Tim Skipper
Tim Skipper went 11–13 as a head coach, 2023–2026, at Fresno State, UCLA and Cal Poly. Share
One season our game records don’t credit to him comes from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 2026 at Cal Poly. It’s marked in the table.
- Record
- 11–13 career
- Seasons
- 4
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Apr 15, 1978
- Alma mater
- Fresno State 2001
- Best season
- 2023 9–4
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Fresno State bowl game | 1–0 | New Mexico Bowl W | |||
| 2024 | Fresno State | 6–7 | 4th | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl L | ||
| 2025 | UCLA interim, remainder of season | 3–6 | T–12th | |||
| 2026 | Cal Poly * | 1–0 |
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 | 5 | 1–4 | 20% |
| Against top-10 teams | 4 | 1–3 | 25% |
| Against rivals | 4 | 2–2 | 50% |
| Conference games | 16 | 7–9 | 44% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 2 | 1–1 | 50% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 11 | 4–7 | 36% |
| At home | 10 | 6–4 | 60% |
| On the road | 11 | 3–8 | 27% |
| At neutral sites | 2 | 1–1 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 11 | 7–4 | 64% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 12 | 3–9 | 25% |
His own 23 games on file, 2023–2025, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| New Mexico Stateseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Sacramento Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| San José Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Colorado Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Marylandseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Michigan Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| New Mexicoseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Penn Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Western New Mexico | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2002 | Western New Mexico | Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| 2003 | Sacramento State | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2004–05 | Sacramento State | Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| 2006–08 | Fresno State | Running backs coach | |
| 2009–11 | Fresno State | Linebackers coach and running game coordinator | |
| 2011 | Fresno State | Interim defensive coordinator | |
| 2012–13 | Colorado State | Linebackers coach | |
| 2013–14 | Colorado State | Assistant head coach and linebackers coach | |
| 2015–16 | Florida | Running backs coach | |
| 2017–18 | Florida | Linebackers coach | |
| 2018–19 | UNLV | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2020 | Central Michigan | Linebackers coach | |
| 2021 | Central Michigan | Assistant head coach and linebackers coach | |
| 2022–23 | Fresno State | Assistant head coach and linebackers coach | |
| 2023 | Fresno State | Acting head coach | |
| 2024 | Fresno State | Interim head coach | |
| 2025 | UCLA | Special assistant to the head coach | |
| 2025 | UCLA | Interim head coach | |
| 2026–present | Cal Poly | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Steve MooshagianSacramento State
- Pat HillFresno State
- Jim McElwainColorado State, Florida, Central Michigan
- Dave BaldwinColorado State
- Randy ShannonFlorida
- Dan MullenFlorida
- Tony SanchezUNLV
- Jeff TedfordFresno State
- Deshaun FosterUCLA
Assistants who became head coaches
- Brian ArmstrongRocky Mountain
- Kevin CoyleAtlanta Legends
- Todd SturdySt. Ambrose, MidAmerica Nazarene
Worked under (9)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Mooshagian | Sacramento State | 2003–05 | 2003: defensive backs coach; 2004–05: defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Pat Hill | Fresno State | 2006–11 | 2006–08: running backs coach; 2009–11: linebackers coach and running game coordinator; 2011: interim defensive coordinator | |
| Jim McElwain | Colorado State | 2012–14 | 2012–13: linebackers coach; 2013–14: assistant head coach and linebackers coach | |
| Dave Baldwin | Colorado State | 2014 | Assistant head coach and linebackers coach | |
| Jim McElwain | Florida | 2015–17 | 2015–16: running backs coach; 2017: linebackers coach | |
| Randy Shannon | Florida | 2017 | Linebackers coach | |
| Dan Mullen | Florida | 2018 | Linebackers coach | |
| Tony Sanchez | UNLV | 2018–19 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Jim McElwain | Central Michigan | 2020–21 | 2020: linebackers coach; 2021: assistant head coach and linebackers coach | |
| Jeff Tedford | Fresno State | 2022–23 | Assistant head coach and linebackers coach | |
| Deshaun Foster | UCLA | 2025 | Special assistant to the head coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (3)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Armstrong | Fresno State, 2023: offensive line coach | Rocky Mountain | |
| Kevin Coyle | Fresno State, 2023–24: defensive coordinator; UCLA, 2025: interim defensive coordinator | Atlanta Legends | |
| Todd Sturdy | Cal Poly, 2026: wide receivers coach | St. Ambrose, MidAmerica Nazarene |
Other assistants under him (6)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Pat McCann | Fresno State, 2023–24: offensive coordinator | |
| Clancy Pendergast | UCLA, 2025: analyst | |
| Ikaika Malloe | UCLA, 2025: defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach | |
| Jerry Neuheisel | UCLA, 2025: assistant head coach and tight ends coach; 2025: interim offensive coordinator, assistant head coach and tight ends coach | |
| Noel Mazzone | UCLA, 2025: offensive assistant | |
| Tino Sunseri | UCLA, 2025: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks 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
Skipper’s teams went for it on 20% of fourth downs and on 34% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 57% of plays and took 25.5 seconds a play, in 2024.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 12 g | 18 of 88 20% | 34% | 57% | 25.5 | −0.02 |
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.