Mendenhall Announces 2024 Coaching and Support Staff

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New head football coach Bronco Mendenhall has announced his 2024 coaching and support staff, and it’s a group that features a wide range of experience, highlighted by a pair of Power 5 Coordinators.

Overall, Mendenhall announced his 11 full-time coaches (10 position and head strength coach) and three key support staff positions.  The 11 full-time coaches come to UNM from 11 separate schools, although most have a lineage that can be traced back to previous experience with Mendenhall, either at BYU or Virginia.

Below are short capsules on the members that will make up the 2024 coaching staff for The University of New Mexico.

Jason Beck, Offensive Coordinator

After serving in the same capacity at Syracuse, Jason Beck will come to UNM as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach starting on February 1, 2024.  With the Orange, his offenses racked up 83 touchdowns in two seasons, including 43 in 2022 and 40 in 2023.

LeQuint Allen earned Second Team All-ACC at running back after rushing for 1,089 yards and nine touchdowns.  Quarterback Garrett Shrader threw for 1,686 yards on just 214 attempts with 13 touchdowns and a 143.24 rating as Syracuse earned a spot in the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl on December 21 against South Florida.

With 11 seasons as an FBS quarterback coach under his belt, quarterbacks under Beck have averaged over 3,000 yards passing and nearly 3,800 yards of total offense per season.

Nick Howell, Defensive Coordinator

A veteran coach who has worked with Bronco Mendenhall at both BYU and Virginia, Nick Howell brings 11 years of defensive coordinator experience at the independent, ACC, and SEC levels to Albuquerque and the Lobos.

For the last two seasons, Howell has served as defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Vanderbilt, where he had to get ready for SEC powers.

Last season the Commodores tied for the SEC lead with 12 interceptions, and in 2022 his defense tied for the SEC lead with four defensive touchdowns. Vanderbilt the season prior did not record a score.  Howell’s 2018 defensive unit at Virginia ranked in the top 20 in passing efficiency defense, passing yards allowed, scoring defense, and total defense.  His 2019 defense set a school record with 46 sacks en route to the ACC Championship Game and a berth in the Capital One Orange Bowl.

Howell spent five seasons (three as a head coach) on the high school level in Utah before moving into the collegiate ranks with BYU, where he moved up from a defensive intern into a defensive coordinator over just six seasons.

Shane Hunter, Special Teams Coordinator/Linebackers

Shane Hunter comes to New Mexico as special teams coordinator and linebackers coach after serving as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Utah Tech.

With the Trailblazers in just their third and fourth seasons as a Division I FCS program, Syrus Webster was a unanimous All-United Football Conference selection with 79 tackles, 7.0 sacks, 12.5 TFLs, and four forced fumbles. In two years, the Trailblazers recorded 37.5 sacks, 124.5 TFLs, 16 interceptions and 18 fumble recoveries.

Hunter served as inside linebackers and safeties coach under Mendenhall at Virginia from 2016-21.  One of his charges, Jordan Mack was the ACC’s 2019 Jim Tatum Award winner as the league’s scholar-athlete of the year.  It marked the second time that  Hunter had a Campbell Trophy (Academic Heisman) finalist at UVA as Micah Kiser was the 2017 Campbell Trophy Award winner.

Hunter got his coaching start at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah where he was special teams coordinator and defensive line coach.  From there he was a graduate assistant under Mendenhall at BYU from 2013-15. He played at BYU from 2008-10, earning honorable mention All-Mountain West honors.

Famika Anae, Offensive Line

Famika Anae comes to New Mexico from a two-year stint as the offensive line coach at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina.

While at Campbell, a pair of Anae’s linemen earned All-CAA honors with Mike Edwards earning first team honors at offensive tackle and Tyler McLellan earning third team honors.  That followed a 2022 year that saw Edwards earn first team All-Big South honors and Isaiah Burch earn second team honors.

Campbell in 2023 averaged just over 390 yards per game on offense, and that followed a season in which Anae’s group’s blocking helped the Camels set a school record for passing yards with 2,915 over 11 games.

At Texas A&M-Commerce, tackle Amon Simon earned All-America honors twice as the Lions were ranked No. 11 in the final AFCA Poll in 2019 after going 11-3.

Anae was a two-year starter for BYU, earning All-Independent honors in 2012.

Kirk Garner, Running Backs

Kirk Garner comes to New Mexico after a one-year stint with the East Tennessee State Buccaneers, where he coached running backs.

The 2023 season saw East Tennessee State rush for 1,704 yards and 15 touchdowns in just 11 games, with running back, Bryson Irby leading the way with a team-leading and career-high 531 yards on 108 carries, 4.9 yards per tote.  He also added a career-best five touchdowns and twice rushed for more than 100 yards.

With Vanderbilt, he served as an offensive quality control coach, but he got his collegiate coaching career started as a graduate assistant under Mendenhall from 2018-20.  That doesn’t count the 2017 season when he served as a student-assistant coach after suffering a season-ending injury and missing the final 12 games.  However, he helped Virginia to the Military Bowl in 2017.

Matt Johns, Tight Ends

Matt Johns comes to New Mexico after a five-year stint at William & Mary where he served in a variety of positions, most recently as passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

In 2022, The Tribe ranked seventh nationally in passing efficiency at 164,62, fourth in yards per attempt at 9.64, and sixth in yards per completion at 15.06.  Last year, Tribe QBs threw 12 touchdowns and just four interceptions of 240 attempts as William & Mary had a third straight winning season.

Johns’ 2021 quarterback Darius Wilson was named the CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Johns played under Mendenhall at Virginia for one season as a part of his five-year career, finishing his time at Virginia 11^th in passing yards (4,233), sixth in passing touchdowns (30), and 11^th in 200-yard passing games.

