Sean Lewis
Sean Lewis went 39–48 as a head coach, 2018–2026, at Kent State and San Diego State. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 2–4); by them his record is 38–48. Share
- Record
- 39–48 career
- Seasons
- 8
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Apr 11, 1986
- Alma mater
- Wisconsin 2007
- Best season
- 2020 3–1
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Kent State | 2–10 | 6th | |||
| 2019 | Kent State | 7–6 | T–2nd | Frisco Bowl W | ||
| 2020 | Kent State | 3–1 | 2nd | |||
| 2021 | Kent State | 7–7 | 1st | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl L | ||
| 2022 | Kent State | 5–7 | T–4th | |||
| 2023: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2024 | San Diego State | 3–9 | T–10th | |||
| 2025 | San Diego State | 9–4 | T–1st | New Mexico Bowl L | ||
| 2026 | San Diego State | 3–4 (Wikipedia: 2–4) | ||||
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
Chris JohnsonNo. 27 pick, 2026
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 9 | 0–9 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 6 | 0–6 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 13 | 12–1 | 92% |
| Conference games | 54 | 29–25 | 54% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 3 | 1–2 | 33% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 33 | 18–15 | 55% |
| At home | 38 | 26–12 | 68% |
| On the road | 45 | 12–33 | 27% |
| At neutral sites | 4 | 1–3 | 25% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 30 | 24–6 | 80% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 57 | 15–42 | 26% |
His own 87 games on file, 2018–2026, 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.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scot Loeffler 2019–2022 | 4–0 | Bowling Green | 4 | |
| Chris Creighton 2018–2022 | 2–2 | Eastern Michigan | 4 | |
| Chuck Martin 2018–2022 | 1–3 | Miami (OH) | 4 | |
| Thomas Hammock 2021–2025 | 2–1 | Northern Illinois | 3 | |
| Lance Leipold 2018–2020 | 1–2 | Buffalo | 3 | |
| Mike Neu 2018–2022 | 1–2 | Ball State | 3 | |
| Jason Candle 2018–2022 | 0–3 | Toledo | 3 |
Sean Lewis’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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bowling Greenseries | 5 | 5–0 |
| Akronseries | 5 | 4–1 |
| Buffaloseries | 5 | 3–2 |
| Ohioseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Eastern Michiganseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Miami (OH)series | 4 | 1–3 |
| Toledoseries | 4 | 0–4 |
| Northern Illinoisseries | 3 | 2–1 |
Also a player: Sean Lewis’s playing career.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008–09 | Harold L. Richards HS (IL) high school | Offensive coordinator | |
| 2010 | Nebraska–Omaha | Tight ends coach | |
| 2011 | Akron | Graduate assistant | |
| 2012–13 | Eastern Illinois | Inside receivers and tight ends coach | |
| 2014 | Bowling Green | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2015 | Bowling Green | Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2016–17 | Syracuse | Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2018–22 | Kent State | Head coach | |
| 2023 | Colorado | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2024–present | San Diego State | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Pat BehrnsNebraska–Omaha
- Rob IanelloAkron
- Dino BabersEastern Illinois, Bowling Green, Syracuse
- Brian WardBowling Green
- Deion SandersColorado
Assistants who became head coaches
- Bill O’BoyleChadron State
- Tom KaufmanMarietta
- Jeremiah JohnsonCoastal Carolina
- Eric SchmidtNorth Dakota
Worked under (5)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pat Behrns | Nebraska–Omaha | 2010 | Tight ends coach | |
| Rob Ianello | Akron | 2011 | Graduate assistant | |
| Dino Babers | Eastern Illinois | 2012–13 | Inside receivers and tight ends coach | |
| Dino Babers | Bowling Green | 2014–15 | 2014: wide receivers coach; 2015: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Brian Ward | Bowling Green | 2015 | Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Dino Babers | Syracuse | 2016–17 | Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Deion Sanders | Colorado | 2023 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (4)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bill O’Boyle | Kent State, 2018–22: offensive line coach; San Diego State, 2026: offensive line coach | Chadron State | |
| Tom Kaufman | Kent State, 2018–21: associate head coach, defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach | Marietta | |
| Jeremiah Johnson | Kent State, 2022: defensive coordinator | Coastal Carolina | |
| Eric Schmidt | San Diego State, 2024: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | North Dakota |
Other assistants under him (7)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Sowder | Kent State, 2018–22: offensive coordinator | |
| Matt Johnson | Kent State, 2018–19: offensive quality control; 2020–22: running backs coach; San Diego State, 2024: quarterbacks coach; 2025–26: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Will Windham | Kent State, 2018–20: inside linebackers and safeties coach | |
| Lanear Sampson | San Diego State, 2024–25: pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Rob Aurich | San Diego State, 2024: defensive ends coach; 2025: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Ryan Lindley | San Diego State, 2024–26: senior offensive analyst | |
| Demetrius Sumler | San Diego State, 2026: 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.
How he coached
Lewis’s teams went for it on 23% of fourth downs and on 41% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 44% of plays and took 22.6 seconds a play, 2018–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 12 g | Kent State | 27 of 124 22% | 38% | 51% | 21.4 | −0.05 | |
| 2019 13 g | Kent State | 11 of 102 11% | 22% | 44% | 21.6 | +0.12 | |
| 2020 4 g | Kent State | 8 of 23 35% | 50% | 40% | 21.5 | +0.32 | |
| 2021 13 g | Kent State | 25 of 103 24% | 42% | 44% | 20.4 | +0.15 | |
| 2022 11 g | Kent State | 22 of 88 25% | 51% | 42% | 20.8 | +0.09 | |
| 2024 11 g | San Diego State | 28 of 101 28% | 48% | 51% | 23.5 | +0.02 | |
| 2025 13 g | San Diego State | 27 of 115 23% | 45% | 37% | 27.5 | −0.01 | |
| 2026 7 g | San Diego State | 13 of 58 22% | 38% | 45% | 23.5 | −0.11 | |
| All 84 g | 161 of 714 23% | 41% | 44% | 22.6 | +0.05 |
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.