College Football Coaches Against the Spread Record in Bowl Games
By Reed Wallach
Ladies and gentlemen, it's a beautiful time of year: college football bowl season.
We will have plenty of game previews on our college football preview page, starting with our opening odds piece here, but for now let's start with the basics.
How do head coaches perform in bowl games? The players come and go, but coaches remain constant historically and tend to outperform or underperform relative to the point spread over a period of time.
Below are the odds for every bowl game and the coaches' historical against the spread records in bowl games.
College Football Coaches Against the Spread Record in Bowl Games
Bahamas Bowl
- Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio) - 3-0
Cure Bowl
- Jeff Traylor, UTSA - 1-1
Las Vegas Bowl
- Billy Napier, Florida - 1-3
- Jonathan Smith, Oregon State - 0-1
LA Bowl
- Jake Dickert, Washington State - 0-1
- Jeff Tedford, Fresno State - 5-5
New Mexico Bowl
- Kalani Sitake, BYU - 2-3
Myrtle Beach Bowl
- Charles Huff, Marshall - 0-1
- Jim Mora Jr, UCONN - 2-2
Potato Bowl
- Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan - 3-1
- Brent Brennan, San Jose State - 0-1
Boca Raton Bowl
- Jason Candle, Toledo - 1-4
New Orleans Bowl
- Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky - 1-1-1
Armed Forces Bowl
- Troy Calhoun, Air Force - 7-4
- Dave Aranda, Baylor - 1-0
Independence Bowl
- Michael Desormeaux, Louisiana - 1-0
- Dana Holgorsen, Houston - 2-7
Gasparilla Bowl
- Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri - 1-0
- Dave Clawson, Wake Forest - 3-5
Hawai'i Bowl
- Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee - 3-6
- Brady Hoke, San Diego State - 2-3-1
Quick Lane Bowl
- Jerry Kill, New Mexico State - 1-5
Camellia Bowl
- Clay Helton, Georgia Southern - 1-4
First Responder Bowl
- Ryan Silverfield, Memphis - 1-1
- Blake Anderson, Utah State - 3-4
Guaranteed Rate Bowl
- Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State - 11-5
Military Bowl
- Gus Malzahn, UCF - 4-4
Liberty Bowl
- Lance Leipold, Kansas - 4-1
- Sam Pittman, Arkansas - 1-0
Holiday Bowl
- Mack Brown, North Carolina - 1-2 *
* Only counting North Carolina tenure
Texas Bowl
- Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss - 2-3
Pinstripe Bowl
- Dino Babers, Syracuse - 2-0
- PJ Fleck, Minnesota - 3-0
Cheez-It Bowl
- Mike Norvell, Florida State - 0-4
Duke's Mayo Bowl
- Dave Doeren, North Carolina State - 5-2
- Mike Locksley, Maryland - 1-0
Sun Bowl
- Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh - 1-4
- Chip Kelly, UCLA - 2-2
Gator Bowl
- Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame - 0-1
- Shane Beamer, South Carolina - 1-0
Arizona Bowl
- Craig Bohl, Wyoming - 11-3 ATS
Orange Bowl
- Josh Heupel, Tennessee - 1-3
- Dabo Swinney, Clemson - 12-6
Music City Bowl
- Kirk Ferentz, Iowa - 11-6-1
- Mark Stoops, Kentucky - 3-2-1
Sugar Bowl
- Chris Klieman, Kansas State - 1-1
- Nick Saban, Alabama - 11-8 (at Alabama)
Fiesta Bowl
- Jim Harbaugh, Michigan - 3-5
- Sonny Dykes, TCU - 2-2
Peach Bowl
- Kirby Smart, Georgia - 7-2
- Ryan Day, Ohio State - 1-3
Reliaquest Bowl
- Mike Leach, Mississippi State - 3-6
- Bret Bielema, Arkansas - 5-4
Cotton Bowl
- Willie Fritz, Tulane: 12-8
- Lincoln Riley, USC -2-2
Citrus Bowl
- Jeff Brohm, Purdue - 4-2
- Brian Kelly, LSU - 5-9
Rose Bowl
- James Franklin, Penn State - 6-4
- Kyle Whittingham, Utah - 10-5
Track all of Reed's bets at Betstamp HERE!
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.