Phil Earley was the San Jose State University football running backs coach for the 2016 season.
In his one season with the Spartans, he coached three running backs that gained at least 100 yards in a game. The last time San Jose State had three running backs rush for at least 100 yards in a game in the same season was in 2001.
Earley came to the Spartans after four seasons as an assistant coach at Fresno State and 29 seasons of major college coaching experience.
He had coaching experiences in four current Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conferences, two former NCAA Division I-A leagues that no longer sponsor football, three schools with current ties to the Big Sky Conference of the Football Championship Division (FCS) and NCAA Division II institution Western Washington University, his first college coaching appointment.
Earley is believed to be the first football coach to work on the staffs of the three California State University (CSU) system schools that compete at the NCAA's FBS level. Prior to his four seasons at Fresno State, he was the assistant to the offensive coordinator at San Diego State in 2009.
An offensive coordinator for 14 seasons, Earley focused on coaching running backs for the first time. His running game experiences include coordinating offenses for the NCAA's 2001 Division I-A rushing champion, Chance Kretschmer of the University of Nevada, and 1,000-yard rushers at Cal Poly (Antonio Warren, 1995), Idaho (Joel Thomas, 1998) and Western Washington (Scott Lohr, 1989).
The 1980 graduate of Pacific Lutheran University received his bachelor's degree majoring in education. He earned a master's degree from Western Washington University in 1988 in education with an emphasis in sports psychology.
The native of Port Angeles, Wash., began his college coaching career at Western Washington in 1986 as an offensive line coach. He had the same responsibilities for the 1988 season at Weber State before returning to Western Washington in 1989 for his opportunity to be an offensive coordinator. Earley would go to serve as an offensive coordinator at Cal Poly (1994-96), Idaho (1998-99), Nevada (2000-03), Ohio (2004) and Idaho State (2010).
He served as the quarterbacks coach at Syracuse for three seasons (2006-08) and was the assistant to the offensive coordinator at Auburn (2005) and San Diego State (2009). Earley was Washington State's recruiting coordinator for two seasons (1992-93) and did the same for the 2012 and 2013 seasons at Fresno State.
He and his wife, Cinde, have two adult sons, T.J., and Alec.
Phil Earley Facts
| Born: | March 8, 1957 in Port Angeles, Wash. |
| 2016 | San José State University running backs coach |
| 2012-15 | Fresno State tight ends & inside receivers coach |
| 2012-13 | Fresno State tight ends & inside receivers coach/recruiting coordinator |
| 2010 | Idaho State University offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach |
| 2009 | San Diego State assistant to the offensive coordinator |
| 2006-08 | Syracuse University quarterbacks coach |
| 2005 | Auburn University assistant to the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach |
| 2004 | Ohio University offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach |
| 2000-03 | University of Nevada offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach |
| 1998-99 | University of Idaho offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach |
| 1997 | University of Idaho quarterbacks coach |
| 1994-96 | Cal Poly assistant head coach/offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach |
| 1992-93 | Washington State University recruiting coordinator |
| 1989-91 | Western Washington University offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach/wide receivers coach |
| 1988 | Weber State University offensive line coach |
| 1986-87 | Western Washington University offensive line coach |
| Post-Season Participation | |
| 2014 | Hawai'i Bowl |
| 2013 | Las Vegas Bowl |
| 2012 | Hawai'i Bowl |
| 2006 | Capital One Bowl |
| 1998 | Humanitarian Bowl |
| 1992 | Copper Bowl |