Who is Jake Spavital? Breaking down the Baylor OC as potential Oklahoma Sooners offensive coordinator
The Oklahoma Sooners have fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell after a dismal 2024 season. The search for a new play-caller on offense is firmly underway, and we know what Sooners’ head coach Brent Venables wants his next offense to look like. This article will be part of a series breaking down the most-linked coaches to […]
The Oklahoma Sooners have fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell after a dismal 2024 season. The search for a new play-caller on offense is firmly underway, and we know what Sooners’ head coach Brent Venables wants his next offense to look like.
This article will be part of a series breaking down the most-linked coaches to the Sooners’ open OC position. If new names arise, I will adjust and add or subtract them as time goes on. I’m aiming to get an article on every coach out daily.
Each article will be linked to the next, so as this goes on, you can find a different coach no matter which article you click on for ease of access and to transition to other content.
For this piece, I’ll be diving in on current Baylor Bears offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, who has turned the Baylor Bears offense around after their terrible 2023 season.
Ben Arbuckle
Mike Shanahan
Joe Craddock
Who is Jake Spavital?
Despite being just 39 years old, Spavital has a well-established track record at numerous stops along his coaching career.
After finishing up his playing career at Missouri State, Spavital was at a crossroads in his life. His grandfather Jim, a former NFL quarterback, and his dad Steve both entered into coaching football, but neither wanted Jake to follow in their footsteps.
However, his former high school coach, Bill Blankenship, offered him an assistant spot at Tulsa, and the rest is history. In 2008, Spavital worked under Gus Malzahn with the Golden Hurricane as an offensive quality control coach, spending time alongside coaches like Todd Graham, Mike Norvell, and Herb Hand.
After that, Spavital wanted to branch out. He was able to secure a graduate assistant spot with the Houston Cougars in 2009, working under second-year head coach Kevin Sumlin. Spavital learned under offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen with the Cougars, coaching Case Keenum to a historic season.
Spavital followed Holgorsen to Oklahoma State in 2010 in the same role, where he helped Brandon Weeden pass for over 4,000 yards and 34 touchdowns as a junior. Spavital played a key role in teaching Weeden the offense and was pivotal in him becoming as productive as he was quick.
Holgorsen once again left Oklahoma State to become the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers, taking Spavital with him once more. This time, Spavital was the official quarterbacks coach for Holgerson. Once again, Spavital became a key player in developing another record-setting quarterback in Geno Smith.
Under Spavital, Smith set a career record for passing yards that season and led the Mountaineers to a 10-3 record and their infamous 70-33 beatdown of Clemson in the Orange Bowl that season. Smith followed it up in 2012 passing for a career-high 42 touchdowns, but the team couldn’t quite manage the same record, going 7-6.
Following that season, an old friend came calling for Spavital. Kevin Sumlin, who Spavital worked with at Houston, was searching for a new offensive coordinator to replace Kliff Kingsbury, who had just led the Aggies to an 11-2 campaign while guiding Johnny Manziel to winning the Heisman Trophy. Spavital answered and became the co-OC/quarterbacks coach for A&M in 2013.
While Manziel didn’t win the Heisman Trophy that season, he set career highs in passing yards and touchdowns working under Spavital. The A&M offense finished in the top five in the country in total offense and scoring while finishing eighth nationally in third down conversion rate.
Spavital became the full-time offensive coordinator the following season in 2014. He had to replace Johnny Manziel and Mike Evans, but the Aggies still had a top-30 offense in virtually every statistic.
In 2015, the wheels came off some for Spavital. The team bounced between Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray at quarterback, and that battle led to plenty of controversy. The offense more or less fell apart and the Aggies posted their worst season under Sumlin. Both Allen and Murray transferred out, and Texas A&M parted ways with Spavital following the season.
However, Spavital was quickly able to rebound, becoming the offensive coordinator for Cal-Berkeley under Sonny Dykes. In his first season with the Golden Bears in 2016, Spavital's offense ranked 10th nationally, averaging 513.2 yards per game — the second-best mark in program history. Cal also ranked 22nd in EPA/Play. However, as the offense scored plenty (37.1 points per game, 22nd nationally), the defense was second to last in allowing points, giving up 42.6 points per game. Their porous defense saw Sonny Dykes fired, and that was that for Spavital at Cal-for now.
Spavital reunited with Dana Holgorsen at West Virginia in 2017, this time as his offensive coordinator. With the Mountaineers, Spavital guided Will Grier to career seasons, and the Mountaineers finished with a top-25 offense in 2017 and a top-ten offense in 2018.
His success at West Virginia, and other stops, finally presented Spavital with the opportunity to be a head coach. Texas State offered Spavital the head coach position in 2019, and he accepted it. However, Kliff Kingsbury, who was just hired to coach the Arizona Cardinals, tried to pull Spavital with him to the NFL in that same offseason. Spavital declined, citing his commitment to the players and the university of Texas State.
It was rough sledding to start at Texas State, as they went 3-9 and 2-10 in Spavital’s first two seasons. The offense improved from 2019 to 2020, jumping from 122nd in scoring and 123rd in EPA/Play to 69th and 73rd, respectively. However, the offense couldn’t sustain that momentum in 2021, falling into the 100s in almost every category.
