List of New Mexico Lobos head football coaches

The New Mexico Lobos college football team represents the University of New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference (MWC), as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 32 head coaches, and 1 interim head coach, since it began play during the 1892 season. Since December 2023, Bronco Mendenhall has served as New Mexico's head coach.[1]

Bronco Mendenhall has served as head coach of the Lobos since December 2023.

Five coaches have led New Mexico in postseason bowl games: Ted Shipkey, Willis Barnes, Dennis Franchione, Rocky Long, and Bob Davie. Two coaches have won division titles: Franchione won one Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Mountain division and Davie won one MWC Mountain division title. Two coaches also won conference championships: Shipkey won one as a member of the Border Conference and Bill Weeks won three as a member of the WAC.

Long is the leader in seasons coached, with 11 years as head coach and games coached (134), won (65). Walter McEwan has the highest winning percentage at .900. Carl Hamilton has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .000.

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 1]
No. Order of coaches[A 2] GC Games coached CW Conference wins PW Postseason wins
DC Division championships OW Overall wins CL Conference losses PL Postseason losses
CC Conference championships OL Overall losses CT Conference ties PT Postseason ties
NC National championships OT Overall ties[A 3] C% Conference winning percentage
Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 4]

Coaches

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List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name[A 6] Season(s)[A 7] GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC CC NC Awards
1 William A. Zimmer 1894 3 1 1 1 0.500 0
2 Joe Napier 1901 4 0 3 1 0.125 0
3 Walter McEwan 1903–1904 5 4 0 1 0.900 0
4 Martin F. Angell 1905–1907 12 9 2 1 0.792 0
5 Hermon H. Conwell 1908 6 5 1 0 0.833 0
6 Sam P. McBirney 1909 6 4 2 0 0.667 0
7 Carl Hamilton 1910 3 0 3 0 .000 0
8 Ralph Hutchinson 1911–1916 28 13 13 2 0.500 0
9 Frank E. Wood 1917 3 1 2 0 0.333 0
10 John F. McGough 1919 5 3 0 2 0.800 0
11 Roy W. Johnson 1920–1930 79 41 32 6 0.557 0
12 Chuck Riley 1931–1933 23 7 13 3 0.370 4 6 2 0.417 0 0
13 Gwinn Henry 1934–1936 28 16 12 0 0.571 7 7 0 0.500 0 0
14 Ted Shipkey 1937–1941 45 26 17 2 0.600 17 11 2 0.600 0 1 0 1 0
15 Willis Barnes 1942–1946 44 19 20 5 0.489 8 8 2 0.500 1 1 1 0 0
16 Berl Huffman 1947–1949 31 8 22 1 0.274 3 17 1 0.167 0 0 0 0 0
17 Dudley DeGroot 1950–1952 30 13 17 0 0.433 9 10 0 0.474 0 0 0 0 0
18 Bob Titchenal 1953–1955 28 12 15 1 0.446 7 10 1 0.417 0 0 0 0 0
19 Dick Clausen 1956–1957 20 8 12 0 0.400 4 8 0 0.333 0 0 0 0 0
20 Marv Levy 1958–1959 20 14 6 0 0.700 9 3 0 0.750 0 0 0 0 0
21 Bill Weeks 1960–1967 82 40 41 1 0.494 17 21 1 0.449 0 0 0 3 0
22 Rudy Feldman 1968–1973 63 24 37 2 0.397 16 22 0 0.421 0 0 0 0 0
23 Bill Mondt 1974–1979 69 31 37 1 0.457 18 23 0 0.439 0 0 0 0 0
24 Joe Morrison 1980–1982 34 18 15 1 0.544 12 9 1 0.568 0 0 0 0 0
25 Joe Lee Dunn 1983–1986 47 17 30 0 0.362 9 21 0 0.300 0 0 0 0 0
26 Mike Sheppard 1987–1991 59 9 50 0 0.153 4 34 0 0.105 0 0 0 0 0
27 Dennis Franchione 1992–1997 69 33 36 0 0.478 21 27 0 0.438 0 1 0 1 0 0
28 Rocky Long 1998–2008 134 65 69 0.485 40 34 0.541 1 4 0 0 0
29 Mike Locksley 2009–2011 28 2 26 0.071 2 15 0.118 0 0 0 0
Int George Barlow
[A 8]
2011 8 1 7 0.125 1 6 0.143 0 0 0 0
30 Bob Davie 2012–2019 99 35 64 0.354 17 47 0.266 1 1 1 0 0
31 Danny Gonzales 2020–2023 43 11 32 0.256 5 26 0.161 0 0 0 0 0
32 Bronco Mendenhall 2024–present 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Notes

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  1. ^ Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.[2]
  2. ^ A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
  3. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[3]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season.
  6. ^ New Mexico did not have a head coach for their 1892, 1893, and 1899 seasons.
  7. ^ New Mexico did not field a team for their 1895–1898, 1900, and 1918 seasons.
  8. ^ Barlow served as interim head coach for the final eight games of the 2011 season after Mike Locksley was fired.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Thamel, Pete (December 5, 2023). "New Mexico hires Bronco Mendenhall as football coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  2. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  4. ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  5. ^ "New Mexico fires Mike Locksley". ESPN.com. Associated Press. September 26, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2024.