Stolz Being Considered for New Mexico State Job

Denny Stolz, former San Diego State football coach, is a candidate to replace fired Mike Knoll at New Mexico State but has not yet been offered the job, New Mexico State officials said Sunday.

Al Gonzales, New Mexico State’s athletic director, said the school would not make a decision for three to four weeks despite newspaper and television reports that Stolz would be named to the position Sunday.

And Stolz, fired as football coach at SDSU last Nov. 14 and reassigned as the men’s golf coach, was not taking calls in his hotel room in Palm Springs, where the team will play in a tournament this week.

“We’ve not had any discussions with anybody,” Gonzales said. “I’m going to call a lot of people and find out who’s available and what’s going on. I have to find out if people are interested in leaving their jobs.”

Knoll was fired Sunday after his team finished the season 0-11, the Aggies’ first winless season in 35 years. They were 4-40 during his four-year tenure.

Stolz led the Aztecs to their only Holiday Bowl appearance in 1986, but SDSU’s football fortunes then took a turn for the worse. After finishing 8-4 in 1986, the Aztecs fell to 5-7 in 1987 and 3-8 in 1988, giving Stolz a 16-19 record in three seasons at SDSU.

Before coming to SDSU in 1986, Stolz, 55, spent nine years as the football coach at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where he compiled a 56-45-1 record. From 1973-1975, he was coach at Michigan State, leading the Spartans to a 19-13-1 record. He started his career at Alma (Mich.) College, where he was 34-16 from 1965-1970.

Those numbers make him an attractive candidate to Gonzales.

“Denny is a person we’d definitely consider,” Gonzales said. “We haven’t gotten into the details of this huge process, to be honest with you. But Denny has experience as a winning Division I football coach.”

Fred Miller, SDSU’s athletic director, said Sunday night that he has not discussed the New Mexico State position with Stolz. Stolz has two years left on his contract at SDSU, at $63,900 a year. Miller said Stolz would not have a problem getting out of it.

“Sure, we’d never stand in his way,” Miller said. “We’ll work with him in any way we can to enhance his position.”

Miller said Stolz does not need permission to discuss other football jobs.

“No, that would not be necessary,” Miller said. “Normally, the only time you need to have a conversation is when a football coach transfers schools as football coach. It’s been a year since he stepped out of it, so there is no requirement that he talk to us.”

The Stolz-to-New Mexico State rumor first surfaced on ESPN Saturday, when commentator Lee Corso mentioned it on that network’s College Football Gameday program. Corso and Stolz coached against each other in the Big 10 when Corso was at Indiana and Stolz was at Michigan State.

“Denny Stolz will be the next head coach at New Mexico State,” Corso said on ESPN. “He and his wife, Cena, have packed and they’re heading to New Mexico State.”

Sunday, though, Gonzales denied that.

“No deals have been cut with anybody,” he said.

Asked if he had anybody in mind for the job, Gonzales said, “No, not hardly.”

He did say that he has had two discussions with Stolz this fall. The first was at a golf tournament in “late September or early October,” and the second was about three weeks ago, when Gonzales telephoned Stolz in San Diego.

“I was just finding out people who were available, that’s all,” Gonzales said. “It was very brief. I called and asked him what was going on and if he had every thought about getting back into coaching. He said he hadn’t thought about it.

“I knew I better start preparing in case we made a coaching change.”

Knoll and his staff received official word Sunday that they would not be returning next season. Gonzales said he has to post the job through the New Mexico State personnel office for a minimum of two weeks.