Jan. 16, 2015
SAN DIEGO - Jeff Horton, who has 27 years of collegiate coach experience, including seven as a head coach, has been named offensive coordinator at San Diego State, Aztec head coach Rocky Long announced today. He has also been promoted to an associate head coach and will still continue to coach the running backs.
Horton has spent the past four seasons as SDSU's assistant head coach, while also coaching the running backs, helping San Diego State to a 32-20 (.615) record and a bowl game appearance all four years (the Aztecs have been to a school-record five straight overall).
"There was tremendous interest in this opening," Long said. "When I started to evaluate candidates, it became clear that Jeff Horton was the best person for this job. Jeff brings a wealth of experience as a head coach and as a play caller. His familiarity with our student-athletes and our program will make this transition a seamless one."
Horton has coached a rushing game that has been one of the best in the country over the past four seasons. Under Horton's direction since 2011, the Aztecs are ranked 20th in rushing average (4.9), 21st in rushing yards per game (197.0) and tied for 24th in rushing touchdowns (114). Over the last four years, SDSU has posted four of its top-four rushing seasons since 1949, including a school-record 2,869 yards in 2012 and 2,809 in 2014 (No. 2 all-time).
In his four years with San Diego State, Horton has coached each of his starting running backs to all-Mountain West honors, including current Denver Bronco Ronnie Hillman in 2011, Adam Muema in 2012 and 2013 and Donnel Pumphrey this past season. Pumphrey, a first-team selection, finished with a school single-season record 1,867 yards on 276 attempts (6.8 avg.) and 20 rushing touchdowns. He also set a program record with 10 100-yard rushing games.
"I'm excited about this opportunity," Horton said. "We have a great nucleus of players coming back, and I look forward to working with them and playing to their strengths. I want to continue to run and be physical, and we'll have to throw the football better. We have a good team coming back and we just want to do our part (on offense)."
Horton came to The Mesa after spending the final five games of the 2010 campaign as the interim head coach at Minnesota. With Horton at the helm, the Gophers went 2-3 with victories over a pair of bowl-bound teams in Illinois and Iowa after beginning the year with a 1-6 mark. As the co-offensive coordinator, UM saw drastic improvements from 2009 in the NCAA rankings in total offense (+34 spots), rushing offense (+26), passing offense (+18), scoring offense (+11), turnovers (+82), time of possession (+82) and penalties (+21).
Prior to his time at Minnesota, he was the quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions in 2009, working with No. 1 overall Draft pick Matthew Stafford. Stafford started 10 games and threw for more than 2,000 yards.
Horton began his stint in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams from 2006-08, where he was the assistant offensive line coach, special assistant to the head coach and an offensive assistant.
Before joining the NFL ranks, Horton was on the sidelines in six bowl games as the quarterbacks coach at Wisconsin from 1999-2005. The Badgers tallied four postseason victories, including a 17-9 win over Stanford in the 2000 Rose Bowl, after claiming the Big Ten championship. With Wisconsin, he tutored signal-caller Brooks Bollinger to a combined 30-12 record over his four seasons as a starter. Both Bollinger and quarterback Jim Sorgi were selected in the NFL Draft during his stay in Madison.
An Arlington, Texas, native, Horton was the head coach at UNLV for five years from 1994-98. In 1994, he was named the Big West Coach of the Year after leading the Rebels to the conference title and a berth in the Las Vegas Bowl.
Before becoming the head coach at UNLV, Horton compiled a 7-4 record at Nevada in his first season as a head coach in 1993. The Wolf Pack led the nation in offense that campaign, including 4,373 yards passing.
Horton also spent six years as a wide receivers, special teams or running backs coach at Nevada (1985-89, 1992) and two campaigns as an assistant head coach, running backs and wide receivers coach at UNLV (1990-91). He started his collegiate coaching career in 1984 as a graduate assistant at Minnesota under head coach Lou Holtz.
Horton graduated from Nevada in 1981 with a bachelor's degree and later earned his master's from the University of San Francisco in 1993. He played at Arkansas as a walk-on wide receiver from 1976-77.
Horton and his wife, Teri, reside in San Diego.
Horton replaces Bob Toledo, who retired in December after 41 years of collegiate coaching. Toledo came out of retirement to be the Aztecs' offensive coordinator each of the past two years.