Photo: Jeff Huehn/UTSA Athletics
With a nationally ranked football program in the midst of a historic season, UTSA and head football coach Jeff Traylor have signed a contract extension through 2031 valued at $28 million. Traylor’s annual salary will average $2.8 million, in addition to potential bonuses, and the university will increase the salary pool for assistant coaches and support staff.
“Jeff saw something special at UTSA when he first expressed interest in this job and we likewise knew we had someone special when we hired him to take over our program,” said UTSA Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lisa Campos. “He is an outstanding leader, a culture builder and a molder of young men. He has brought unprecedented national exposure and acclaim to both our institution and the San Antonio community. He’s taken UTSA Football to new heights in a short amount of time and this contract extension shows our commitment to him and his staff to continue to build and sustain this program for years to come.”
“Jeff came to UTSA with a passion for building a football program that San Antonio now calls its own,” said UTSA President Taylor Eighmy. “Our team believes in him, and our students, alumni and fans are excited about the momentum. This moment in time is very special. With the opening of our Roadrunner Athletics Center of Excellence and our upcoming membership in the American Athletic Conference, this is clearly the next transformational waypoint on our bold trajectory for moving our athletics program, our university and our city of San Antonio forward.”
Named the third head coach in UTSA history on Dec. 9, 2019, Traylor boasts more than 30 years of coaching experience. He previously was the associate head coach and running backs coach at Arkansas (2018-19) and SMU (2017) after two seasons at Texas serving as associate head coach for the offense and receivers coach in 2016 and special teams coordinator and tight ends coach in 2015. Traylor also had a highly successful 15-year career as head coach at Gilmer High School, where he led his hometown Buckeyes to three state championships and two state runner-up finishes while posting a 175-26 (.871) record. The football stadium in Gilmer is named after him.
“I would like to thank Dr. Eighmy and Dr. Campos for showing their deep commitment to what we are building here at UTSA,” said Traylor. “They proactively engaged me on an extension discussion at the start of the season, and my staff and I are thrilled about what the future holds for this program. I say this all the time, but this game is about the players and they are the reason we are in this profession to begin with. This is exactly why we have chosen to make this announcement today. We should all be talking about what they have accomplished this season, they are making history every week.”
“I also want to thank all of the UTSA supporters and the Texas High School Coaches Association. I go back to what I said at my introduction as UTSA’s head football coach in December 2019. It will truly take all of us, whether it’s a like, a retweet, buying tickets or a suite, or donating whatever you’re capable of to the university. Everyone has been so welcoming and supportive to Cari and me and our family during our short time in San Antonio. We love our community and we hope this extension demonstrates our commitment to UTSA and San Antonio.”
Now in his second season at the helm of the Roadrunners, Traylor has posted a 15-5 record through his first 20 games, a program record for a head coach. He has guided UTSA to the best overall (8-0) and conference (4-0) starts in school history, while the current eight-game winning streak is the longest in UTSA annals and the third-longest active FBS streak. He is one of 21 FBS coaches on the Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards Coach of the Year watch list this season.
Under Traylor’s guidance, the Roadrunners opened the season on Sept. 4 with the program’s second triumph over a team from a Power Five conference in a 37-30 road win over Illinois before posting a 54-0 rout of Lamar, the program’s first shutout and largest margin of victory. Traylor became the first coach in program history to post back-to-back 3-0 starts after the 27-13 win over Middle Tennessee on Sept. 18. One week later, Traylor led the Roadrunners to the largest comeback win in school history, as UTSA overcame a 21-0 deficit for a 31-28 road win over Memphis.
Traylor led UTSA to its fifth straight win to start the season following a 24-17 win against UNLV, matching the previous best start in school history. The Roadrunners improved to 6-0 for the first time following the 52-46 road win over WKU on Oct. 9 before logging their second shutout of the season with the 45-0 homecoming rout of Rice. UTSA raced past Louisiana Tech with a 45-16 road triumph on Oct. 23 for the program’s first-ever win in Ruston, extending the best start in program history.
Last fall, Traylor became the first UTSA head coach to win his first three games and to notch seven victories in his debut season. He led the Roadrunners to their second bowl appearance in school history with a spot in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl on Dec. 26 in Dallas. An unprecedented number of Roadrunners earned All-America — Lucas Dean, Hunter Duplessis and Sincere McCormick — and all-conference (19) accolades in 2020.
“I am deeply grateful to Jeff and his staff for their commitment to our student-athletes, to the university, and to our city; to Athletic Director Lisa Campos, who has been relentless in building an athletic enterprise of the highest quality; to our fans, who for these last 11 seasons have made the Roadrunners their team; and to our community here in the in city of San Antonio who have embraced our university, our athletics program and our football team,” said Eighmy