34 | 52% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 4 | 2–2 | 50% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 36 | 13–23 | 36% |
| At home | 52 | 36–16 | 69% |
| On the road | 50 | 18–32 | 36% |
| At neutral sites | 6 | 3–3 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 61 | 43–18 | 70% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 47 | 14–33 | 30% |
His own 108 games on file, 2013–2021, 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Davie 2013–2018 | 4–2 | New Mexico | 6 | |
| Troy Calhoun 2013–2018 | 3–3 | Air Force | 6 | |
| Craig Bohl 2014–2018 | 3–2 | Wyoming | 5 | |
| Bryan Harsin 2014–2018 | 1–4 | Boise State | 5 | |
| Mike Bobo 2015–2018 | 2–2 | Colorado State | 4 | |
| Neal Brown 2019–2021 | 3–0 | West Virginia | 3 | |
| Tim DeRuyter 2013–2016 | 2–1 | Fresno State | 3 | |
| Kalani Sitake 2016–2018 | 2–1 | BYU | 3 | |
| Bronco Mendenhall 2013–2015 | 1–2 | BYU | 3 | |
| Chris Klieman 2019–2021 | 0–3 | Kansas State | 3 |
Matt Wells’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 |
|---|---|---|
| New Mexicoseries | 6 | 4–2 |
| Wyomingseries | 6 | 4–2 |
| Colorado Stateseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| BYUseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| Air Forceseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| Boise Stateseries | 6 | 1–5 |
| San José Stateseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Hawai’iseries | 4 | 4–0 |
How he was hired
- Hired by Texas Tech for the 2019 season from Utah State, 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–2001 | Navy | Quarterbacks, fullbacks, wide receivers and junior varsity coach | |
| 2002–06 | Tulsa | Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2007–08 | New Mexico | Wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2009 | Louisville | Quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator | |
| 2010 | New Mexico | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2011 | Utah State | Quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2012 | Utah State | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2013–18 | Utah State | Head coach | |
| 2019–21 | Texas Tech | Head coach | |
| 2022–23 | Oklahoma | Offensive assistant | |
| 2024 | Kansas State | Assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2025 | Kansas State | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2026–present | Mississippi State | Offensive assistant |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Charlie WeatherbieNavy
- Rick LantzNavy
- Keith BurnsTulsa
- Steve KragthorpeTulsa, Louisville
- Rocky LongNew Mexico
- Mike LocksleyNew Mexico
- Gary AndersenUtah State
- Brent VenablesOklahoma
- Chris KliemanKansas State
- Jeff LebbyMississippi State
Assistants who became head coaches
- Frank MaileUtah State
- Josh HeupelUCF, Tennessee
- Dave KotulskiBucknell
- Mike CanalesNorth Texas
- Stacy CollinsSouth Dakota Mines
- Keith PattersonPittsburgh, Abilene Christian
- Nick HoltIdaho
- Sonny CumbieTexas Tech, Louisiana Tech
Worked under (10)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie Weatherbie | Navy | 1997–2001 | Quarterbacks, fullbacks, wide receivers and junior varsity coach | |
| Rick Lantz | Navy | 2001 | Quarterbacks, fullbacks, wide receivers and junior varsity coach | |
| Keith Burns | Tulsa | 2002 | Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Steve Kragthorpe | Tulsa | 2003–06 | Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Rocky Long | New Mexico | 2007–08 | Wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Steve Kragthorpe | Louisville | 2009 | Quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator | |
| Mike Locksley | New Mexico | 2010 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Gary Andersen | Utah State | 2011–12 | 2011: quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator; 2012: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Brent Venables | Oklahoma | 2022–23 | Offensive assistant | |
| Chris Klieman | Kansas State | 2024–25 | 2024: assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2025: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Jeff Lebby | Mississippi State | 2026 | Offensive assistant |
