Paul Petrino
Paul Petrino went 34–66 as a head coach, 2013–2021, at Idaho. Share
Four seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 2018–21 at Idaho (on file under another coach). They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 34–66 career
- Seasons
- 9
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- May 25, 1967
- Best season
- 2016 9–4
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Idaho | 1–11 | ||||
| 2014 | Idaho | 1–10 | T–9th | |||
| 2015 | Idaho | 4–8 | T–5th | |||
| 2016 | Idaho | 9–4 | T–3rd | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl W | ||
| 2017 | Idaho | 4–8 | T–8th | |||
| 2018 | Idaho * | 4–7 | T–9th | |||
| 2019 | Idaho * | 5–7 | T–7th | |||
| 2020 | Idaho * | 2–4 | T–5th | |||
| 2021 | Idaho * | 4–7 | 9th |
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. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 4 | 0–4 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 3 | 0–3 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Conference games | 32 | 13–19 | 41% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 20 | 10–10 | 50% |
| At home | 27 | 11–16 | 41% |
| On the road | 32 | 7–25 | 22% |
| At neutral sites | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 13 | 8–5 | 62% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 47 | 11–36 | 23% |
His own 60 games on file, 2013–2017, 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doug Martin 2013–2017 | 2–3 | New Mexico State | 5 | |
| Joey Jones 2014–2017 | 2–2 | South Alabama | 4 | |
| Scott Satterfield 2014–2017 | 0–4 | App State | 4 | |
| Dennis Franchione 2013–2015 | 1–2 | Texas State | 3 | |
| Neal Brown 2015–2017 | 1–2 | Troy | 3 |
Paul Petrino’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 Mexico Stateseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| UL Monroeseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| South Alabamaseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Texas Stateseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Troyseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| App Stateseries | 4 | 0–4 |
| Arkansas Stateseries | 3 | 0–3 |
| Georgia Stateseries | 2 | 2–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990–91 | Carroll (MT) | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 1992–94 | Idaho | Special teams, running backs and wide receivers coach | |
| 1995–97 | Utah State | Special teams and wide receivers coach | |
| 1998–99 | Louisville | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2000–02 | Southern Miss | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2003–06 | Louisville | Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| 2007 | Atlanta Falcons NFL | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2008–09 | Arkansas | Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| 2010–11 | Illinois | Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| 2012 | Arkansas | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2013–21 | Idaho | Head coach | |
| 2022–23 | Central Michigan | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2024 | South Alabama | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2025 | South Alabama | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2026–present | Louisville | Offensive assistant |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- John SmithIdaho, Utah State, Louisville, Arkansas
- Jeff BowerSouthern Miss
- Bobby PetrinoLouisville, Atlanta Falcons, Arkansas
- Ron ZookIllinois
- Vic KoenningIllinois
- Jim McElwainCentral Michigan
- Major ApplewhiteSouth Alabama
- Jeff BrohmLouisville
Assistants who became head coaches
- Charley MolnarMassachusetts
Worked under (8)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Smith | Idaho | 1992–94 | Special teams, running backs and wide receivers coach | |
| John Smith | Utah State | 1995–97 | Special teams and wide receivers coach | |
| John Smith | Louisville | 1998–99 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Jeff Bower | Southern Miss | 2000–02 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Bobby Petrino | Louisville | 2003–06 | Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Bobby Petrino | Atlanta Falcons NFL | 2007 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Bobby Petrino | Arkansas | 2008–09 | Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Ron Zook | Illinois | 2010–11 | Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Vic Koenning | Illinois | 2011 | Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| John Smith | Arkansas | 2012 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Jim McElwain | Central Michigan | 2022–23 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Major Applewhite | South Alabama | 2024–25 | 2024: wide receivers coach; 2025: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Jeff Brohm | Louisville | 2026 | Offensive assistant |
Coached under him, later head coaches (1)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charley Molnar | Idaho, 2014–15: wide receivers coach; 2016–21: quarterbacks coach | Massachusetts |
Other assistants under him (4)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Kris Cinkovich | Idaho, 2013–17: offensive coordinator | |
| Ronnie Lee | Idaho, 2013–14: defensive coordinator | |
| Brian Reader | Idaho, 2015–16: graduate assistant; 2019: running backs coach; 2020: wide receivers coach; 2021: offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Mike Breske | Idaho, 2015–17: defensive 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 | Idaho | head coachbonuses up to $225,000; $70,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $1,314,160 | $446,214 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Idaho | head coachbonuses up to $152,000; $10,000 in bonuses paid | $417,104 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Idaho | head coachbonuses up to $152,000; $5,000 in bonuses paid | $418,526 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Idaho | head coachbonuses up to $152,000 | $400,011 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
Petrino’s teams went for it on 26% of fourth downs and on 44% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 52% of plays and took 23.7 seconds a play, 2013–2017.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 12 g | 35 of 124 28% | 43% | 50% | 19.4 | −0.04 | |
| 2014 10 g | 32 of 84 38% | 55% | 54% | 22.5 | +0.02 | |
| 2015 11 g | 23 of 93 25% | 40% | 55% | 23.8 | +0.07 | |
| 2016 11 g | 16 of 91 18% | 29% | 49% | 26.2 | +0.02 | |
| 2017 12 g | 25 of 108 23% | 47% | 52% | 26.6 | −0.06 | |
| All 56 g | 131 of 500 26% | 44% | 52% | 23.7 | 0.00 |
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.