Montana State football hires Willie Mack Garza as new defensive coordinator

Coach Andy Mac · January 29, 2022

Garza also has past stops as a defensive backs coach at Tennessee (2009) and USC (2010) before resigning from the Trojans’ program before the start of the 2011 season. According to a Yahoo Sports report from that year, Garza was tied to an NCAA investigation involving scout Willie Lyles. Lyles told investigators Garza wired him $1,500 for travel expenses for a running back recruit and his mother to fly to Tennessee’s campus for an unofficial visit in 2009.

Garza eventually received a two-year show-cause penalty, which is among the harshest penalties that can be levied by the NCAA against coaches. This means any school looking to hire said coach must appear before an NCAA Infractions Committee and “show cause” as to why they shouldn’t be punished for the hiring and how they’ll monitor the coach post-hire.

After a two-year break from coaching because of the penalty, Garza returned to the college ranks as a defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for Pearl River Community College in Mississippi for the 2013 season. His first job back at the NCAA level came in 2015 when he was hired as Prairie View A&M’s linebackers coach.

Garza has also been arrested twice for alcohol-related driving offenses. In 2003, as the cornerbacks coach at TCU, he was arrested and charged for driving while intoxicated near Forth Worth, Texas. And in 2019, as the safeties coach at Wyoming, he was arrested and charged for driving under the influence, which led to his resignation from that school.

“Coach Garza has made some mistakes in his past,” Vigen said. “Mistakes that he would own up to, (and mistakes) he does own up to. And I have the ability to move on from that because I know the type of man he is, and I know the type of coach he is. I feel very comfortable that we made a tremendous hire today.

read more: https://www.coastalbreezenews.com/sports/national/montana-state-football-hires-willie-mack-garza-as-new-defensive-coordinator/article_3f35d297-ee94-54aa-96d8-176359fbaf5c.html

Edited January 29, 2022 by Coach Andy Mac