Adam Gonzaga Position: Safeties Coach Experience: First Year Alma Mater: Azusa Pacific 1992

Adam Gonzaga joined the UTEP staff on Jan. 15, 2010. He brings 18 years of college coaching and recruiting experience to El Paso, including 10 years at the Division I level.

Gonzaga has been a part of teams that won three conference championships, earned two bowl berths and made four playoff appearances. Four of his former players are currently in the NFL.

He comes to UTEP from Ohio Northern University, where he spent the 2009 season as defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator. The Polar Bears were 8-2, ranked 13th in the nation, and ended the year on a seven-game winning streak. Ohio Northern was particularly stout defensively, yielding an average of 19.3 points and 300.3 yards per game. The Polar Bears surrendered 14 points or fewer in five of their last six games and picked off 15 passes on the year with 31 sacks.

Gonzaga was also a member of the staffs at Stanford (1992), Pacific (1993-95), Montana State (1996), Lafayette (1997), Connecticut (1998), Greenville College (1999-2000), Navy (2001), Northwood (2002-06) and Bowling Green State University (2007-08). He was a recruiting assistant at Stanford.

As defensive ends coach at Connecticut, Gonzaga was part of a team that was ranked eighth in the nation and reached the second round of the NCAA playoffs.

He helped Greenville College to the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) title in 1999, and a Victory Bowl appearance in 2001, while serving as defensive coordinator and secondary coach.

Gonzaga was defensive coordinator at Northwood, as well as linebackers and secondary coach. The Timberwolves earned NCAA Division II playoff berths in three straight years (2004-06) and won the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) crown in 2004. Gonzaga coached five All-Americans, 10 first team All-Conference players and three conference defensive players of the year during his time in Midland, Mich.

He worked as secondary coach at Bowling Green State during a period in which the Falcons won the 2007 Mid-American Conference East Division title and played in the GMAC Bowl. The team finished 21st in the country in pass defense in 2008.

Gonzaga started his playing career as a defensive back at San Joaquin Delta College (1987), before moving on to Pacific (1988-89) and Azusa Pacific (1989-90). He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Physical Education from Azusa Pacific in 1992.

He and his wife, Heidi, have two daughters, Addison and Alexis.