SAN MARCOS — There is a lot to be excited about with Texas State's new head coach, Jake Spavital.
Spavital comes to San Marcos after calling plays for some of the nation's most explosive offenses at West Virginia, California and Texas A&M.
He's also developed tremendous college quarterbacks like Will Grier, Davis Webb, Geno Smith and Kerrville native/Heisman award winner Johnny Manziel.
During his introductory press conference at Bobcat Stadium, he made his expectations very clear for this program.
"We’re going to win. We’re going to win championships. We’re going to win bowl games," Spavital said.
During the Friday press conference, the 2nd youngest FBS coach at 33 years old said he plans to lead an exciting-uptempo offense with a physical and tough defense.
Spavital has worked under and alongside great offensive minds like New Braunfels native Kliff Kingsbury, Arizona head coach Kevin Sumlin, SMU head coach Sonny Dykes and West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen. Spavital's knowledge of the Air Raid offense should light up the scoreboard in San Marcos.
Director of Athletics Larry Teis said Spavital was his top choice. In fact, during Spavital's interview, his flight was delayed so he arrived on campus closer to midnight. Teis took the head coaching candidate to the athletic facilities with a flashlight and the rest is history. The process moved very quickly.
"He has one of the best offensive minds in the country and loves explosive offenses," Teis said. "I do want to thank (Texas State president) Dr. Trauth, Parker Executive Search and everyone else who worked to make this happen. I knew that he was our guy when it took 22 hours to get here and he still wanted to take a tour of our facilities this morning at 1 a.m."
The last Texas State head coach to have a record better than .500 is David Bailiff from 2004-2006. Everett Withers was just fired after three seasons at Texas State with a 7-28 overall record. The Bobcats are still looking for their first bowl game appearance.
Spavital is reportedly set to make $800,000 for five years. That ranks fourth in the Sun Belt.