Scott Abell
Scott Abell went 92–66 as a head coach, 2012–2026, at Washington & Lee, Davidson and Rice. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 1–5); by them his record is 92–65. Share
13 seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 2012–17 at Washington & Lee; 2018–24 at Davidson. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 92–66 career
- Seasons
- 15
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Dec 5, 1969
- Best season
- 2025 5–8
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Washington & Lee * | 8–3 | 1st | NCAA Division III First Round L | ||
| 2013 | Washington & Lee * | 5–5 | T–4th | |||
| 2014 | Washington & Lee * | 2–8 | T–6th | |||
| 2015 | Washington & Lee * | 10–1 | 1st | NCAA Division III First Round L | ||
| 2016 | Washington & Lee * | 6–4 | T–2nd | |||
| 2017 | Washington & Lee * | 8–3 | 1st | NCAA Division III First Round L | ||
| 2018 | Davidson * | 6–5 | 6th | |||
| 2019 | Davidson * | 8–4 | 4th | |||
| 2020 | Davidson * | 4–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I First Round L | ||
| 2021 | Davidson * | 8–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I First Round L | ||
| 2022 | Davidson * | 8–4 | T–2nd | NCAA Division I First Round L | ||
| 2023 | Davidson * | 7–4 | 3rd | |||
| 2024 | Davidson * | 6–5 | T–6th | |||
| 2025 | Rice | 5–8 | T–11th | Armed Forces Bowl L | ||
| 2026 | Rice | 1–6 (Wikipedia: 1–5) |
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 | 3 | 0–3 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 3 | 0–3 | 0% |
| Conference games | 11 | 2–9 | 18% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 7 | 3–4 | 43% |
| At home | 11 | 4–7 | 36% |
| On the road | 8 | 2–6 | 25% |
| At neutral sites | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 6 | 3–3 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 14 | 3–11 | 21% |
His own 20 games on file, 2025–2026, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| UTSAseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| UABseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| UConnseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Louisianaseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Houston Christianseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Charlotteseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Prairie View A&Mseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| South Floridaseries | 1 | 0–1 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Albemarle HS (VA) high school | Assistant coach | |
| 1994–95 | Western Albemarle HS (VA) high school | Quarterbacks and defensive ends coach | |
| 1996 | Altavista HS (VA) high school | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks and linebackers coach | |
| 1997–2001 | Liberty HS (VA) high school | Head coach | |
| 2002–07 | Amherst County HS (VA) high school | Head coach | |
| 2008–11 | Washington and Lee | Offensive coordinator | |
| 2012–17 | Washington and Lee | Head coach | |
| 2018–24 | Davidson | Head coach | |
| 2025–present | Rice | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Coached under him (4)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Jon Kay | Rice, 2025–26: defensive coordinator | |
| Kerry Cooks | Rice, 2025: safeties coach | |
| Vince Munch | Rice, 2025–26: offensive coordinator | |
| Wayne Lineburg | Rice, 2025–26: assistant head coach and tight ends 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.
How he coached
Abell’s teams went for it on 33% of fourth downs and on 60% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 27% of plays and took 28.5 seconds a play, 2025–2026.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 13 g | 38 of 120 32% | 55% | 28% | 28.9 | −0.03 | |
| 2026 7 g | 20 of 57 35% | 73% | 24% | 27.9 | −0.03 | |
| All 20 g | 58 of 177 33% | 60% | 27% | 28.5 | −0.03 |
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.