Jan Jorgensen, Edge

Jan Jorgensen moves back to an on-field coaching role as he comes from a two-year stint at BYU as a defensive analyst.  Before that, he served as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Snow College.

Jorgensen aided the Cougar defense in its transition to the Big XII, with six Cougars earning all Big XII honors highlighted by defensive lineman Tyler Batty earning Second Team honors.  With Snow, the Badgers went 15-3 over their final two seasons under Jorgensen running the defense.  The Badgers in 2021 allowed just 13.7 points per game, more than two points than the 2020 that allowed 15.8 points per game in going 8-1.

A tremendous player from BYU’s Mountain West days, Jorgensen started every game of his four-year career from 2006-09.  He was a three-time All-Mountain West selection, and he is second in Mountain West history with 28.5 career sacks.

Charles Mack, Defensive Backs

Charles Mack comes to the Lobos from VMI, where he served as the director of player personnel and safeties coach for the Keydets in 2023.

Last year with VMI, Mack coached Josh Knapp to a career season with 87 tackles, two sacks, three PBUs, and two fumble recoveries, and Evan Eller to Second Team All-SoCon honors after a team-high 107 tackles, two forced fumbles, and an interception.

Mack spent three seasons with Bronco Mendenhall at Virginia, first as a regional scout before serving as an offensive and defensive graduate assistant over a three-year span.

A graduate of Richmond, Mack played four years as a defensive back, playing in 50 career games and posting a career-best 70 tackles as a senior in 2016.

Micah Simon, Receivers

Micah Simon comes to New Mexico from Northern Colorado where he served as a receivers coach.  The former NFL receiver was also at Syracuse.

The receiving corps was a bright spot for the Bears as two players, Blake Haggerty and Jamarii Robinson, each broke the 40-reception mark.  Haggerty caught 49 passes for 515 yards and two scores while Robinson had 42 grabs for 490 yards and two scores.

Simon spent the 2022 season as an offensive analyst for Dino Babers at Syracuse helping the Orange to the 2022 Pinstripe Bowl.  Syracuse averaged 374.4 yards of offense over 13 games, averaging over 20 first downs a game.  Syracuse put up over 30 points in a game six times during the season as the Orange opened the 6-0 and climbed to as high as No. 14 in the national rankings.

Simon spent the 2021 season with the Carolina Panthers and 2022 with the B.C. Lions in the CFL.  He was a three-year letterwinner with BYU from 2017-19 and also a two-time captain, catching 89 career passes for 1,098 yards and five touchdowns.

Donte Wilkins, Defensive Line

Donte Wilkins comes to New Mexico after a two-year stint with the Lafayette Leopards where he coached the defensive line.

Under Wilkins, Malik Hamm earned back-to-back All-Patriot League honors and was a two-time Patriot League Player of the Year. Damon Washington also earned First Team All-Patriot League honors for the first time in his career.

Before his first full-time coaching position, Wilkins spent three years on staff at Virginia.  In 2019 he served as a regional scout and in 2020 and 2021 he served as a defensive graduate assistant.

He also spent two years at UCLA as an assistant football performance coach.  He lettered for four years at Virginia, the final under Mendenhall in which he started all 12 games and served as team captain.

Nate Pototschnik, Head Athletic Performance Coach

Nate Pototschnik has served on the development and performance staff at Virginia since 2017, and he comes to UNM as the Head Athletic Performance Coach for the football program.

With Virginia, Pototschnik got his start in 2017 as a full-time assistant, and in 2021 he was promoted to associate football strength and conditioning coach.

Pototschnik’s time at Virginia started in 2016 as an intern and graduate assistant, working with first-year players.

A U.S. Army Veteran who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 2006, Nate served in the U.S. Army for 10 years as an aviation officer.  While at Army, he was captain of the Black Knights’ rugby team.

Joe Spaziani, Director of Operations

Joe Spaziani spent the past four seasons on staff at Virginia, and he now heads to New Mexico to serve as the director of operations.  In that role, Spaziani will handle many of the day-to-day logistical tasks for Lobo Football and serve as a liaison with the campus community.

Spaziani spent the past four seasons on staff at Virginia, the first three as an offensive graduate assistant before moving into an analyst role dedicated to special projects.

Spaziani started his career as a quarterback at Virginia but ended up switching to the primary long snapper, playing in 30 career games over his final three seasons.  He spent the 2019 season in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts.  He just finished his doctorate.

Pat Hickman, Chief of Staff/Director of Player Personnel

Pat Hickman joins the Lobo Football program as chief of staff and director of player personnel after serving as the director of recruiting and director of operations for BYU.

While at BYU, he oversaw all facets of recruiting from roster management to on-campus visits for the Cougar program over the last two seasons, including their inaugural season in the Big XII.  Hickman served on the Virginia staff with Mendenhall all six seasons from 2016-21, the first two years as director of player development and the last four as director of scouting.

Before Virginia, Hickman was with Mendenhall at BYU in a variety of positions from 2006 to 2015 as director of operations, director of player development, and high school relations coordinator.  He got his collegiate career started at Boise State in game management and facility management and operations from 2002 to 2005.

Evan Butts, Director of Scouting

Evan Butts comes to New Mexico from Virginia where he spent the past four years on staff in various positions for the Cavaliers.

With Virginia, he spent the past three years as the offensive recruiting coordinator after opening his career with Virginia as a regional scout.  He began his collegiate administrative career with Villanova as a facilities and events intern.

Butts played 35 games for Virginia as a tight end, with 71 catches for 635 yards and eight touchdowns from 2015 to 2018.