Danny Gonzales

Head coach, New Mexico, 2020 to 2023

Now

Career arc

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerNew MexicoNew Mexico StateNew Mexico StateRegional Programthe building-block levelNew Mexico when he took over: 8.8 (Regional Program V), its final 2019 readingtook overNew Mexico, 2020: 2-5, Regional Program VNew Mexico, 2020: 2-5, Regional Program V20202-5New Mexico, 2021: 3-9, Regional Program V20213-9New Mexico, 2022: 2-10, Regional Program V20222-10New Mexico, 2023: 4-8, Regional Program VINew Mexico, 2023: 4-8, Regional Program VI20234-8-4.1best: 2020gray dashed: rival programs · ○ the program when he took over · Dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Coordinator years

Defensive coordinator across 3 programs, 3 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.

100th — best in the country90th — elite — top 10%75th — top quarter50th — national median25th — bottom quarter0 — worst in the countryHis unit’s national rank, by season’14’15’16’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26Arizona State · DCNew Mexico · head coachArizona · DC→ Became head coachNew Mexico, 2020← Returned to coordinatingArizona, 2025San Diego State ranked 93rd percentile the year before he arrived○ what he walked intoSan Diego State 2017: 73rd percentile nationallyArizona State ranked 24th percentile the year before he arrivedArizona State 2018: 33rd percentile nationallyArizona State 2019: 48th percentile nationallyArizona ranked 18th percentile the year before he arrivedArizona 2025: 78th percentile nationallyArizona 2026: 89th percentile nationallyNew Mexico 2020: 20th percentile (Rocky Long ran the unit)New Mexico 2021: 45th percentile (Rocky Long ran the unit)New Mexico 2022: 60th percentile (Rocky Long ran the unit)New Mexico 2023: 3rd percentile (Troy Reffett ran the unit)89th, career bestArizona, 20263rd percentile

How to read this. Coordinator seasons come from our coordinator career records; head-coaching-era seasons are the same unit's FBS-relative percentile for those years, regardless of who coached it, read directly from the staff assignments record. A role change (a “hinge”) is a fact, never a performance verdict — only the season-by-season data itself is colored by outcome.

Report card

Offense carries it: 35th percentile offense, bottom-quarter defense at 16th.

New Mexico, every completed season graded against the whole field, then averaged.

Offense

C-
of which —35th
efficiency — 35th percentile success rate, 2020–23
C-38th
Standard-downs success
C-31st
Passing-downs success
B-51st
Trench push (line yards)
C-32nd
Red-zone scoring rate
C41st
Power-success (short yardage)
B-55th
Ball security (giveaways per game)

Defense

D
of which —16th
16th percentile SP+ defense, 2020–23
B-53rd
Front-7 havoc
B61st
Secondary havoc
B-55th
Stuff rate (run defense)
C-39th
Takeaways per game

Each season is his team’s percentile among every team with that stat (the share it beat), averaged over his completed seasons here; a mid-season takeover year and the season in progress aren’t graded. Letters: A+ 90th percentile and up, A 80, B+ 70, B 60, B− 50, C+ 45, C 40, C− 30, D 15, F below.