The world of college coaching certainly moves at warp speed. Less than two hours after he was discussing his desire to build the Arizona State program in his press conference Tuesday, Sun Devil defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales was reported to be heading back to his alma mater to be the head coach of the University of New Mexico football team.
The Albuquerque Journal reported Saturday the Lobos had narrowed their coaching search to two coaches, one of which was Gonzales, who was confirmed to have interviewed for the position.
Tuesday it was reported by footballscoop.com that Weber State coach Jay Hill had emerged as a front runner for the position. Weber State has had an outstanding season and will play at James Madison in the FCS semi-finals on Dec. 21.
However, shortly after Gonzales’ late morning/early afternoon press conference he and the Lobos ironed out all the final details for his employment as the news broke and the reporting of the hire by Yahoo’s Pete Thamel that UNM hired Gonzales, their former standout safety and punter to be their head coach.
Gonzales holds both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from New Mexico and was a three-year letter winner at safety and punter during his career in Albuquerque. He was a member of the 1997 WAC Mountain Division championship team which went on to finish the season 9-4 and 6-2 in league play.
In his two years at the helm of the Sun Devil defense, Gonzales has improved the unit with his 3-3-5 scheme. ASU has gone from giving up 31.3 points per game and 447 yards per game in 2017 to giving up 23.1 points per game and 386.9 yards per game in 2019. When Gonzales arrived in Tempe after the end of the 2017 season ASU ranked 108 in total defense and 104 in scoring defense. He leaves ASU with those rankings improving to 65 and 41 respectively.
Gonzales confirmed talks with New Mexico in his press conference at Sun Devil Stadium Tuesday.
“…There have been some conversations now that I’ve had,” Gonzales said. “I think they might have owed it to me just because of my history there. And that’s great. It’s always nice to be wanted. The best thing about the whole deal is the way coach (Herm) Edwards and Jean (Boyd) and Ray (Anderson) and Dr. (Michael) Crow…They have been just super supportive and that’s not everywhere. There’s a lot of…people that you work for that don’t like it and this one has carried on for a long time with all that stuff out there and rumors and stuff and so I’m honored that my name is out there in the consideration…”
Gonzales also discussed how he thinks his familiarity with New Mexico gives him an advantage.
“I know a lot of things back there so I would probably have an advantage as far as I wouldn’t need to be on that campus to know what they have,” Gonzales explained.
Gonzales said he wanted to be a head coach “someday” which was ultimately today. He also discussed how being a head coach would make him miss being a coordinator, and what part of being a head coach he would not enjoy.
“The side of being a head coach that I would hate is…my position room, I absolutely love spending time with those guys every day,” Gonzales stated. “That’s one of the major reasons why I do this job. And the relationships with that and the recruiting side of it…”
Gonzales stressed how a school’s “ability to win” was driving his decision to take a head coaching job.
“I’ve said this a hundred times,” Gonzales stated. “I hate losing more than I enjoy winning and that’s really sad because winning is really fun and it’s really hard to do it this game…And if you don’t have the ability to win, this job ain’t worth it. And so in order for me to take a job, you have to have the ability to win and I’ve said that…”
The interesting part about Gonzales taking the New Mexico job is how he seemed to feel about the school’s ability to win.
When asked how he felt about the Lobos’ chances to put a winning product on the field, Gonzales listed several aspects that needed to be addressed and were undoubtedly taken care of when the school offered him the job Monday afternoon.
“They’re going to have to do some things,” Gonzales said. “They’re struggling. I mean New Mexico’s a poor state. Right now there’s some…money that does not go to the school. But the surplus of money within the budget is good. Those people do everything they can to try and give you a chance to win but you have to be able to pay assistant coaches. You have to be able to and really it’s the off the field…It’s not the head coaches anymore…I could take a job where they’re going to pay me $1.5 million and you don’t have money for assistants and you don’t have money for academic support. All the frills recruiting. On-campus, off-campus. If you don’t have that, it makes it almost impossible to win and so those are the things that New Mexico would need to be stepped up…”
And on Monday afternoon they did exactly that.
