REGION — San Diego State University football coach Brady Hoke this week announced his retirement from the head coaching position with the Aztecs, capping off six seasons in two separate stints on the Mesa.
Hoke will coach the struggling 3-7 Aztecs for the program’s final two regular season games this year.
Hoke, 65, owns a 39-31 record at SDSU, seventh in program history in victories and winning percentage. For his career, Hoke is 104-89 with stints at his alma mater Ball State (2003-08), Michigan (2011-14) and San Diego State (2009-10 and 2020-23).
“I am proud of what we accomplished at San Diego State,” Hoke said in his Nov. 13 announcement. “I am grateful to all the great student-athletes I’ve had the chance to work with, molding them into men, husbands, fathers and pillars in the community.
“I will always cherish my time leading this program.”
Hoke was the 2011 Maxwell Football Club Collegiate Coach of the Year and four-time conference coach of the year. He is two years removed from coaching the 2021 Aztec team to a school-record 12 victories. That team, which played all 14 games away from their own market, including eight “home games” two hours from campus at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, finished the 2021 season ranked 25th in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll.
SDSU failed to gain traction in 2023, and the team finds itself dead last in the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs have played tough, with four of the team’s seven losses coming by eight points or fewer. The other losses came from Pac-12 opponents No. 10 Oregon State, UCLA and one-time ranked conference foe Air Force.
“I am very appreciative for the work Brady Hoke has done with our football program at San Diego State both on and off the field,” said John David Wicker, SDSU’s director of athletics. “Brady set the standard in 2009 when he first arrived on The Mesa that we now hold ourselves to.
“However, it’s more than wins and losses. Brady created a culture, led our program through COVID, played two entire seasons in Carson, including a 12-win campaign, and takes seriously the development of young men off the field as well as on. I wish Kelly, Laura and Brady a happy retirement.”
Hoke began his San Diego State coaching career in 2009, taking over a program that hadn’t had a winning season or a bowl appearance since 1998. In two seasons, he coached the Aztecs to a 9-4 record and beat Navy, 35-14, in the Poinsettia Bowl.
He has received conference coach-of-the-year recognition in three leagues as a head coach, including the Mid-American Conference in 2008, the Big Ten Conference in 2011 and the Mountain West in 2010 and 2021.
Hoke is the only active college coach to lead three FBS programs to 11-win seasons and one of only two coaches overall since 1996, the other being Urban Meyer with Utah, Florida and Ohio State.
