University of New Mexico Men's Football

Davie enters his fifth season at The University of New Mexico, where he has led the program back to bowl eligibility and a level of national respect as UNM qualified for the 2015 Gildan New Mexico Bowl, the first bowl game for the Lobos since 2007.   Davies 18 wins in his first four seasons already has him tied for eighth on the career wins list at UNM, and he has helped the program achieve levels not seen in Albuquerque for many years.  Yet its how he has been able to do it that is what has Lobo fans excited for the program.   Davie has completely flipped and turned his rosters over, combining an energetic mix of talent from Texas and California while averaging nearly 25 native New Mexican players per season on the roster, with many of those major contributors.     It all clicked in 2015 as after 11 wins in his first three seasons which nearly quadrupled the previous three seasons total, the program took a big leap, picking up three signature wins in the month of November as the Lobos clinched its first winning season and bowl game since the 2007 season.  The Lobos knocked off three 10-win teams from a year ago, including a pair of stunning upsets to open November.  First UNM took down first place Utah State 14-13.  Then, UNM announced their presence to the college football world with a 31-24 victory on the road over Boise State to clinch bowl eligibility.  UNM then defeated Mountain Division champions Air Force 47-35.  Those wins were the first three wins over bowl eligible teams in the last seven seasons.                                   The Lobos tied for its most conference wins since the 1997 season with five.  Offensively the team tied a school record with 42 rushing touchdowns and finished in the top 10 in the NCAA in rushing for the fourth straight season and was ninth nationally in fourth down conversion percentage and 11th in total conversions.  UNM also led the nation in total plays from scrimmage of 60 yards or more (11) and 70 yards or more (7), showcasing the explosive offense.   Defensively, UNM ranked as the fourth-most improved defense in the nation in terms of yards allowed, shaving off 81.6 yards per game from 2014.  UNM also shaved 7.5 points per game off their 2014 scoring defense, and that was the 15th most improved in the NCAA.  UNMs rushing defense was the nations third-most improved in terms of yards per game (76.3 yards per game less than 2014) and it was fourth in terms of yards per carry (1.29 yards per carry less than 2014).   All of that added up to a 7-5 regular season, a 5-3 mark and second place in the Mountain Wests Mountain Division and a berth in the 2015 Gildan New Mexico Bowl, which UNM fought down to the wire in a 45-37 loss to Arizona.  UNM picked up four All-Mountain West honors, including a Second Team selection as a returner for Carlos Wiggins.  The Lobos also picked up 19 Mountain West All-Academic honors, the second-highest total in program history.   And the success and improvement isnt just on the field ... its off it.  In the first four seasons under Davie, the Lobos have picked up 69 Mountain West All-Academic selections, including a program record 20 in 2014, and 19 in 2015, the second-best total for football in school history.  UNM also had five Mountain West Scholar-Athletes in 2013, the second-best total among the MWs 12 football programs.   Over his time, the Lobos have posted the highest single semester GPA in program history (Spring of 2013) and two of the top three Fall semester GPAs in program history (Fall of 2013 and Fall of 2015).                                                The seeds of 2015 were planted in 2014 as the Lobos showed that they were on the right path as the team battled to a 4-8 record, with plenty of close games and great performances along the way.   The 2014 Lobos featured three players on the Capital One/CoSIDA All-District team in Reece White, Garrett Adcock and Dakota Cox.   The three players were exactly half of the honorees in the Mountain West as the rest of the league had three players combined.   New Mexico went 4-8 in 2014, a one-game improvement from 2013, but the improvement was certainly bigger than the win column.  The Lobos shaved a full touchdown off of their points allowed, and 14.5 points off their defensive average against unranked opponents from a year ago.         UNMs defense in 2014 is one of the nations most improved in terms of yardage allowed, points allowed and yards per rush.  UNMs defense enters bowl season as one of 25 programs with double digit fumble recoveries and interceptions, and the Lobos rank 22nd nationally in tackles for loss.  Offensively UNM is once again firing away, averaging 29.3 points per game, in range of becoming just the ninth team in school history to average 30 points per game.  The Lobos are also in range of becoming the seventh in school history with 5,000 yards of total offense for a season.   The 2013 Lobos continued to represent Davies hard-nosed mentality. Rushing the football again was the teams calling card on offense. After Air Force led the Mountain West in rushing for every year of the leagues existence from 1999 (14 in all), UNM repeated as conference rushing champion in 2014. The Lobos 301.4-yard average per game ranked fourth nationally, and UNM is the only team in the last three years to average 300 yards per game on the ground and finish in the top five nationally.  The Lobos were in the top five nationally in runs of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 yards as well.   Once again, UNMs special teams lived up to billing, with UNM leading the Mountain West in average return with a 22.4-yard average.  UNM was the only school to return a kickoff for a touchdown, and it accomplished that twice, with two different returners.    The kickoff return for a touchdown has become a hallmark of the Bob Davie era, as UNM now has eight kickoff returns for touchdowns in his four years as the head coach.   Despite a rush of injuries that would have decimated most teams, Davies young defense was able to weather the storm and turn in some clutch performances.  No bigger storm was weathered than that of his first team All-MW linebacker Dakota Cox, who despite missing the final three games of the season with a torn ACL, led the nation in tackles per game with 12.9 tackles per game.  UNMs defense vastly improved from 2013 to 2014, picking up 19 takeaways just a year after recording none through the second half of the season.  