Gonzales reflects on second (and final) season in Tempe
Something fascinating about Gonzales being named a head coach is while he improved the ASU defense mightily, he did not produce any first or second-team all-conference players.
His defense did produce four Pac-12 honorable mention players. Defensive backs Jack Jones and Kobe Williams were named honorable mention players for 2019 as well as defensive lineman Jermayne Lole and linebacker Khaylan Kearse-Thomas.
Gonzales said it puts a “chip” on the shoulder of the ASU defense moving forward. He discussed how he does not feel the Sun Devils get the respect on defense they should.
“…Obviously, we haven’t earned the respect for a lot of the things that we should. I think Kobe Williams is no doubt one of the best DBs in this league. The way he played this year. I mean we led the Pac-12 in takeaways, we led the Pac-12 in takeaways per game, we led the nation in causing fumbles. We have good players doing those things.”
Gonzales went on to apologize to the media members for not meeting the interception prediction he made at the beginning of the season and said he will not make a prediction like it again. He took full accountability for it and said it was too much pressure on his unit.
Other than regretting his interception prediction, Gonzales was filled with joy discussing his unit’s year.
“We’re in the top half of our league in every statistical defensive category,” Gonzales stated. “Not to have one guy on the first or second team. It’s a good chip to have on your shoulder. I’ll tell you that…I think between Chase (Lucas) and Jack. Those guys the last two days have been really, really good at practice as far as their mindset…”
The player Gonzales thought had the best season was Williams.
“…He was our defensive MVP at the banquet and he was our best player on defense this year for everything he did for the team,” Gonzales explained. “And Kobe Williams will have a shot in the NFL. And because of having to play safety this year, which did not service us the best as a defensive unit, but he was our best player. And there were times too that gave him some tape that those guys are really going to be envious of because he fits the nickel spot in the NFL scheme so I’m super proud of him…”
It was not only the defensive season Gonzales praised. He commended the seasons of quarterback Jayden Daniels and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and said “we” are trending in the right direction, an intriguing statement for someone who took a job with another school less than two hours later.
Gonzales sees a physical Seminole offense awaiting the Sun Devils in El Paso
Gonzales said he has no intention to not coach in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl against Florida State in El Paso, Texas on New Year’s eve. He recognized the similarities between ASU and Florida State as FSU star running back Cam Akers (1,144 yards, 14 TDs, 5.0 ypc) will be joining ASU running back Eno Benjamin in skipping the bowl game in preparation for the NFL draft in the spring.
“I think Cam Akers…I wanted to send him a text telling him thank you,” Gonzales jokingly stated. “He saw Eno not going to play…their best guy not going to play…We’ll make it even. Very kind of him. I appreciate that.”
All jokes aside, Gonzales went in-depth as to what the Sun Devils will have to watch out for in the bowl game.
“Tamorrion Terry, No. 15…He’s as good a receiver as we’ve seen,” Gonzales said. “He does things like Mike Pittman. (Laviska) Shenault, all those guys that really caused trouble for everybody in our league. He has that ability. That over the top threat. He’s dangerous…Khalan Laborn, the running back, No. 4, who’s going to come in for Cam Akers. Two years ago he was the No. 1 running back recruit in the country…Since Hornibrook is gone, both other two quarterbacks…they are very athletic and very talented…”
Gonzales went on to discuss the size of FSU’s offensive line and said the Seminoles are “very physical up front.”’
While he is not going to coach in the bowl game, new offensive coordinator Zak Hill is involved in bowl game preparations as he faced Florida State on Aug. 31 of this season as a member of the Boise State coaching staff as the Broncos defeated the Seminoles 36-31.
Gonzales said he talked to Hill during his interview with Arizona State about Florida State and said having him having him on staff will force opponents to spend a great amount of time preparing for the Sun Devil offense.
Gonzales commented that the bowl game is a good opportunity to play the players with redshirt-eligibility remaining. He said Amiri Johnson will not play as he has already played his four games and will need to preserve his redshirt year but said he would like to see Stephon Wright and now-healthy defensive back Jordan Clark play.
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