New Mexico announces four new assistant hires

After losing three assistants to Power Four programs last month, New Mexico’s coaching staff is back to full strength.

Longtime FCS assistant Darrius G. Smith was announced as UNM’s next running backs coach Thursday via release, completing the Lobos’ on-field coaching staff entering head coach Jason Eck’s second season with the program.

Smith joins the Lobos after four years coaching running backs at Southern Utah, where he added assistant head coach duties in his final three seasons with the program. He replaces John Johnson, who left UNM for the same position at Iowa State in December.

At Southern Utah, Smith helped the program compile a 21-25 overall record and three consecutive winning seasons under head coach DeLane Fitzgerald. The Thunderbirds notably led the United Athletic Conference (UAC) in rushing over the last two seasons, with Smith coaching unanimous All-American running backs Joshua Dye and Targhee Lambson in that stretch.

Dye finished second in the FCS last season with 1,832 rushing yards while Lambson led the subdivision with 1,922 in 2024. Both were finalists for the Walter Payton Award, annually given to the most outstanding offensive player in the FCS.

Before that, Smith oversaw a brief winless stint as the head coach at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. After the COVID-19 pandemic limited his debut season to two losses in the spring of 2021, the Skyhawks dropped all 11 games in the ensuing fall campaign and Smith resigned in January 2022.

Prior to his hiring at Fort Lewis, Smith coached at Bryant, Massachusetts, Northeastern, Villanova, James Madison, Idaho and New Mexico Highlands. He began his coaching career at Frostburg State in Frostburg, Maryland, where he played four seasons as a defensive back.

Smith is the second former head coach to join the Lobos’ coaching staff; second-year tight ends coach Jared Elliott served as the head coach at Western Illinois from 2018-21, compiling a 9-31 record.

UNM also announced the hires of wide receivers coach Zach Lujan and special teams coordinator Erik Link, two moves previously reported by the Journal. The former replaces Colin Lockett, who left to serve as UCLA’s wide receivers coach, while Link replaces Daniel Da Prato, who left to serve as Minnesota’s special teams coordinator.

In addition to their position coaching responsibilities, Link and Lujan have been named associate head coach and assistant head coach, respectively.

Beyond its on-field coaching staff, UNM announced Zach Parrella as an associate athletic performance coach. He joins the Lobos after three seasons as the assistant director for athletic performance for football at Louisiana-Lafayette, where he helped the Ragin’ Cajuns to a New Mexico Bowl berth in 2024.

Before that, Parrella held athletic performance roles at Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana Tech. He was also a graduate assistant strength coach at South Dakota at the same time as Caleb Heim, UNM’s current director of athletic performance for football.

Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.