The Lobos, while struggling against nationally-ranked foes, were on pretty even terms with the rest of the schedule, holding its nine unranked opponents to almost 15 points fewer in 2014.   Along with Cox, center LaMar Bratton earned First Team All-Mountain West honors, and three Lobos were honorable mention picks in safety David Guthrie, running back Jhurell Pressley and offensive lineman Jamal Price.   The Lobos special teams also enjoyed another strong season. Sophomore kick returner Carlos Wiggins led the nation with three returns for touchdowns and in total kick return yards with 1,303. Wiggins was named the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year and was the College Football Performance Awards National Kick Returner of the Year.   Senior punter Ben Skaer finished fifth in the nation in punting with an average of 45.8 yards per attempt and along with Wiggins earned first-team All-MW honors. A total of eight Lobos earned All-MW recognition in 2013, giving Davie 17 during his first two seasons -- nine more than the program had in 2010-11.   Davies young defense also had some bright spots, despite having to play six true freshmen and have 11 players make at least one start who werent even on the Lobo defense in 2012.   True freshman Dakota Cox became the first freshman since Blake Irwin in 1994 to lead the team in tackles with 99, and Cox earned Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-America Team honors.   Senior Dallas Bollema and junior Brett Bowers made honorable mention All-MW and junior cornerback SaQwan Edwards led the MW and ranked ninth nationally with three fumble recoveries.   In 2012, UNM went 4-9 and 1-7 in Mountain West play. The programs four wins represented a 400 percent improvement from 2011 when the school won one game; UNM had the greatest improvement by percentage of any school in the Football Bowl Subdivision.   Davie led UNM to one of the best statistical turnarounds in college football from 2011 to 2012. The Lobos showed the greatest improvement among the 120 FBS schools in scoring margin and rushing offense. The Lobos improved by 25.21 points in scoring margin and 188.14 rushing yards. The 2012 UNM team also ranked second nationally in time of possession improvement, fourth in net punting improvement and fifth in turnover margin improvement from the previous season.   Of the 32 statistical categories that the Mountain West tracked in its in-season weekly releases, UNM improved in 26 of them from the 2011 season to the 2012 season.   Davie became New Mexicos 31st football head coach on Nov. 17, 2011. Davie, 61, had been a college football analyst on television since 2002. He had served as the lead analyst on ABC Saturday Night Primetime college football telecasts, as well as ESPN and ESPN2 Saturday Night Primetime games.   Prior to that, Davie served as head football coach at the University of Notre Dame for five seasons (1997-2001). He was defensive coordinator for three years (1994-96) with the Fighting Irish under head coach Lou Holtz before taking over the program in 1997. Davie spent nine years as an assistant coach at Texas A&M University (1985-93) under head coaches Jackie Sherrill (1985-88) and R.C. Slocum (1989-93). Davie was linebackers coach for Sherrill and was promoted to defensive coordinator and assistant head coach under Slocum. He also served as assistant head coach/defensive coordinator at Tulane (1984-85) and linebackers coach at the University of Pittsburgh (1980-82) and the University of Arizona (1978-79).   In 26 years of coaching, Davie has been a part of teams that have compiled a combined record of 206-102-4. He has coached in 18 bowl games, including the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Cotton Bowl.   Davie had a 35-25 career record at Notre Dame, leading the Irish to three bowl games and taking the program to its first-ever BCS postseason game, the 2001 Fiesta Bowl. He also was the first coach to lead Notre Dame to a bowl game in his first season. Year in and year out, Notre Dame plays one of the toughest schedules in the nation. During Davies tenure, 19 of those games were against Top-25 foes and 52 of the 60 were against BCS foes. Seven of the other eight were against service academies and one was against another non-BCS foe.   Davie also has been a two-time finalist for a National Coach of the Year award (by the Walter Camp Foundation and Football News).   Also while at Notre Dame, Davie earned an American Football Coaches Association Award for Academic Achievement in 2001 as his team had a 100 percent graduation rate.   At Notre Dame, Davie received a Football News National Coach of the Year finalist citation and finished sixth in The Associated Press Coach of the Year balloting in 2000, finishing with a 9-3 record and earning a berth in the Fiesta Bowl. That team tied an NCAA record for fewest turnovers in a season with eight, despite starting three different quarterbacks - Battle, Gary Godsey and Matt LoVecchio.   Davie earned a National Coach of the Year semifinalist nod in 1998 after producing another 9-3 record with the Irish. The team ranked 16th nationally in rushing that season behind career rushing leader Autry Denson. Quarterback Jarious Jackson ranked 13th in the country in passing efficiency.   During Davies first year as head coach in 1997, Notre Dame completed four fourth-quarter comebacks to finish with a 7-5 record and earn an Independence Bowl invitation.   As an Irish assistant, Davies defense finished 10th in passing efficiency defense and 11th in total defense in 1996, and it forced 30 turnovers and ranked 16th in pass defense in 1995.   Before he became coordinator at Texas A&M in 1989, Davie coached outside linebackers and was part of a staff that led the Aggies to finishes of eighth, fourth, seventh and 14th in the nation in total defense from 1985-88, respectively.   Davie was assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Tulane from 1983-84. Prior to that, he was linebackers coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 1980-82 and helped the unit rank first nationally in total defense in 1980 and 1981, and third in 1982.   He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1977 at Pittsburgh under Sherill and moved on to the University of Arizona as a part-time linebackers coach and strength coach from 1978-79.   Davie is a 1977 graduate of Youngstown State and was a three-year starter at tight end.   Davie and his wife, Joanne, have two children - daughter Audra and son Clay.