Ruffin McNeill
Ruffin McNeill went 43–34 as a head coach, 2009–2015, at Texas Tech and East Carolina. Share
- Record
- 43–34 career
- Seasons
- 7
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 2009 9–4, No. 21
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Texas Tech interim, bowl game | 1–0 | Alamo Bowl W | 21 | ||
| 2010 | East Carolina | 6–7 | T–2nd (East) | Military Bowl L | ||
| 2011 | East Carolina | 5–7 | 3rd (East) | |||
| 2012 | East Carolina | 8–5 | T–1st (East) | New Orleans Bowl L | ||
| 2013 | East Carolina | 10–3 | T–2nd (East) | Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg W | ||
| 2014 | East Carolina | 8–5 | T–4th | Birmingham Bowl L | ||
| 2015 | East Carolina | 5–7 | 5th (Eastern) |
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
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 | 6 | 1–5 | 17% |
| Against top-10 teams | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 11 | 6–5 | 55% |
| Conference games | 48 | 30–18 | 63% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 5 | 2–3 | 40% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 26 | 13–13 | 50% |
| At home | 36 | 25–11 | 69% |
| On the road | 35 | 16–19 | 46% |
| At neutral sites | 6 | 2–4 | 33% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 50 | 36–14 | 72% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 27 | 7–20 | 26% |
His own 77 games on file, 2009–2015, 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Larry Fedora 2010–2014 | 3–2 | Southern Miss, North Carolina | 5 | |
| Frank Beamer 2010–2015 | 2–3 | Virginia Tech | 5 | |
| Doc Holliday 2010–2013 | 2–2 | Marshall | 4 | |
| George O’Leary 2010–2014 | 1–3 | UCF | 4 | |
| Ken Niumatalolo 2010–2015 | 1–3 | Navy | 4 | |
| Curtis Johnson 2012–2014 | 2–1 | Tulane | 3 | |
| Steve Spurrier 2011–2014 | 0–3 | South Carolina | 3 |
Ruffin McNeill’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 |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolinaseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Virginia Techseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| UCFseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| UABseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Tulsaseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Southern Missseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| Tulaneseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| Marshallseries | 4 | 2–2 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980–84 | Lumberton HS (NC) high school | Assistant coach | |
| 1985–86 | Clemson | Graduate assistant and linebackers coach | |
| 1987 | Austin Peay | Linebackers coach | |
| 1988 | North Alabama | Linebackers coach | |
| 1989–91 | Appalachian State | Linebackers coach | |
| 1992 | East Carolina | Defensive line coach | |
| 1993–96 | Appalachian State | Defensive coordinator | |
| 1997 | UNLV | Defensive coordinator | |
| 1998 | UNLV | Assistant head coach and defensive coordinator | |
| 1999 | Fresno State | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2000–02 | Texas Tech | Linebackers coach | |
| 2003–06 | Texas Tech | Assistant head coach and special teams coach | |
| 2007 | Texas Tech | Assistant head coach and defensive line coach | |
| 2008–09 | Texas Tech | Assistant head coach and defensive coordinator | |
| 2009 | Texas Tech | Head coach | |
| 2010–15 | East Carolina | Head coach | |
| 2016 | Virginia | Assistant head coach and defensive line coach | |
| 2017 | Oklahoma | Assistant head coach and defensive tackles coach | |
| 2018 | Oklahoma | Assistant head coach, defensive tackles coach and interim defensive coordinator | |
| 2019 | Oklahoma | Assistant head coach and outside linebackers coach | |
| 2020–present | NC State | Special assistant |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included. Head-coaching seasons the infobox leaves out come from our records.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Danny FordClemson
- Bobby WallaceNorth Alabama
- Jerry MooreApp State
- Steve LoganEast Carolina
- Jeff HortonUNLV
- Pat HillFresno State
- Mike LeachTexas Tech
- Bronco MendenhallVirginia
- Lincoln RileyOklahoma
- Dave DoerenNC State
Assistants who became head coaches
- Charlie SadlerNorthern Illinois
- Lincoln RileyOklahoma, USC
- Sonny CumbieTexas Tech, Louisiana Tech
- Donnie KirkpatrickChattanooga
- Brad DavisLSU
Worked under (10)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danny Ford | Clemson | 1985–86 | Graduate assistant and linebackers coach | |
| Bobby Wallace | North Alabama | 1988 | Linebackers coach | |
| Jerry Moore | App State | 1989–96 | 1989–91: linebackers coach; 1993–96: defensive coordinator | |
| Steve Logan | East Carolina | 1992 | Defensive line coach | |
| Jeff Horton | UNLV | 1997–98 | 1997: defensive coordinator; 1998: assistant head coach and defensive coordinator | |
| Pat Hill | Fresno State | 1999 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Mike Leach | Texas Tech | 2000–09 | 2000–02: linebackers coach; 2003–06: assistant head coach and special teams coach; 2007: assistant head coach and defensive line coach; 2008–09: assistant head coach and defensive coordinator | |
| Bronco Mendenhall | Virginia | 2016 | Assistant head coach and defensive line coach | |
| Lincoln Riley | Oklahoma | 2017–19 | 2017: assistant head coach and defensive tackles coach; 2018: assistant head coach, defensive tackles coach and interim defensive coordinator; 2019: assistant head coach and outside linebackers coach | |
| Dave Doeren | NC State | 2020–26 | Special assistant |
Coached under him, later head coaches (5)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie Sadler | Texas Tech, 2009: defensive ends coach | Northern Illinois | |
| Lincoln Riley | Texas Tech, 2009: inside receivers coach; East Carolina, 2010–13: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2014: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Oklahoma, USC | |
| Sonny Cumbie | Texas Tech, 2009: graduate assistant | Texas Tech, Louisiana Tech | |
| Donnie Kirkpatrick | East Carolina, 2010–14: wide receivers coach; 2015: assistant head coach and wide receivers coach | Chattanooga | |
| Brad Davis | East Carolina, 2015: offensive line coach and running game coordinator | LSU |
Other assistants under him (4)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Brian Mitchell | Texas Tech, 2009: cornerbacks coach; East Carolina, 2010–12: defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Garrett Riley | East Carolina, 2013–14: graduate assistant; 2015: outside receivers coach | |
| Rick Smith | East Carolina, 2013–15: defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Dave Nichol | East Carolina, 2015: 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | East Carolina | head coachbonuses up to $550,000; $75,000 in bonuses paid | $1,417,110 USA Today | |
| 2014 | East Carolina | head coachbonuses up to $550,000 | $1,252,500 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
McNeill’s teams went for it on 22% of fourth downs and on 34% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 60% of plays and took 20.9 seconds a play, 2010–2015.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 13 g | 28 of 97 29% | 45% | 65% | 18.7 | +0.05 | |
| 2011 12 g | 19 of 83 23% | 34% | 60% | 21.0 | −0.04 | |
| 2012 12 g | 15 of 89 17% | 22% | 55% | 21.9 | +0.06 | |
| 2013 13 g | 16 of 82 20% | 31% | 57% | 20.0 | +0.14 | |
| 2014 13 g | 23 of 94 24% | 40% | 63% | 21.0 | +0.11 | |
| 2015 12 g | 17 of 93 18% | 28% | 57% | 22.7 | +0.01 | |
| All 75 g | 118 of 538 22% | 34% | 60% | 20.9 | +0.06 |
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.