Jay Sawvel - Football Coach - Wake Forest University Athletics

Jay Sawvel

Title:
Defensive Coordinator
Email:
sawvelja@wfu.edu
Phone:
758-5870

Jay Sawvel became Wake Forest’s defensive coordinator in January, 2017 and helped the Deacons to the 2017 Belk Bowl. During his first season at the helm of the Wake Forest defense, the Deacons set school records for tackles for loss in a season and finished seventh nationally in tackles for loss on the season.

As the cornerbacks coach in 2017, Sawvel successfully tutored Essang Bassey who had a sophomore school record 19 passes defended and earned honorable mention All-ACC honors.
Sawvel had previously served as the defensive coordinator at Minnesota where he constructed a top-25 defense and helped the Gophers to their best record in 13 seasons.

Sawvel spent six seasons as an assistant at Minnesota. He was the defensive backs and special teams coach from 2011 to 2015. After Jerry Kill’s retirement as the head coach at Minnesota, Tracy Claeys was elevated to head coach and Sawvel became the Gophers’ defensive coordinator.

Under Sawvel’s direction, the 2016 Golden Gopher defense was a top 25 team nationally in a number of defensive categories including rushing defense (14th), scoring defense (21st), sacks (22nd), total defense (21st) and turnover margin (18th). In addition, Minnesota ranked 27th nationally in team passing efficiency defense.

In 2016, the Gophers went 9-4 overall, 5-4 in the Big Ten West and finished the season with a 17-12 win in the Holiday Bowl. In that game, Minnesota held Washington State’s potent passing offense to just 264 yards, 86 below its average, and allowed the Cougars their lowest point total of the season. WSU crossed the 50-yard line just twice in the game.
Sawvel has become known as a coach who produces NFL-caliber players. In 2015, two of his protégés at Minnesota, Eric Murray and Briean Boddy-Calhoun, wound up in NFL camps. Murray was a fourth round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs while Boddy-Calhoun signed with Jacksonville as a free agent. In 2014, both Murray and Boddy-Calhoun were named to the All-Big 10 team following a season in which the Gophers were 18th in the nation in pass defense.

Brock Vereen, a 2014 first team All-Big 10 selection, was yet another Sawvel pupil to be drafted, going to the Chicago Bears in the fourth round.
For three seasons from 2014 through 2016, Sawvel had at least one of his secondary players taken in the NFL Draft. Sawvel’s coaching has helped him to four conference championships as a collegiate coach.
Sawvel joined the Gophers after three seasons as the defensive backs coach at Northern Illinois from 2008-10. He was a member of the Southern Illinois staff under Kill for seven seasons from 2001-07, working with the secondary and special teams.

Sawvel was a three-year letterwinner and an all-conference linebacker in 1993 at Division III power Mount Union, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1993. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Eastern Kentucky in 1994 and moved to Notre Dame as a graduate assistant coach for the 1996-99 seasons. Sawvel owns Master of Arts degrees from both Eastern Kentucky and Notre Dame.

As special teams coordinator at Northern Illinois, Sawvel’s teams blocked 17 kicks in three years. As secondary coach, he mentored Jimmie Ward, a first round pick of San Francisco in 2014.

Sawvel and his wife Jeannine have two daughters, Mackenzie and Miranda.

The Jay Sawvel File
Birthdate	March 14, 1971
Wife	Jeannine
Children	Mackenzie, Miranda
Alma Mater	Mount Union, 1993
Alma Mater	Eastern Kentucky, 1995
Alma Mater	Notre Dame, 1997

Playing Background
Mount Union (1989-93) ... Linebacker ... Earned all-conference honors in 1993.

Coaching History
2017-current (2nd season)	Defensive Coordinator, Wake Forest
2011-16 (6 seasons)	Defensive Coordinator, Minnesota
2008-10 (3 seasons)	Assistant Coach, Northern Illinois
2001-07 (7 seasons)	Assistant Coach, Southern Illinois
1999-2000 (2 seasons)	Assistant Coach, Ferris State
1996-99 (4 seasons)	Graduate Assistant, Notre Dame
1994-95 (2 seasons)	Graduate Assistant, Eastern Kentucky