NMSU hiring 12-year coaching veteran as its defensive line coach

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UTSA defensive line coach and defensive run game coordinator Siddiq Haynes will be New Mexico State’s next defensive line coach, the Las Cruces Sun-News has learned. The university officially announced the move on Tuesday, Jan. 13.

Haynes replaces Eti Ena, who has taken the defensive line coaching job at Washington State. He’ll become the second new position coach after Taylor Mazzone was promoted from offensive analyst to tight ends coach.

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Haynes was a defensive analyst for the Roadrunners in 2021 before serving as their defensive line coach for the past four seasons. He helped UTSA lead the American Athletic Conference (now American Conference) in sacks and tackles for loss in 2024, and also third and fifth in the FBS with 8.8 tackles for loss and 3.23 sacks per game, respectively. The Roadrunners also led the AAC with 109.3 rushing yards allowed per game, a mark that also ranked 11th in the FBS.

In 2025, UTSA finished 10th in the American with 21 sacks and ranked seventh with 155.5 rushing yards allowed per game. The Roadrunners’ Nnanna Anyanwu finished tied for seventh in the conference with five total sacks. In 2023, UTSA defensive linemen Brandon Brown, Joe Evans, and Brandon Matterson were all-conference players under Haynes’ guidance.

Haynes experienced plenty of success with UTSA, including consecutive Conference USA championships in 2021 and 2022 and three straight bowl wins from 2023-25. The Roadrunners most recently defeated Florida International 57-20 in the 2025 First Responders Bowl.

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Haynes began his coaching career at Sam Houston in 2014 and was its defensive line coach from 2017-21. He won the 2020 FCS National Championship, which took place in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the Bearkats’ staff. Haynes was a defensive tackle at Delaware from 2007-11.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: NMSU hiring UTSA’s Siddiq Haynes as its defensive line coach

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