ASU football DC Danny Gonzales’ mother passes away

TEMPE, Ariz. — Not long before Arizona State football defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales was scheduled to meet with the media on Wednesday — as he does every week — the news became public that his mother had passed away.

Gonzales was on the field at practice, coaching as normal, one observer said. Media members arrived for interviews and an ASU spokesperson said he’d go find out whether Gonzales was still up for sitting at a table with a microphone in front of a group of reporters and discussing football, a mere 12 hours after the passing of his mother.

Gonzales was up for it.

“OK. Real quick, just an update — I lost my mom last night,” Gonzales began, taking a long pause afterward. “There we go. OK. Got it out.”

His mom had spent 22 days in the hospital. She went into cardiac arrest near midnight on Tuesday night and passed away, despite the doctors’ best efforts. Gonzales’ father called him with the news around 1 a.m. She was 69 years old.

“Thank you for all the prayers and thoughts,” Gonzales said. “It is very touching, and the support is great. She’s in a better place now. She’s not suffering anymore from the battle she was fighting. She fought her tail off. Super proud of her for that. Amazing woman. So I’m very blessed, very lucky.

“And she’s with her mom and dad and her grandparents, who she was talking to the last couple days. So I think kind of saw it coming. I was hoping not. But she’s with the Lord and she’s not suffering. So I’m happy for that.”

Gonzales said he still plans to coach this weekend at Oregon State.

“So we can move on to football,” he said to end his opening statement. “Thank you again, though.”

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