San Diego State University announced that Brady Hoke will retire after the conclusion of the 2023 season as the Aztecs’ football head coach.

The 65-year-old is in his second stint on the mesa and serving as head coach for his sixth season. His record entering this campaign in San Diego was 36-24, but a 3-7 start to 2023 has dampened one of the most successful coaching careers in Aztecs football history.

Hoke’s 39 wins are 7th in school history, and leading the team in 2021 to 11 wins while being ranked in the college football playoff rankings each week. In just Hoke’s second season with the Aztecs, he made a bowl game for the first time in 19 seasons and started what would be the nation’s sixth-longest bowl streak at 13 consecutive years, a mark that ended Saturday against Colorado State.

“I am proud of what we accomplished at San Diego State,” Hoke said in San Diego State’s press release Monday morning. “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. I’d also like to thank the wonderful staff I’ve worked with and wish them the best in the future.”

“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,” SDSU athletic director J.D. Wicker said in the same press release.

“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-19, 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!”

At his alma mater, Ball State, Hoke started his head coaching career in 2003, lasting six seasons before SDSU rewarded his efforts.

Similarly, Hoke’s first tenure in San Diego lasted only two seasons before the University of Michigan hired Hoke. At the Big House, Hoke got off to a hot start, leading one of the country’s most storied programs with an 11-2 season that ended with a Sugar Bowl victory. Each of his next three seasons resulted in fewer wins before his departure from Ann Arbor.

Hoke will depart from coaching as one of two ever to wins 11 games at three different schools. He laid the groundwork for San Diego State to become one of the best programs on the West Coast, a place the next hire must get SDSU back to starting in 2024.

Dominic Stearn

Dominic is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Journalism. He also  is the producer and co-host of the “Padres EVT Podcast.”