Coached under him, later head coaches (8)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Maile | Utah State, 2013: defensive line coach; 2016–18: assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach | Utah State | |
| Josh Heupel | Utah State, 2015: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | UCF, Tennessee | |
| Dave Kotulski | Utah State, 2016: inside linebackers coach | Bucknell | |
| Mike Canales | Utah State, 2016: assistant head coach and running backs and tight ends coach | North Texas | |
| Stacy Collins | Utah State, 2016: special teams coordinator; 2017–18: inside linebackers coach | South Dakota Mines | |
| Keith Patterson | Utah State, 2018: co-defensive coordinator; Texas Tech, 2019–21: defensive coordinator | Pittsburgh, Abilene Christian | |
| Nick Holt | Texas Tech, 2021: offensive analyst | Idaho | |
| Sonny Cumbie | Texas Tech, 2021: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Texas Tech, Louisiana Tech |
Other assistants under him (15)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Kevin McGiven | Utah State, 2013–14: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Todd Orlando | Utah State, 2013–14: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Ikaika Malloe | Utah State, 2014–15: defensive line coach | |
| Joey Halzle | Utah State, 2015: offensive assistant and assistant quarterbacks | |
| Kevin Clune | Utah State, 2015: defensive coordinator | |
| Jovon Bouknight | Utah State, 2016: co-offensive coordinator | |
| Kendrick Shaver | Utah State, 2016–17: co-defensive coordinator | |
| Luke Wells | Utah State, 2016: co-offensive coordinator | |
| David Yost | Utah State, 2017–18: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Texas Tech, 2019–21: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Joel Filani | Texas Tech, 2019–21: wide receivers coach | |
| Kerry Cooks | Texas Tech, 2019: safeties coach | |
| Paul Randolph | Texas Tech, 2019–21: defensive line coach | |
| Skyler Cassity | Texas Tech, 2019: graduate assistant | |
| Derek Jones | Texas Tech, 2020–21: assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Kevin Cosgrove | Texas Tech, 2020–21: linebackers 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 | State payroll | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Utah State | head coach | $229,246 | ||
| 2017 | Utah State | head coachbonuses up to $730,000; $10,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $1,920,833 | $1,050,000 USA Today | $531,200 | |
| 2016 | Utah State | head coachbonuses up to $730,000; $60,000 in bonuses paid | $800,000 USA Today | $505,000 | |
| 2015 | Utah State | head coachbonuses up to $770,000; $65,000 in bonuses paid | $752,900 USA Today | $471,600 | |
| 2014 | Utah State | head coachbonuses up to $765,000 | $576,434 USA Today | $336,200 |
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.
Transparent Utah: wages and incentive awards paid in the fiscal year from July to June, shown against the season inside it; benefits left out.
Contract pay and the state payroll differ by design: one is the season’s contract, the other what the state paid in a calendar or fiscal year, so a December hire’s short first year, bonuses and camp money paid as special payments, and pay that ran on after he left all show in the payroll.
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
Wells’s teams went for it on 17% of fourth downs and on 29% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 51% of plays and took 22.9 seconds a play, 2013–2020.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 14 g | Utah State | 18 of 119 15% | 18% | 46% | 21.6 | 0.00 | |
| 2014 14 g | Utah State | 12 of 116 10% | 18% | 47% | 26.7 | −0.07 | |
| 2015 13 g | Utah State | 22 of 112 20% | 36% | 48% | 24.6 | −0.04 | |
| 2016 12 g | Utah State | 19 of 99 19% | 32% | 52% | 22.7 | −0.01 | |
| 2017 13 g | Utah State | 19 of 123 15% | 19% | 50% | 21.9 | −0.08 | |
| 2018 13 g | Utah State | 10 of 92 11% | 24% | 51% | 21.0 | +0.14 | |
| 2019 12 g | Texas Tech | 25 of 106 24% | 39% | 59% | 21.1 | +0.07 | |
| 2020 10 g | Texas Tech | 22 of 85 26% | 40% | 56% | 22.8 | +0.05 | |
| All 101 g | 147 of 852 17% | 29% | 51% | 22.9 | +0.01 |
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.