ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame Banquet on April 9 will have a decidedly Lobo Football feel to it, and that doesn’t even count former coach Marv Levy. The 2016 Lobo Football team has been named the Collegiate Team of the Year, head coach Bob Davie was named the College Coach of the Year, and Dakota Cox was named the Collegiate Male Athlete of the Year.
The New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame Banquet is scheduled for the night of April 9, and it will be held in the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Along with the collegiate honors (including Courtney Frerichs as Collegiate Female Athlete of the Year), the 2016 honorees of Frank Castillo, Danny Granger, Charmayne James-Garritano, Jim Johns, Adam Kedge, Marv Levy and Cody Ross will be formerly inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame.
The 2016 Lobos went 9-4 on the season, leading the nation in 10 different rushing categories, most notably rushing yards per game, the first time UNM has ever led the nation in rushing. The team went 9-4, going 6-1 at home and winning seven of its final eight games to end the season as one of the nation’s hottest teams.
The Lobos earned it first division title in 19 years, winning the Mountain with a 6-2 record. UNM tied a school record with 16 wins over the last two years, and set a school record with 11 conference wins over the last two years.
UNM won just its second bowl game in 61 years by defeating UTSA 23-20 in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. UNM will be attempting to play in a school-record tying third straight bowl game in 2017.
The architect of UNM’s football resurgence has been head coach Bob Davie, who not only saw his team succeed on the field, but in the classroom as well, with a First Team CoSIDA Academic All-American and a finalist for the Wuerffel Trophy. After taking over a program that went 3-37 over its previous 40 games, Davie has helped lead the program to national respectability. The team in 2016 played seven times on the ESPN Family of Networks and was featured in the Chicago Tribune, the Dallas Morning News and USA Today.
While Davie has been the architect calling the shots, Dakota Cox has been the heart and soul for the last four years. The first three-time captain in the 118-year history of Lobo Football, Cox became the first player in school history to lead the team in tackles in all four of his seasons, and he became just the third player in Mountain West history with 400 career tackles. He finished sixth on the UNM career tackles chart, and in his final game as a Lobo, he earned Defensive MVP honors of the Gildan New Mexico Bowl.
For details on tickets to attend the banquet on April 9, visit NMSHOF.com for ticket information.
Lobo Football to be Honored at NMSHOF Banquet
