Spike Nelson
Spike Nelson went 8–17–1 as a head coach, 1938–1943, at Mississippi State, Yale and Saint Mary’s Pre-Flight. Share
One season our game records don’t credit to him comes from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 1943 at Saint Mary’s Pre-Flight. It’s marked in the table.
- Record
- 8–17–1 career
- Seasons
- 3
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 1938 4–6
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | Mississippi State | 4–6 | 11th | |||
| 1939–40: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 1941 | Yale | 1–7 | ||||
| 1942: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 1943 | Saint Mary’s Pre-Flight * | 3–4–1 | ||||
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 rivals | 4 | 0–4 | 0% |
| Conference games | 5 | 1–4 | 20% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 5 | 2–3 | 40% |
| At home | 10 | 4–6 | 40% |
| On the road | 7 | 1–6 | 14% |
| At neutral sites | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 6 | 3–3 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 12 | 2–10 | 17% |
His own 18 games on file, 1938–1941, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Floridaseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Virginiaseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Duquesneseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Louisiana Techseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Samfordseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Auburnseries | 1 | 0–1 |
| LSUseries | 1 | 0–1 |
| Harvardseries | 1 | 0–1 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | Iowa | Line coach | |
| 1932–37 | LSU | Line coach | |
| 1938 | Mississippi State | Head coach | |
| 1939–40 | Yale | Line coach | |
| 1941 | Yale | Head coach | |
| 1942 | Saint Mary’s Pre-Flight service team | Assistant coach | |
| 1943 | Saint Mary’s Pre-Flight service team | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Burton IngwersenIowa
- Biff JonesLSU
- Bernie MooreLSU
- Ducky PondYale
- Tex OliverSaint Mary’s Pre-Flight
Assistants who became head coaches
- Frank CarideoMissouri
- Ivy WilliamsonLafayette, Wisconsin
- Robert VoigtsNorthwestern
- Bill EdwardsVanderbilt, Case Western Reserve, Detroit Lions, Wittenberg
- Jules SikesKansas, Blinn, Burleson, East Texas A&M
Worked under (5)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burton Ingwersen | Iowa | 1931 | Line coach | |
| Biff Jones | LSU | 1932–34 | Line coach | |
| Bernie Moore | LSU | 1935–37 | Line coach | |
| Ducky Pond | Yale | 1939–40 | Line coach | |
| Tex Oliver | Saint Mary’s Pre-Flight service team | 1942 | Assistant coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (5)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Carideo | Mississippi State, 1938: assistant coach | Missouri | |
| Ivy Williamson | Yale, 1941: line coach | Lafayette, Wisconsin | |
| Robert Voigts | Yale, 1941: line coach | Northwestern | |
| Bill Edwards | Saint Mary’s Pre-Flight, 1943: assistant coach | Vanderbilt, Case Western Reserve, Detroit Lions, Wittenberg | |
| Jules Sikes | Saint Mary’s Pre-Flight, 1943: assistant coach | Kansas, Blinn, Burleson, East Texas A&M |
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.