Barry Sacks enters his second year at New Mexico after spending a season as the defensive tackles coach at the University of California. He has a total of 35 seasons in the coaching profession with 28 in the collegiate ranks.
Under his tutelage, UNM’s defensive line saw great improvement, with no bigger number than sacks, as UNM picked up 24 in 2014, after just 16 in 2013.
Sacks coached the most decorated defensive player on the team during his single campaign at Cal in senior defensive tackle Deandre Coleman. Under Sacks’ guidance, Coleman earned a Phil Steele third-team All-Pac-12 honor and has accepted invitations to play in both Reese’s Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Game following the ’13 season. Coleman started all 12 games and led the team with a career-high 9.0 tackles for loss (for minus-27 yards), ranked third on the club with 2.5 sacks (minus-4 yards) and paced all defensive linemen with 40 tackles.
Sacks also coached junior defensive tackle Viliami Moala to his most productive season with the Golden Bears as he posted career bests of 37 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss (minus-16 yards), 1.5 sacks (minus-11 yards) two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery in 12 games and 11 starts.
Sacks spent 11 seasons on the coaching staff at Nevada before his arrival at Cal, with the Wolf Pack playing in bowl games each of his final eight campaigns. The energetic and enthusiastic coach served in a number of roles during his 11 seasons with the Wolf Pack from 2002-12 but was a mainstay on the defensive line in his later seasons. He developed some of the top pass rushers in school history, most notably Dontay Moch and Kevin Basped.
Moch, who set school and Western Athletic Conference records for career tackles for loss, was a 2011 third-round NFL Draft selection of the Cincinnati Bengals. He played in Cincinnati for two seasons before joining the Arizona Cardinals in 2013.
Basped was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Jets in 2010 and played for the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League and Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League before being assigned to the Spokane Shock of the Arena Football League on Dec. 20, 2013.
In Sacks’ final season at Nevada in 2012, defensive end Brock Hekking ranked third in the WAC with an average of 0.62 sacks per game and posted a total of 8.0 sacks for minus-62 yards in his first season as a starter.
Nevada registered a 7-6 record and nearly upset No. 22 Southern Miss in the Hawaii Bowl in 2011, limiting the 15th-ranked scoring offense in the country to 13 points and 125 yards below its season averages. Nevada finished 22nd in the country in pass efficiency defense (a 115.14 rating). Sports Illustrated first-team all-America defensive tackle Brett Roy led the defense. Roy had 18.5 tackles for loss (minus-57 yards), pacing the WAC and ranking 12th nationally at 1.42 per game. He also posted 10.0 sacks (minus-36 yards), ranking second in the WAC and tying for 13th in the country at 0.77 per game.
Nevada won the WAC title in 2010, posting a 13-1 overall record and defeating Boston College in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl with the defensive unit a huge part of the team’s success. The Wolf Pack featured a rushing defense that ranked 18th nationally (120.29 yards per game allowed) and a scoring defense that was 31st (21.43 points per game allowed) – both ranking second in the WAC. Much of the team’s defensive success came from pressure as the Wolf Pack was 24th nationally in sacks at 2.5 per game. Moch had 22.0 tackles for loss (minus-83 yards), leading the WAC and ranking 10th nationally with an average of 1.57 per game.
In 2009, Basped and Moch led the conference in sacks and tackles for loss, respectively. Basped’s 9.5 sacks (minus-60 yards) produced an average of 0.79 per game, while Moch finished with 20.0 tackles for loss (minus-93 yards) and an average of 1.54 per game that tied for eighth nationally. Basped also was third in the WAC in tackles for loss (1.04 per game), while Moch was third in sacks at 0.5 per game.
Moch led the WAC in sacks in 2008, averaging 1.15 per game. Basped was third in tackles for loss (1.42 per game) and Moch fourth (1.31 per game).
Sacks coached the Pack’s outside linebackers in 2007. Ezra Butler led the team in tackles (93) and tackles for loss (13.5 for minus-37 yards. He also paced the WAC in per-game tackles for loss (1.23 per game). Butler went on to spent time on the rosters of the San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets and New Orleans Saints, as well as the Las Vegas Locomotives where his squad was two-time United Football League champions. Sacks also coached Nick Fuhr, who led the team in sacks (6.0 for minus-58 yards) and tied for second in tackles for loss (11.5 for minus-79 yards). Both totals tied for sixth in the WAC on a per-game basis (0.46 sacks per game, 0.88 tackles for loss per game).
