Tony Gibson
Tony Gibson went 8–10 as a head coach, 2025–2026, at Marshall. Share
- Record
- 8–10 career
- Seasons
- 2
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Oct 12, 1972
- Best season
- 2026 3–3
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Marshall | 5–7 | 5th (East) | |||
| 2026 | Marshall | 3–3 |
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 game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Conference games | 10 | 3–7 | 30% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 9 | 4–5 | 44% |
| At home | 9 | 5–4 | 56% |
| On the road | 9 | 3–6 | 33% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 14 | 8–6 | 57% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 4 | 0–4 | 0% |
His own 18 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Middle Tennesseeseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Missouri Stateseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| James Madisonseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Coastal Carolinaseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Old Dominionseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Texas Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Eastern Kentuckyseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Gardner-Webbseries | 1 | 1–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Gilmer County High School (WV) high school | Head coach | |
| 1996 | Glenville State | Defensive backs coach | |
| 1997–98 | Cumberland | Special teams and defensive backs coach | |
| 1999–2000 | West Virginia Tech | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2001–07 | West Virginia | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2008–10 | Michigan | Assistant head coach and special teams and defensive backs coach | |
| 2011 | Pittsburgh | Passing game coordinator and safeties coach | |
| 2012 | Arizona | Assistant head coach and special teams and safeties coach | |
| 2013 | West Virginia | Safeties coach | |
| 2014–18 | West Virginia | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2019 | NC State | Defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| 2020–24 | NC State | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2025–present | Marshall | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Rich RodriguezGlenville State, West Virginia, Michigan, Arizona
- Bill StewartWest Virginia
- Todd GrahamPittsburgh
- Keith PattersonPittsburgh
- Dana HolgorsenWest Virginia
- Dave DoerenNC State
Assistants who became head coaches
- Gunter BrewerNortheast Mississippi
- Rod SmithIllinois, Jacksonville State
- Brad LambertCharlotte
- Dean HoodEastern Kentucky, Murray State
Worked under (6)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rich Rodriguez | Glenville State | 1996 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Rich Rodriguez | West Virginia | 2001–07 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Bill Stewart | West Virginia | 2007 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Rich Rodriguez | Michigan | 2008–10 | Assistant head coach and special teams and defensive backs coach | |
| Todd Graham | Pittsburgh | 2011 | Passing game coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Keith Patterson | Pittsburgh | 2011 | Passing game coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Rich Rodriguez | Arizona | 2012 | Assistant head coach and special teams and safeties coach | |
| Dana Holgorsen | West Virginia | 2013–18 | 2013: safeties coach; 2014–18: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Dave Doeren | NC State | 2019–24 | 2019: defensive coordinator and safeties coach; 2020–24: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (4)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gunter Brewer | Marshall, 2025–26: tight ends coach | Northeast Mississippi | |
| Rod Smith | Marshall, 2025–26: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Illinois, Jacksonville State | |
| Brad Lambert | Marshall, 2026: defensive coordinator | Charlotte | |
| Dean Hood | Marshall, 2026: safeties coach | Eastern Kentucky, Murray State |
Other assistants under him (1)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Shannon Morrison | Marshall, 2025: 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.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | West Virginia | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $245,000 | $850,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | West Virginia | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $67,500 | $750,300 USA Today | |
| 2015 | West Virginia | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $67,500 | $650,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | West Virginia | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $67,500 | $351,000 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
Gibson’s teams went for it on 16% of fourth downs and on 28% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 46% of plays and took 25.1 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 12 g | 16 of 103 16% | 26% | 42% | 25.1 | +0.06 | |
| 2026 6 g | 7 of 39 18% | 30% | 52% | 24.9 | +0.04 | |
| All 18 g | 23 of 142 16% | 28% | 46% | 25.1 | +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.