Dan Dodd

Dan Dodd

Player Profile

Position:
Special Teams Coordinator/WRs/Kickers

Birthdate:
08/07/1956

Experience:
9th year

Alma Mater:
Drake '78

Dan Dodd begins his ninth season at UNM overall, but his first as special teams coordinator with additional duties overseeing recruiting, wide receivers and kickers. He recruits the Albuquerque metro area.

Dodd has been a member of Rocky Long's staff since 2000, serving as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2000-05. He was also the Lobos' passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach under former head coach Dennis Franchione in 1996 and `97.

Dodd followed Franchione to TCU after UNM's 1997 bowl season. He spent two seasons (1998-99) as the Horned Frogs' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before returning to New Mexico in January of 2000.

Dodd, 50, was a member of coaching staffs at New Mexico and TCU that produced four straight winning seasons from 1996-1999 and participated in three consecutive bowl games (1997-99). All told, Dodd has been to six bowl games in the past nine years.

New Mexico won the Western Athletic Conference Mountain Division title in 1997 and played in the Insight.com Bowl. TCU defeated Southern California (28-19) in the 1998 Norwest Sun Bowl and 20th-ranked East Carolina (28-14) in the 1999 Mobile Alabama Bowl. The Horned Frogs averaged 30.4 points in 1999, good for 27th place in the NCAA rankings.

UNM's last four bowl appearances (1997, 2002, 2003, 2004) have been directed by quarterbacks that Dodd mentored. Graham Leigh was named WAC Mountain Division offensive player of the year in 1997, leading UNM to the Insight.com Bowl. Leigh set single-season school records for touchdown passes (24) and pass efficiency rating (153.6). He led the WAC and finished eighth in the nation in pass efficiency.

Casey Kelly, a former walk-on who became a three-year starter from 2001-03, guided the Lobos to consecutive bowl appearances and is the school's all-time leader with 19 wins. Kelly's efficiency rating increased from 105.42 to 118.83 in 2002 to 131.73 his senior season.

In 1996, the late Donald Sellers completed his two-year career with school records for completion percentage (61.6%) and pass efficiency rating (144.0). Sellers had the third-lowest interception percentage (1.17%) in the NCAA in 1996, tossing just three interceptions in 256 attempts. He was the only quarterback in the nation to rush for 700 yards (757) and pass for 1,500 (2,048) in `96.

In 2005, New Mexico improved its offensive averages by 9.3 points and 99.4 yards a game from the previous season. TB DonTrell Moore became just the sixth player in NCAA history to rush for 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons while Moore and WR Hank Baskett provided UNM with its first 1,000-yard rusher and 1,000-yard receiver in the same season. Moore was the MWC Offensive Player of the Year. Baskett, C Ryan Cook and OG Robert Turner were all named first team all-conference. Junior QB Kole McKamey set a school record with a season completion percentage of 62.3%.

The 2003 Lobos offense was one of the most productive in school history, leading the conference in scoring (30.1 ppg) for the first time since 1986. After ranking 102nd in the nation in total offense in 2002 at just 324.4 yards a game, UNM finished 39th nationally with 400.5 yards in 2003. New Mexico's rushing average of 210 yards a game ranked 16th in the NCAA. UNM also led the league in red-zone offense efficiency, converting 90.2% of its opportunities. New Mexico placed four players on the all-conference team, its highest representation in 32 years.

New Mexico averaged nearly 31 minutes of possession time in 2002, including 32:45 in MWC games, best in the league. UNM finished the season converting 20 of its final 21 trips inside the red zone with 19 of those drives ending in touchdowns.

UNM averaged 27.6 points in 2001, an increase of 8.5 points from 2000 and the largest increase in 12 years. Total offense also jumped from 266.6 yards a game in 2000 to 376.8 yards in 2001, an increase of 110.2 yards.

In Dodd's return to Albuquerque in 2000, UNM's offense improved steadily throughout the season. The Lobos averaged 148.0 ypg rushing, third-best in the Mountain West Conference. As a result, UNM's ball-control ability was second to none, as it led the league in average time of possession at 32:33.

Dodd initially came to UNM in 1996 after spending five years as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill. WIU was ranked in the Division I-AA Top-25 three times (1991-92, `94) during Dodd's stay. The Leathernecks also possessed one of the nation's top passing units, ranking 14th nationally in 1992 and 18th in 1994.

Prior to Western Illinois, Dodd was the running backs coach at Utah State for two years (1989-90). He also spent four seasons (1985-88) at Butler County (Kan.) Community College in El Dorado, the last two years as its head coach. Butler was 32-14 in those four seasons, including three Jayhawk Community College Conference championships.

Dodd began his coaching career at high schools in Southern California. He was quarterbacks and receivers coach at San Clemente High School in 1980-82, running backs and linebackers coach at Santa Ana Mater Dei in 1983 and head coach at Long Beach St. Anthony in 1984.

A native of San Clemente, Calif., Dodd is a 1978 graduate of Drake University where he earned his bachelor's degree in Education. He set three school passing records as the Bulldogs quarterback, and was a co-captain in 1977.

Dodd and his wife, Dayona, have a daughter, Anne, 18, and a son, Bobby, 13.

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