After four seasons with the New Mexico Lobos, Danny Gonzales and the school are parting ways.
ESPN College Football reporter Pete Thamel reported the news Saturday evening that the school was separating from its head coach.
New Mexico Moves on From Danny Gonzales
For the last four seasons, it has been a bumpy road for Gonzales as his New Mexico teams have been unable to improve as a program.
Gonzales was hired in December of 2019 when he agreed to a contract with New Mexico after coming from Arizona State as their defensive coordinator. It seemed logical as Gonzales was a former player at New Mexico in the 1990s and an assistant coach for the Lobos from 1999 until 2008.
His first season was tough to work through as he took over for the Lobos during the Covid year, and the team finished 2-5 on the season, missing a bowl game.
Things somewhat improved for the Lobos in Gonzales’ second season as they did win one more game than in 2020, but still finished with a 3-9 overall record in 2021.
New Mexico took a step back last season as they finished with a 2-10 record and were winless in the Mountain West Conference, making 2023 a make-or-break season for Gonzales.
2023 got off to a promising start as the Lobos started 3-4 on the season. After their dominating 42-21 win over Hawaii, the wheels fell off, and they lost four of their last five games to finish the season 4-8 overall and second to last in the Mountain West with a 2-6 conference record.
Gonzales finishes his tenure as head coach with an 11-32 overall record and a 5-26 conference record in four seasons as head coach.
Now the search begins for New Mexico as the Lobos look for their first winning record since 2016, when they went 9-4 overall for the season.
Danny Gonzales New Mexico Year by Year
Gonzales’ New Mexico teams never finished a season with a winning record in his four seasons with the program. 2023 was his best season coaching the team, as they won four games this year.
- 2020: 2-5 overall, 2-5 conference
- 2021: 3-9 overall, 1-7 conference
- 2022: 2-10 overall, 0-8 conference
- 2023: 4-8 overall, 2-6 conference
Danny Gonzales Coaching Resume
After a long stint as an assistant coach at New Mexico, Gonzales’ big break was coaching at San Diego State, where he eventually moved up into the defensive coordinator role in 2017. Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards brought Gonzales in to be his defensive coordinator for two seasons before taking the head coaching job with the Lobos.
- New Mexico: Graduate Assistant/Safety/Special Teams, 1999-2008
- San Diego State: Safety Coach, 2011-2016
- San Diego State: Defensive Coordinator/Safety, 2017
- Arizona State: Defensive Coordinator, 2018-2019
- New Mexico: Head Coach, 2020-2023