The Desert Swarm superstar is back!
It won’t just be Arizona’s defense that has a new look on the field in 2025. The coaching staff has been reshuffled as well, with a beloved alum joining the staff.
Former Wildcat star Joe Salave’a has been hired to coach the defensive line under Danny Gonzales, who was promoted to defensive coordinator after coaching linebackers and special teams last season. D-line coach Joe Seumalo will not return, while it was previously announced that Duane Akina would return to coaching defensive backs after being coordinator in 2024.
Salave’a, 49, comes back to Tucson after spending the past three seasons at Miami (Fla.) where he was associate head coach, defensive line coach and defensive run game coordinator. That was after five seasons at Oregon and five at Washington State.
This will be Salave’a’s second time coaching at his alma mater, having been D-line coach under Mike Stoops in 2011. His first gig was coaching the D-line at San Jose State in 2008-09 under Dick Tomey, for whom he played at Arizona from 1994-97.
Also on that San Jose State staff was current UA head coach Brent Brennan.
Salave’a was an anchor on the defensive interior during the Desert Swarm era, earning all-Pac-10 honors twice before getting drafted by Houston Oilers in the 4th round in 1998. He would play for the Oilers/Titans, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins over a 9-year NFL career.
Gonzales, 48, has been a defensive coordinator twice before, at San Diego in 2017 and ASU in 2018-19 before taking the New Mexico head coach job from 2020-23. His SDSU defense was 11th nationally in 2017, while at ASU he had a top-30 run defense in 2019, and two of his New Mexico defenses ranked in the top 50.
Arizona was 106th in total defense in 2024, along with 109th in scoring defense, 98th against the run and 103rd against the pass. The loss of all three defensive captains to season-ending injuries had a major impact on those numbers.
The Wildcats have seen eight players who started at least four games on defense either graduate or enter the NCAA transfer portal, though it did get veteran defensive backs Dalton Johnson, Genesis Smith and Treydan Stukes to withdraw. Arizona has picked up nine defensive players from the portal and signed 12 in its 2025 recruiting class.
Gonzales joins Seth Doege (offense) as new coordinators in 2025. Still to be decided is who will run special teams, as Brennan has said he wants someone whose main focus is on the specialists after Gonzales split time with that and coaching the linebackers.