Zach Parrella joined the Lobo family in January 2026 and serves as the associate athletic performance coach. He came to UNM after a successful three-year stint at Louisiana, where he served as the assistant director and eventually associate director of athletic performance for football.
With the Ragin’ Cajuns, Parrella worked with the football program, helping them to three bowl games, including the New Mexico Bowl in 2024 against TCU.
He also served year and a half stints at both ULM and Louisiana Tech as associate director and assistant sports performance coach, respectively.
He got his coaching start in 2018, interning with Kansas Football and the Carolina Panthers in the spring of 2019, before serving as a graduate assistant at South Dakota, working with coach Caleb Heim, in 2019-2020.
Zach graduated from Hastings College in 2017 with a degree in sports management and as a linebacker. He also earned his associate’s degree in liberal arts from Chabot College in 2014 and a master’s degree in kinesiology and sport management from South Dakota in 2020.