University of North Texas Athletics
Canales Hired to Lead Mean Green Offense
1/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
DENTON, Texas (1/29/10) - Mike Canales has been hired as the offensive coordinator, head football coach Todd Dodge announced today. Canales has been the offensive coordinator at the University of South Florida for the last three years.
"We are extremely fortunate to be able to hire someone with a proven record of success like Mike Canales," Dodge said. "He comes highly recommended as an innovative offensive mind by some of the most respected coaches in the game. He will have an immediate impact on our program and I can't wait for him to begin work with our coaches and players."
Canales has been successful at helping offenses flourish at both the college and professional level. He was the offensive coordinator at the University of Arizona for three years prior to his latest stop at South Florida. He also coached wide receivers for the New York Jets of the National Football League and was the quarterback coach at North Carolina State where he helped develop Phillip Rivers who is currently an All-Pro player for the San Diego Chargers of the NFL.
He was on Jim Leavitt's original South Florida's staff from 1996-2001, where he helped establish the program and its rise from an independent to a nationally-ranked Bowl Championship Series power. In 2008 at South Florida, Canales' offense led the Big East Conference in scoring and finished second in total offense. He helped his team reach a national ranking as high as No. 2 during the 2007 season and No. 10 during the 2008 season. Under his leadership, South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe became the Big East Conference career leader in total offense.
While the passing game coordinator at North Carolina State, his offense finished in the top 10 nationally in passing offense and competed in two postseason bowl games. Rivers was a two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference player and Heisman Trophy candidate under Canales' watch.
Canales has coached five different quarterbacks which have earned All-America recognition. He was named the National Offensive Coordinator of the Week while at Arizona in 2006.
Canales began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Brigham Young University where he learned from legendary offensive coach Norm Chow. He went on to be the offensive coordinator at Snow Junior College where he had a top 10 nationally-ranked offensive unit in seven of his eight years. He coached quarterbacks at Pacific University in 1995 before being hired at South Florida in 1996.
Mike Canales Coaching Career
1985-86 Brigham Young University Graduate Assistant - Quarterbacks 1987-94 Snow College Offensive Coordinator - Quarterbacks Coach 1995 Pacific University Quarterbacks Coach 1996-2000 University of South Florida Offensive Coordinator - Quarterbacks Coach 2001-2002 North Carolina State Quarterbacks Coach /Passing Game Coordinator 2003 New York Jets Wide Receivers Coach 2004-2006 University of Arizona Offensive Coordinator - Quarterbacks Coach 2007-2009 University of South Florida Offensive Coordinator - Quarterbacks Coach
