Expectations for Arizona Special Teams Coordinator and LB Coach Danny Gonzales

New Arizona Special Teams Coordinator and linebackers Coach Danny Gonzales has 25 years of experience as an FBS graduate assistant, assistant and head coach. Gonzales began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at New Mexico from 1999 through 2003.

Gonzales was elevated to video coordinator at New Mexico from 2003 through 2005. New Mexico promoted Gonzales to safeties and special teams coach in 2006. Gonzales remained at New Mexico until being hired as the safeties coach at San Diego State in 2011 where remained through 2016.

After one year off, Gonzales became the defensive coordinator at Arizona State in 2018 and continued in that position through 2019. Gonzales returned to New Mexico as head coach in 2020 where he remained until being fired after last season. Gonzales finished 11-32 in four seasons as New Mexico's head coach.

New Mexico improved defensively under Gonzales. The Lobos finished 44th nationally in total defense in 2021 and 30th in 2022 before falling to 102nd in 2023. New Mexico LB Cody Moon finished 39th nationally in 2022 averaging 8.75 tackles per game and totalled 105 for the season.

Moon earned honorable mention All-Mountain West in 2022, adding 9.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks to his tackle total. Under Gonzales, LBs to earn All-Mountain West were Brandon Shook, second-team in 2020, Reco Hannah in 2022 and Alec Mareno were also named honorable mention all-conference under Gonzales.

Shook had 60 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 interception, 1,0 pass defended and 2.0 forced fumbles for New Mexico in 2020. Hannah had 67 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks, 1.0 interception, 1.0 pass defended, 1.0 fumble recovery and 1.0 forced fumble in 2022.

Moreno had 66 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 0.5 sack, 3.0 passes defended and 1.0 forced fumble in 2023. Gonzales has a pair of elite LBs to work with at Arizona. Jacob Manu was named preseason All-Big XII and Justin Flowe was a five-star signee with Oregon in the 2020 class before transferring to Arizona in 2023.

Manu led Arizona with 116 tackles, had 9.5 TFLs, 6.5 sacks, 1.0 interception and two pass breakups in 2023. Flowe was sixth on Arizona with 44 tackles, had 2.0 TFLs, 1.0 sack, 2.0 passes defended and 1.0 fumble recovery in 2023. Gonzales has proven the ability to get the most out of his LBs.

Punt returner Luke Wysong was named honorable mention All-Mountain West in 2021, punter Aaron Rodriguez Jr. and kick returner Christian Washington were named second-team All-Conference in 2022 as special teams players who excelled under Gonzales during his four seasons as New Mexico head coach.

Wyson averaged 20.3 yards on kickoff returns and had seven punt returns for 77 yards and a TD in 2021. Rodriguez averaged 44.2 yards per punt and totaled 24 punts inside the 20 for 29.6 percent of his attempts to earn second-team All-Mountain West in 2022. Washington averaged 26.7 per kick return with one TD in 2022.

Tyler Loop returns for Arizona after being named second-team All-Pac 12 specialist in 2023. Loop was 23rd nationally in 2023 averaging 8.5 points per game to total 110 for the season. The Big XII named Loop 2024 first-team preseason All-Conference. Loop made 19-24 field goals and all 53 extra point attempts in 2023.

Freshman Michael Salgado-Medina won the punting job for Arizona during training camp. Salgado-Madina improved all three of his seasons in his school. As a senior at Mission Viejo High School, Salgado-Medina averaged 39.3 yards per punt with 20 of his 48 attempts landing inside the 20.

Gonzales' experience should help the Arizona LBs and special teams. Arizona head coach Brent Brennan has hired a staff he is familiar with, Brennan and Gonzales coached against each other in two of the last four seasons. They are familiar with each other and know what to expect and how they coach.