Entering the hot seat, Spavital tried to play the transfer portal game in 2022, pulling quarterback Layne Hatcher from Arkansas State, as well as running back Lincoln Pare, wide receivers Julian Ortega-Jones and Rontavious Groves, defensive end Levi Bell, linebacker Brian Holloway, and other players.
However, it was all for naught, as Texas State went 4-8 that season with yet another bottom-of-the-league offense. Spavital was fired following the 2022 season.
Spavital returned to Cal-Berkeley for 2023 to once again revive the Golden Bears offense. Cal ranked 89th nationally at 364.6 yards per game in 2022 and 96th in scoring at 23.9 points per game, and offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave was fired in mid-November.
Immediately, Spavital executed another offensive turnaround. Cal jumped from 96th to 48th in scoring. Led by running back Jaydn Ott, Cal went from 4-8 to 7-6 and the offense moved into the top-50 in most categories.
Once again, Spavital got another call from a Texas coach, this time from Baylor head coach Dave Aranda. Aranda, needing an offensive hail mary to save his job, called on Spavital to serve as his offensive coordinator for the Bears in 2024. Spavital agreed, and has guided Baylor’s offense to being one of the most productive in the country this season.
What is Jake Spavital's Scheme?
Spavital is a pretty open Air Raid coach, working with the likes of Dana Holgorsen and Kliff Kingsbury. However, unlike most Air Raid coaches, Spavital’s offense has shifted and evolved. Most Air Raid disciples tend to live in 10 and 11 personnel. Spavital has shifted his over the last few seasons. While at West Virginia, Cal, and Baylor, Spavital has mixed in more of the run game and extra tight ends in an effort to combat the way defenses evolved to take down the Air Raid.
It’s worked. Cal finished 45th nationally on the ground behind Ott’s ability as a runner. Spavital brought that mentality to Baylor. The Bears are 38th in the country in rushing offense and have just completed their third straight game with 250+ rushing yards as of the time of this writing.
Once Baylor made the switch from Dequan Finn to Sawyer Robertson, the offense took an impressive leap and currently ranks ahead of teams like Colorado, LSU, SMU, Texas A&M, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky, Texas Tech, and Tennessee in EPA/Play (38th).
The offense is a pretty diverse one in terms of route combinations. Baylor has thrown at least 10 targets to 13 different routes (important to compare vs Oklahoma, who doesn’t even have half of that). Spavital does pretty often sit in 3×1 or 2×2 sets, but that’s fairly normal for any Air Raid coach.
The run game is more diverse than your typical Air Raid offense is as well, like I touched on earlier. While it is largely inside zone, mixed in with some split zone, Spavital runs plenty of gap and power runs. In that regard, the offense slightly resembles what Lincoln Riley ran with the Sooners, with his penchant for GT counter and power.
Spavital’s offense is fairly static, motioning just around 40%, which is well below average, while also living in 11 personnel for most of this season. However, that makes sense given the nature of the offense and what the team asks their quarterback to do.
If there is one theme Spavital has taken with him everywhere in his career, it’s his ability to use tempo. Right around 30% of Baylor’s offensive snaps have occurred with 15-19 seconds on the play clock, while another 17% have come with 20-24 seconds on the play clock. Baylor is 11th in the country in seconds per play, averaging just about one play every 23 seconds.
Does Jake Spavital Fit the Oklahoma Sooners?
It’s not hard to see why Jake Spavital might appeal to Oklahoma. With Brent Venables on the hot seat, he needs to get the offense fixed right away. All Spavital has done the last few seasons is fix the offense for a defensive-minded head coach and immediately inject life into those units. Cal was perhaps his most impressive turnaround, considering the personnel they had. Spavital won’t have the same talent issues with the Sooners.
Brent Venables’ coaching seat on fire after inexplicable loss to Missouri Tigers
What an embarrassing loss for the Oklahoma Sooners against Missouri. Facing a backup quarterback in Drew Pyne, the Sooners gave up 30 points, thanks to some embarrassingly poor situational play. The offense sputtered frequently throughout the game and turned the ball over, again, four times. The team committed multiple poor penalties, yet again, including a […]
His tenure at the end with Texas A&M and his time as a head coach at Texas State mar his resume, but otherwise, he’s been a proven offensive mind everywhere he has gone. For a team looking for a hotfix, Spavital’s name popping up isn’t a surprise. His experience as a head coach would also help add to the quality of their young coaching staff.
There would be concerns about sustaining that success beyond just the 2025 season. Everywhere he’s been, the offense tends to fall apart the longer it goes on. Aside from his 2018 season with West Virginia, the offense got worse year over year when he became the offensive coordinator. Yet, Oklahoma might not be able to afford to think beyond next season, with the staff on the hot seat.
Jake Spavital Summary
Overall, Jake Spavital is one of the more proven offensive coordinators in college football. While he’s not an exciting name or perhaps an elite play caller, Spavital has orchestrated an offensive turnaround at both Cal and Baylor in the last two seasons.
Is that enough to consider him over other candidates? In my opinion, no, I don’t believe Spavital to be the best possible candidate, and if I were running the show, he wouldn’t even be considered. However, his resume and ties to the area, as well as the desperation of the Oklahoma program, might see them desiring a quick turnaround, much like what Spavital has been able to do for worse teams.
