After leading Western New Mexico’s football program to its best season in three decades, Philip Vigil is poised for a homecoming of sorts.
Vigil, a Denver, Colorado, native, is returning to his home state to take over the Colorado State-Pueblo program, sources tell FootballScoop.
The deal, per sources, is agreed upon and expected to be finalized in the coming days.
Veteran CSU-Pueblo coach John Wristen, who helmed the program for 15 years, retired from coaching earlier this month but has agreed to stay on in the ThunderWolves’ athletics department in an expanded role.
Vigil, who helped the WNM Mustangs to a 6-5 season in 2022 that included a third-place finish in the Lone Star Conference, was an all-conference quarterback at Colorado-Mesa during his playing days and then immediately transitioned into coaching.
He’s now worked at the NCAA level for some 15 years, including a stint as recruiting coordinator and a top offensive assistant at Stephen F. Austin.
Additionally, Vigil has experience at Fort Hays State, Northwest Missouri State and his alma mater, Colorado-Mesa.
Pueblo is coming off an 8-4 campaign in Wristen’s farewell season, advancing into the NCAA Division II Playoffs before seeing their season end at Colorado School of Mines.
Vigil’s work at Western New Mexico in one season atop the program was nonetheless landmark; the Mustangs’ six wins matched the program’s entire win total from 2017-21.