Walt Bell
Walt Bell went 2–23 as a head coach, 2019–2021, at Massachusetts. Share
- Record
- 2–23 career
- Seasons
- 3
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Jun 7, 1984
- Alma mater
- Middle Tennessee
- Best season
- 2021 1–11
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Massachusetts | 1–11 | ||
| 2020 | Massachusetts | 0–4 | ||
| 2021 | Massachusetts coached nine of 12 games | 1–8 |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 3 | 1–2 | 33% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| At home | 12 | 2–10 | 17% |
| On the road | 16 | 0–16 | 0% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 5 | 2–3 | 40% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 23 | 0–23 | 0% |
His own 28 games on file, 2019–2021, 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hugh Freeze 2019–2021 | 0–3 | Liberty | 3 |
Walt Bell’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 |
|---|---|---|
| Libertyseries | 3 | 0–3 |
| UConnseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Coastal Carolinaseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Armyseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Akronseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| Florida Stateseries | 1 | 0–1 |
| Northwesternseries | 1 | 0–1 |
| Southern Illinoisseries | 1 | 0–1 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Louisiana–Lafayette | Graduate assistant | |
| 2007–08 | Memphis | Graduate assistant | |
| 2009 | Oklahoma State | Quality control coach | |
| 2010 | Southern Miss | Graduate assistant | |
| 2011 | Southern Miss | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2012–13 | North Carolina | Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2014–15 | Arkansas State | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2016–17 | Maryland | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2018 | Florida State | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2019–21 | UMass | Head coach | |
| 2022–23 | Indiana | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2024–present | Western Michigan | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Rickey BustleLouisiana
- Tommy WestMemphis
- Mike GundyOklahoma State
- Larry FedoraSouthern Miss, North Carolina
- Blake AndersonArkansas State
- D.J. DurkinMaryland
- Willie TaggartFlorida State
- Tom AllenIndiana
- Lance TaylorWestern Michigan
Assistants who became head coaches
- Jim ReidMassachusetts, Richmond, VMI
Worked under (9)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rickey Bustle | Louisiana | 2007 | Graduate assistant | |
| Tommy West | Memphis | 2007–08 | Graduate assistant | |
| Mike Gundy | Oklahoma State | 2009 | Quality control coach | |
| Larry Fedora | Southern Miss | 2010–11 | 2010: graduate assistant; 2011: wide receivers coach | |
| Larry Fedora | North Carolina | 2012–13 | Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Blake Anderson | Arkansas State | 2014–15 | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| D.J. Durkin | Maryland | 2016–17 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Willie Taggart | Florida State | 2018 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Tom Allen | Indiana | 2022–23 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Lance Taylor | Western Michigan | 2024–26 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (1)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Reid | Massachusetts, 2020–21: defensive assistant | Massachusetts, Richmond, VMI |
Other assistants under him (2)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Aazaar Abdul-Rahim | Massachusetts, 2019: defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach | |
| Tommy Restivo | Massachusetts, 2019: co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; 2020–21: defensive coordinator and linebackers 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
Bell’s teams went for it on 24% of fourth downs and on 43% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 51% of plays and took 23.9 seconds a play, 2019–2020.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 12 g | 29 of 117 25% | 43% | 51% | 22.1 | −0.13 | |
| 2020 4 g | 9 of 39 23% | 44% | 51% | 29.1 | −0.34 | |
| All 16 g | 38 of 156 24% | 43% | 51% | 23.9 | −0.18 |
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.