Hometown hero
Coach and Lobos have 5-year deal for $700,000 annually
Valley High product, UNM alumnus Gonzales eager to turn around the fortunes of Lobo football
Danny Gonzales displayed passion and great energy Wednesday when talking about University of New Mexico’s football program, something that has been very meaningful in his life — as a Lobo fan turned football player turned assistant and home-grown product returns as UNM’s 32nd head coach.
Gonzales, 43, a Valley High alumnus, opened his introductory press conference simply: “I’m home,” as he did during a dramatic presentation at halftime of the UNM men’s basketball game Tuesday night.
“I believe in cherry and silver,” he said on Wednesday in front of about 200 people, which included his family, at Dreamstyle Arena - The Pit.
“I love this place. The passion that I will put into this, there isn’t anyone else who will work as hard as I will to build a winner. We’re going to win.”
Gonzales is back on board with the Lobos as the head coach with a 5-year agreement for $700,000, with $400,000 of that as the base salary and the rest as paid for media obligations and from other supplements, UNM athletic director Eddie Nuñez said. They are working toward finalizing a contract that will also address incentives, Nuñez said.
Gonzales made $525,000 per year as the defensive coordinator the past two seasons at Arizona State University.
“I believe that salaries in college football have gone crazy,” he said. “What’s important to me is the resources in this program. You have that and you have a chance to be successful. We’re going to build a program that competes for championships.”
Gonzales said he wants any other money that could have been paid to him to help account for hiring assistant coaches at a higher rate than what was available.
Nuñez is also finalizing that figure, saying: “It’s not going to be much, but it will give him more flexibility for opportunities for the program.”
With that, Gonzales expressed determination to turn around a program that has gone 8-28 over the past three seasons and has had abysmal fan support. Roughly 2,000 people showed up to the Lobos’ regular-season finale on Nov. 30, a 38-25 loss to Utah State in Bob Davie’s final game that closed out a 2-10 season, ending with a nine-game losing streak.
“You know why today is a great day?” Gonzales asked. “Not because I became coach, but because season tickets go on sale today. “Go buy them.” Gonzales said he will not coach for the Sun Devils in their game against Florida State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl in El Paso on Dec. 31.
“There’s so much going on that
we need to take off running from here,” said Gonzales, who will work on putting together a coaching staff and recruiting players, starting with the current Lobos.
Before this season began, he was promoted as assistant head coach at Arizona State. He was continuing a steady rise starting from his days as a graduate assistant learning under former UNM coach Rocky Long.
Gonzales said while there were other opportunities for career advancement, but he wanted to return to the Lobos.
“I think we can build something special,” he said during an interview after the press conference. “It hurts me to see where this place has been over time. I feel a loyalty to our lettermen and our former football players, my teammates, and kids currently on the team to try and get it back to where it should be. I’m going to do my best to do that.”
Gonzales said he is grateful to Long for teaching him how to be a football coach.
“Coach Long taught me what it is to be a Lobo,” Gonzales said. “When I talked to him (on Tuesday) that I was going to be the next coach, he was very excited. He said: ‘It’s your time, don’t screw it up. It’s our team.’”
Long arrived in Albuquerque Wednesday afternoon, as his current team, the San Diego State team, he coaches, will play against Central Michigan in the New Mexico Bowl on Saturday.
“He’s the perfect guy,” Long said Wednesday when talking about Gonzales becoming the Lobos’ coach. “He’ll do a really good job if the fan base is excited about him being head coach and they have a little patience. He’ll get it done. He’ll make this team very competitive. People will be very proud that he’s the head coach and proud of the football program, too.”
Nuñez had reached out to Long during the search process to gain more knowledge on criteria for the next coach and what is needed to restore success to the UNM football program.
Nuñez, in his most important hire in his two years at UNM, also used a search firm that the university paid $50,000 for its help in the process. He said it was needed to sort through the “unusual amount” of interest in the job.
Nuñez said he had never met Gonzales until they met for the purpose of hiring the Lobos’ next coach.
“I did that purposefully,” Nuñez said. “I had heard wonderful things about him but I wanted to be fair to him. I wanted to be sure that he checked those boxes. ... Ultimately as I looked at every box that we talked about from the beginning, he crossed off and checked every one of those.”