Billy Gonzales (born July 18, 1971) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player who currently serves as wide receivers coach at

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. He played wide receiver for the

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

from 1990 to 1994 before he began his coaching career in late 1994.

Playing career

In 1989, he joined the Colorado State football team. He played for former

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

coach

Earle Bruce Earle Bruce (March 8, 1931 – April 20, 2018) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Tampa (1972), Iowa State University (1973–1978), Ohio State University (1979–1987), the University of N ...

. While he was there, he was mainly a returner, returning 24 punts for 265 yards in 1990 and 16 punts for 330 yards in 1991.

Coaching career

After his playing career, he started his coaching career at small Division-III MacMurray as their wide receivers coach, which he has coached his entire career. He moved on to

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in Ash ...

in the same role. He stayed in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

for his next role at

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

under

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

, where he met

Dan Mullen Dan Mullen (born April 27, 1972) is a former college football player and coach, and current television analyst with the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and ESPN. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State University from ...

and

John Hevesy John Hevesy (born May 2, 1971) is an American football coach and former player. A Dan Mullen protégé, he had been a coach under him and with him since 2001. He was most recently the running game coordinator at Florida. Playing career Hevesy ...

, two assistant coaches who Gonzales would coach with many times throughout his career. He moved on to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in 2003 with Meyer, Mullen, and Hevesy. He moved with them again to

in 2005. After three years as the wide receivers coach, he was promoted to recruiting coordinator in 2008. He moved on from Florida in 2010 to serve as LSU's passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach under

Les Miles Leslie Edwin Miles (born November 10, 1953) is a former American football coach. He most recently served as the head coach at Kansas. His head coaching career began with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he coached from 2001 to 2004. Following t ...

. Under his guidance,

Rueben Randle Rueben Jacob Randle (born May 7, 1991) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He played college football at Louisiana State University (LSU). He has also ...

had 53 catches for 917 yards in 2011. In 2012, he became the co-offensive coordinator at

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. His offense was an abysmal 122nd out of 124th in total offense, which led to him leaving for Mississippi State, reuniting with Mullen and Hevesy. He was promoted to co-offensive coordinator prior to the 2014. His offense was 17th, 33rd, 56th, and 41st in total offense from 2014–2017. He went with Mullen and Hevesy to Florida in 2018 in the same role. In 2022, after

head coach

was fired, Gonzales joined Willie Taggart's staff at FAU as a wide receivers coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzales, Billy 1971 births Living people People from Thornton, Colorado Sportspeople from Colorado Players of American football from Colorado American football wide receivers Colorado State Rams football players MacMurray Highlanders football coaches Kent State Golden Flashes football coaches Bowling Green Falcons football coaches Utah Utes football coaches Florida Gators football coaches LSU Tigers football coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches