Mike Riley
Followed Bo Pelini. Mike Riley inherited a Power Program I Nebraska and won with it.
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Power Program in his 8th career season — faster than 16% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #314 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
4–16 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Chip Kelly.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
7th-best Nebraska tenure of 18 by the numbers.
Underperforms his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed Bo Pelini (2003–2014) · succeeded by Scott Frost (2018–2022).
| Season | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||
| Record | 6–7 | 9–4 | 4–8 | |
| Postseason | W bowl | CFP loss | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #30 | #26 | #23 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||
| Pass rate | 48.0 | 43.3 | 55.5 | |
| Coordinators | ||||
| OC | Danny Langsdorf | Danny Langsdorf | Danny Langsdorf | |
| DC | Mark Banker | Mark Banker | Bob Diaco | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||
| Offense | 68 | 20 | 37 | |
| Defense | 40 | 49 | 4 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||
| 1st-down pass% | 35.5 | 24.9 | 42.8 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 42.7 | 32.7 | 51.0 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 17.9 | 27.3 | 38.5 | |
9 NFL Draft picks: Ameer Abdullah (2015), Randy Gregory (2015), Kenny Bell (2015), Maliek Collins (2016), Vincent Valentine (2016), Alex Lewis (2016), Andy Janovich (2016), Nathan Gerry (2017) + 1 more
1st-best Oregon State tenure of 17 by the numbers.
Followed Jerry Pettibone (1991–1996) · succeeded by Gary Andersen (2015–2017).
| Season | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||||||||||||||
| Record | 3–8 | 5–6 | 7–5 | 11–1 | 5–6 | 8–5 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 5–6 | 10–4 | 9–4 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 9–4 | 7–6 | 5–7 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | #60 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pass rate | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 55.7 | |
| Coordinators | |||||||||||||||||||
| OC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | John Garrett | |
| DC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Mark Banker | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||||||||||||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 36 | |
| Defense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 15 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 50.9 | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 52.8 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 26.3 | |
45 NFL Draft picks: Bryan Jones (1999), Armon Hatcher (1999), Tim Alexander (1999), Chad Johnson (2001), DeLawrence Grant (2001), Mitch White (2001), T.J. Houshmandzadeh (2001), James Allen (2002) + 37 more