Tony Elliott, head coach at Virginia
Photo: Virginia Office of the Governor, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tony Elliott

Tony Elliott went 26–⁠29 as a head coach, 2022–⁠2026, at Virginia. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 4–⁠2); by them his record is 26–⁠28.

Record
26–⁠29 career
Seasons
5
Schools
1
Final AP top 10
0 seasons
Born
Nov 26, 1979
Alma mater
Clemson 2002
Best season
2025 11–⁠3, No. 16

Season by season

Wins and losses each seasonfinal AP rank above★ national titleline: the team’s Elo at season’s end, best 1607 in 2025
SeasonSchoolRecordConference finishBowlAP final
2022Virginia3–⁠7T–6th
2023Virginia3–⁠9T–11th
2024Virginia5–⁠7T–10th
2025Virginia11–⁠31stGator Bowl W16
2026Virginia4–⁠3 (Wikipedia: 4–⁠2)

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.

How his teams did

Kind of gameGamesRecord
Against ranked teams114–⁠7
Against top-10 teams42–⁠2
Against rivals178–⁠9
Conference games3615–⁠21
Bowls and playoffs11–⁠0
Decided by 8 points or fewer2412–⁠12
At home2916–⁠13
On the road229–⁠13
At neutral sites41–⁠3
As our Elo’s favorite2315–⁠8
As our Elo’s underdog3211–⁠21

His own 55 games on file, 2022–⁠2026, 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

CoachRecordTheir schoolsGames
Mack Brown 2022–⁠20241–⁠2North Carolina3
Dave Doeren 2023–⁠20261–⁠2NC State3
Jeff Brohm 2023–⁠20251–⁠2Louisville3

Tony Elliott’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.

Most-faced opponents

OpponentGamesRecord
Dukeseries42–⁠2
North Carolinaseries42–⁠2
Louisvilleseries41–⁠3
NC Stateseries31–⁠2
Virginia Techseries31–⁠2
Richmondseries22–⁠0
Coastal Carolinaseries22–⁠0
William & Maryseries22–⁠0

National coaching awards

The awards

National title staffs

Every title staff

The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.

How he was hired

Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.

Other roles

From each season’s Wikipedia article.

Career

YearsTeamJob
2006–⁠07South Carolina StateWide receivers coach
2008–⁠10FurmanWide receivers coach
2011–⁠14ClemsonRunning backs coach
2015–⁠19ClemsonCo-offensive coordinator and running backs coach
2020ClemsonOffensive coordinator and running backs coach
2021ClemsonAssistant head coach, offensive coordinator and tight ends coach
2022–presentVirginiaHead coach

Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.

Coaching tree

Worked under

Tony Elliott

Assistants who became head coaches

Worked under (1)
Head coachTeamYearsHis job
Dabo SwinneyClemson2011–⁠212011–⁠14: running backs coach; 2015–⁠19: co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach; 2020: offensive coordinator and running backs coach; 2021: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and tight ends coach
Coached under him, later head coaches (1)
CoachWith himHead coach at
Dave PatenaudeVirginia, 2023: analystNew Haven
Other assistants under him (3)
CoachWith him
Desmond KitchingsVirginia, 2022–⁠26: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach
John RudzinskiVirginia, 2022–⁠26: defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach
Taylor LambVirginia, 2022–⁠26: 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.

Pay

YearSchoolJobContract pay
2017Clemsonco-offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $95,000$800,000 USA Today
2016Clemsonco-offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $95,000$643,750 USA Today
2015Clemsonco-offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $95,000$419,076 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

Elliott’s teams went for it on 25% of fourth downs and on 46% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 52% of plays and took 25.5 seconds a play, 2022–⁠2026.

SeasonWent for it on fourthWhen the model said goPass rateSeconds a playEPA a play
2022 10 g17 of 87 20%37%56%24.2−0.11
2023 12 g20 of 108 19%41%52%25.7−0.02
2024 12 g30 of 110 27%49%54%25.1−0.02
2025 14 g31 of 109 28%49%50%25.5+0.10
2026 7 g21 of 58 36%60%45%27.6+0.06
All 55 g119 of 472 25%46%52%25.5+0.01

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.