Report: New Mexico tabs Nowinsky as next defensive coordinator

New Mexico has reportedly found its next defensive coordinator.

Memphis co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Spence Nowinsky is expected to be named UNM’s defensive coordinator, 24/7 Sports reports.

Nowinsky, 53, would join the Lobos with 15 years of experience as a defensive coordinator, including FBS stops at Miami (Ohio), Ohio and Memphis. He worked with UNM head coach Jason Eck as a graduate assistant at Wisconsin and as a position coach at Idaho in the early 2000s.

Nowinsky would replace Dan Jackson, who left to become the head coach at South Dakota State eight days after being named UNM’s defensive coordinator. When asked about the vacancy this week, Eck told the Journal he had his “guy in place” but did not name the hire publicly.

“We’re just working through some language in the contract … I think he also was talking to his head coach today to let him know it was done,” Eck said Wednesday. “(Hopefully) everything gets signed today, and then he wanted to talk to his players there, so I try to be respectful of that.

“Sometimes that stuff gets leaked out, but (I’m) excited to get a guy who I’ve worked with a lot who’s got really good FBS coordinating experience and someone who I’ve known for a long time and trust.”

In his lone season at Memphis, Nowinsky helped coordinate a defense that allowed 23.8 points per game, the fourth-best mark in the American Athletic Conference.

The Tigers notably gave up just 111.8 rushing yards per game, the 15th-best national average, as defensive lineman William Whitlow earned first team All-AAC honors under Nowinsky’s tutelage.

Nowinsky oversaw dramatic improvement as the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Ohio from 2022-23. In his first season, the Bobcats allowed 28.3 points per game, the sixth-best mark in the MAC; in his second, Ohio gave up only 15.8 points per game — sixth nationally — on its way to winning 10 games for the second straight year.

He’s had similar success as a first-time FBS coordinator at Miami (Ohio), fielding units that finished in the top five in scoring and rushing defense from 2018-21 in the 12-team MAC. Nowinsky joined the RedHawks after calling FCS Illinois State’s defense from 2009-17, a stretch that saw the Redbirds qualify for the playoffs four times.

A Wisconsin native, Nowinsky played defensive line at Minnesota State-Mankato from 1991-94. He started his coaching career as a high school coach in Minnesota and Wisconsin before joining Wisconsin’s staff as a graduate assistant in 1999 — the same year Eck was hired by the Badgers in the same role.

From there, Nowinsky served as the defensive line coach at Idaho (2003) and Minnesota State (2005-07) before adding assistant head coach duties at Emporia State (2007-08).