Dean Craig Pelton
| Dean_Craig_Pelton | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Current position | |
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | NC State Wolfpack |
| Conference | ACC |
| Record | 74-76-1 |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | Toledo, OH |
| Alma mater | Greendale Community College |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 2014-2018
2015-2018 2018-2019 2020-2021 2024 | Ohio State Buckeyes NC State Wolfpack |
| Head coaching record | |
| Bowls | 2-2 |
Dean_Craig_Pelton is the head coach of the NC State Wolfpack and the scout for the New Orleans Saints. He previously coached the Ohio State Buckeyes, Old Dominion Monarchs, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He spent the majority of his NFLHC career with the Cleveland Browns but did spend some time as a member of the Buffalo Bills who later became the Houston Texans.
Contents
Early years
Dean_Craig_Pelton was born and raised in Ohio and considers a huge part of who he is. Despite living in NC for most of his life, he was never really pleased with the environment and calls Ohio home. He expressed interest in coaching the Toledo Rockets in his hometown, but the school decided to get rid of their football team. Dean_Craig_Pelton decided to stick with the Buckeyes.
Coaching style
Pelton has worked best with scrambling and hyrbid QBs over the years with minimal success from pocket passers. Pelton typically relies on having top athletes on his roster and has built the scheme around those players in the past. Pelton's defenses are rarely highly-ranked but are traditionally 4-3 conservative defenses that rely on the motto "bend, don't break".
Coaching career
Coach Pelton's career began in Columbus, OH where he instilled a high-octane balanced offense with Aaron Kotar, Marcus Barry, and Mike Tripplett at his disposal. Pelton began his time at OSU with a 22-5 record with Aaron Kotar under center most of the time. Following his departure Glen Spencer and Melvin Jefferson rotated out and struggled in Pelton's offense. Pelton went 0-5 against OSU's rival Michigan and left in 2017. Pelton was hired by Old Dominion and coached the Monarchs for two seasons. Pelton brought in J.J. Fowler, Darren Logan, Omari Pearson, and Dylan Hamlin during his tenure as a head coach. Pelton left for Nebraska following a 5-7 season with the Monarchs. Pelton would have limited success through his time in Nebraska going 7-13 during his tenure as a head coach. Pelton will coach his first game since 2021 when NC State faces ECU in Week 0.
Record against Michigan
One of the things Coach Pelton came under fire the most for was his 0-5 record against Michigan. Ohio State lost by a combined 20 points in his first 3 games. One loss came on a blocked field goal in the final seconds which helped Michigan clinch a 3 point victory. The year after that Jerome Albright missed two field goals in a 16-13 loss. The last two years against Michigan, Ohio State hardly competed and was part of the reason why Coach Pelton was fired from Ohio State.
College Coaching Career
| National Champions | Conference Champions | Bowl game berth |
| Year | Coach | Conference | Record | Bowl | Final CP Ranking | |||||
| Wins | Losses | |||||||||
| Ohio State Buckeyes | ||||||||||
| 2013 | Dean_Craig_Pelton | Big Ten | 10 | 3 | Capital One Bowl | 10 | ||||
| 2014 | 12 | 2 | Rose Bowl | 6 | ||||||
| 2015 | 6 | 7 | Bingo415's Land of 10,000 Lakes Bowl | N/A | ||||||
| 2016 | 6 | 7 | DangerZoneh's Bourbon Bowl | N/A | ||||||
| 2017 | 6 | 6 | - | N/A | ||||||
| Old Dominion Monarchs | ||||||||||
| 2018 | Dean_Craig_Pelton | C-USA | 3 | 9 | - | - | ||||
| 2019 | 5 | 7 | - | - | ||||||
| Nebraska Cornhuskers | ||||||||||
| 2020 | Dean_Craig_Pelton | Big Ten | 4 | 8 | - | - | ||||
| 2021 | 3 | 5 | - | - | ||||||
| NC State Wolfpack | ||||||||||
| 2024 | Dean_Craig_Pelton | ACC | 0 | 2 | - | - | ||||
| Total | 55 | 56 | (all games) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coaching Tree
Former assistants who became NCAA Division I FBS or NFL head coaches:
Isaac829, Tulane, Charlotte 49ers
Lucas95, Hawaii, Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, Minnesota and Cleveland Browns
Professional Coaching Career
| Super Bowl Champions | Conference Champions | Playoff berth |
| Year | Team | Division | Record | Final Division Ranking | ||||||
| Wins | Losses | Ties | ||||||||
| Cleveland Browns | ||||||||||
| 2015 | Cleveland Browns | AFC West | 7 | 6 | 1 | 3rd place | ||||
| 2016 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2nd place | ||||||
| 2017 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 3rd place | ||||||
| Total | 19 | 22 | 1 | (all games) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
