Illinois coordinator Locksley takes New Mexico job

Dec 8, 2008 - 10:57 PM ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Ticker) -- Mike Locksley, who has spent the last four seasons as the offensive coordinator at Illinois, is set to join an alarmingly small college football fraternity.

Locksley officially accepted the head coaching job at New Mexico on Monday, becoming just the fourth African-American coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

An assistant for the last 17 years, Locksley will be formally introduced at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. He will replace Rocky Long, who stepped down on November 17 following 11 seasons at New Mexico.

The ranks of black head coaches in the FBS were cut in half this season, when Tyrone Willingham (Washington), Ron Prince (Kansas State) and Sylvester Croom (Mississippi State) all lost their jobs.

Willingham and Prince both were fired while Croom, the 2007 Coach of the Year in the SEC, resigned.

The only other black head coaches in the FBS are Miami's Randy Shannon, Buffalo's Turner Gill and Houston's Kevin Sumlin.

Locksley, who turns 39 on Christmas Day, also served as running backs coach at Florida under Ron Zook, the current head coach at Illinois.

Locksley was linked to the Syracuse job and also interviewed at Clemson before the Tigers removed the interim tag from Dabo Swinney.

At New Mexico, Locksley will attempt to revive a program that went just 4-8 this season under Long, who posted a 65-69 record with the Lobos.

New Mexico struggled offensively this season, averaging just 21.1 points per game and ranking seventh in total offense in the nine-team Mountain West Conference.

Locksley oversaw a dynamic attack at Illinois, which finished second in the Big Ten in total yardage (438.8 yards per game) and ranked third in the league in scoring (28.7 ppg). The Fighting Illini led the Big Ten in rushing in 2006 and 2007 before leading the conference in passing this season.