Jeff Horton

Bio entering 2022 season

At San Diego State

• With over 38 years of collegiate coaching experience, including seven as a head coach, Jeff Horton begins his 12th season at San Diego State.
• Since his arrival on The Mesa, Horton has been in charge of the Aztec running backs and was promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2015 campaign.
• From 2015-19, Horton also served as SDSU’s offensive coordinator and previously held the title of assistant head coach for four seasons between 2011-14.
• Since joining the Aztec staff in 2011, San Diego State ranks 16th nationally in rushing yardage per game (201.7), 24th in average yards per carry (4.8), and 28th in rushing touchdowns (281).
• In his 11 years with SDSU, Horton has coached each of his starting running backs to all-Mountain West honors, including Super Bowl champion Ronnie Hillman (2011), Adam Muema (2012-13), Donnel Pumphrey (2014-16), Rashaad Penny (2017), Juwan Washington (2018) and Greg Bell (2020-21).
• With Horton’s assistance, Bell continued the Aztecs’ fine tradition of running backs, meriting second-team all-Mountain West distinction for the second straight season in 2021. The SDSU senior occupied the third spot in the league with 1,091 rushing yards, which ranked 40th in the country. The Bonita Vista High alumnus also finished among the conference leaders in rushing yards per game (4th - 77.9) and rushing yards per carry (13th - 4.45).
• As a team, SDSU ranked third in the MW last season with 174.3 rushing yards per game, which was good for 54th nationally.
• Under Horton’s watch during a shortened 2020 campaign, Bell ranked second in the conference in rushing yards (637) and rushing yards per game (91.0) despite missing the Colorado game and all but a handful of snaps in two others. He also led the MW with four 100-yard rushing performances and found himself among the league leaders in rushing average (4th, 5.6), rushing touchdowns (t-4th, 6) and all-purpose yards per game (12th, 107.3). 
• Collectively, SDSU finished third in the MW in 2020 with 199.4 rushing yards per game, which ranked 32nd nationally.
• In 2018, Horton helped Juwan Washington receive all-MW honorable mention despite the running back missing 4 1/2 games due to injury. Washington still ranked among the league leaders in several categories that season, including rushing yards per game (2nd, 111.0), rushing touchdowns (t-4th, 10) and rushing yards (5th, 999).
• Under Horton’s tutelage in 2017, Penny capped off his stellar senior campaign becoming just the third consensus All-American in program history while finishing fifth in the Heisman Trophy balloting, the highest placement by an Aztec since Marshall Faulk took fourth in 1993. In addition, Penny recorded the fifth-best NCAA FBS single-season rushing total in history with a school-record 2,248 yards and finished with a career-average of 7.49 yards per carry, which represents the third-highest total among FBS schools since 1996.
• Collectively, SDSU boasted the nation’s No.10 rushing offense in 2017, averaging 252.5 yards per game. The Scarlet and Black also occupied the 11th spot in yards per carry (5.71) while tying for 20th in rushing touchdowns (33). In addition, Horton coordinated an Aztec offense that threw just four interceptions last season, which ranked second in the country.
• Horton was also instrumental in the development of Nick Bawden, who was recruited to San Diego State as a quarterback—even starting two games at the position as a true freshman in 2014—before switching to fullback the following year. Emerging as the starter in 2016, Bawden became the lead blocker for two of the most prolific running backs in school history over the past two seasons, with the Aztecs ranking eighth nationally in rushing yards per game (257.9) and fifth in yards per rush (5.7) during that stretch. For his efforts, Bawden earned first-team All-America honors from Pro Football Focus in 2016, grading out as the top blocking fullback. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
• In 2016, Horton was named the FootballScoop Running Backs Coach of the Year when SDSU became the first team in NCAA FBS history to produce a 2,000-yard rusher (Pumphrey) and a 1,000-yard rusher (Penny) in the same season. The Aztecs set Division I-era single-season records in rushing yards (3,680), rushing touchdowns (34), rushing yards per carry (5.8) and points (493).
• Horton coached Pumphrey to one of the best rushing careers in FBS history. A Heisman candidate, Doak Walker Award finalist and a three-time All-American, Pumphrey finished his career as the NCAA FBS career record holder in rushing yards (6,405) and was fifth in all-purpose yards (7,515), tied for eighth in overall touchdowns (67) and ninth in rushing touchdowns (62). He was picked in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.
• The 2015 Aztecs also made history, rushing for a then-school record 3,266 yards and producing two 1,000-yard rushers (Pumphrey, Chase Price) for the first time in program history. SDSU ran for 2,000 yards as a team and produced a 1,000-yard rusher for the sixth year in a row in 2015. The team also had 10 straight games with at least 200 yards rushing to close the season.
• In 2014, San Diego State set a then-school record for yards per carry, averaging 5.4 yards per rush, ranked 13th nationally.
• Helped Ronnie Hillman receive All-America recognition from the Associated Press in 2011 after the Aztec running back rushed for a conference-record 1,711 yards, which ranked fourth nationally, and added 19 touchdowns. Hillman, who was one of 10 semifinalists for the Doak Walker Award that season, was selected in the third round of the NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos in April 2012.

Previous Experience

• 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, the Gophers 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.
• NFL career started 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.
• Was on the sidelines in six bowl games as the quarterbacks coach at Wisconsin from 1999-2005. The Badgers tallied four postseason victories and claimed the 1999 Big Ten championship.
• Coached Wisconsin signal-caller Brooks Bollinger to a 30-12 record over his four seasons as a starter. Bollinger and quarterback Jim Sorgi were picked in the NFL Draft during his time in Madison.
• Was the head coach at UNLV for five years. 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.
• 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.
• In addition, he 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).
• Started his collegiate coaching career in 1984 as a graduate assistant at Minnesota under head coach Lou Holtz.

Playing Experience

• Was a walk-on wide receiver at Arkansas from 1976-77.

Education

• Graduated from Nevada in 1981 with his bachelor’s degree and earned his master's from San Francisco in 1993.

Personal

• Horton and his wife, Teri, reside in San Diego.