Sacks spent three seasons as Nevada’s co-defensive coordinator from 2004-06, helping the Wolf Pack rank 30th in the nation in 2006 in scoring defense (19.15 points per game allowed) and post the country’s 21st-ranked passing defense (190.33 yards per game allowed) in 2004.
During his first year at Nevada in 2002, Sacks coached tight ends and CoSIDA first-team Academic All-America and All-WAC second-team selection Erick Streelman. He moved over to the other side of the ball to work with the defensive line in 2003 and helped tutor two All-WAC selections in first-teamer Jorge Cordova (the team’s MVP in 2003 and the school’s career sacks leader) and second-teamer Derek Kennard, Jr. (the team’s defensive MVP in 2003). Cordova went on to spend four seasons in the NFL with Jacksonville (2004-07), Tennessee (2007) and Miami (2007).
Sacks came to Nevada after a one-year stint as defensive coordinator with the San Jose Sabercats of the Arena Football League in 2001. Prior to that, he served as defensive coordinator at San Jose State from 1998-2000 under then-head coach and former UNM offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin. Sacks also spent one season as co-offensive coordinator at Adams (Colo.) State in 1997.
He spent four seasons as the defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Boise State (1993-96), with the Broncos reaching the Division I-AA finals, winning the Big Sky Conference and posting a 13-2 overall record in 1994 when he coached Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year Joe O’Brien.
Sacks’ collegiate coaching career started with seven seasons as the defensive line coach at Portland State (1986-92), where he coached on five teams that reached the NCAA Division II playoffs. The Vikings were national finalists in back-to-back seasons in 1987 and 1988, while reaching the semifinals in each of Sacks’ final two campaigns in 1991 and 1992. They were quarterfinalists in 1989.
Sacks is also a tireless and effective recruiter who consistently cultivated his area. Among those Sacks recruited to Nevada were current NFL players Isaiah Frey (Chicago Bears’ cornerback), Virgil Green (Denver Broncos’ tight end), James Michael-Johnson (Kansas City Chiefs’ linebacker), Colin Kaepernick (San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback) and Rishard Matthews (Miami Dolphins’ wide receiver).
The Ephrata, Wash., native played four seasons of football at Montana (1976-79) before graduating from the school with a bachelor’s degree in health education and physical education in 1980.
Sacks and his wife, Teresa, have two children: Alexandra and Philip.
THE SACKS FILE
Born: Nov. 24, 1957
Hometown: Ephrata, Wash.
Alma Mater: Montana, 1993, B.S., Health Education and Physical Education
Playing Experience: Montana, 1976-79
Family: Wife, Teresa; daughter, Alexandra; son, Philip
Coaching Experience
2014-pres. New Mexico (Defensive Line)
2013 California (Defensive Line)
2012 Nevada (Defensive Line)
2011 Nevada (Defensive Ends)
2010 Nevada (Defensive Tackles)
2007-09 Nevada (Defensive Line)
2004-06 Nevada (Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line)
2003 Nevada (Defensive Ends)
2002 Nevada (Tight Ends)
2001 San Jose Sabercats – AFL (Defensive Coordinator)
1998-00 San Jose State (Defensive Coordinator)
1997 Adams State (Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers)
1993-96 Boise State (Defensive Line/Recruiting Coordinator)
1987-92 Portland State (Defensive Line)
Bowl Games/Postseason
(corresponding to the season, not the actual year of the bowl game)
2012 New Mexico Bowl
2011 Hawaii Bowl
2010 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl
2009 Hawaii Bowl
2008 Humanitarian Bowl
2007 New Mexico Bowl
2006 MPC Computers Bowl
2005 Hawaii Bowl
1994 Division I-AA finalist
1992 Division II semifinalist
1991 Division II semifinalist
1989 Division II quarterfinalist
1988, Division II finalist
1987, Division II finalist