Philip Vigil is entering his third season as the head coach of the Colorado State University Pueblo football program in 2025. Vigil was named just the fifth football coach and the second since the program was restarted in 2008 in the history of the ThunderWolves’ program in December 2022.
Vigil enters the 2025 season sporting an 18-5 record as the Pack's head coach and has compiled a 23-18 in four seasons as a collegiate head coach. In addition, he is 16-2 at CSU Pueblo in RMAC games.
Vigil’s appointment as the Pack’s new football coach came following the retirement of longtime CSU Pueblo head coach John Wristen, who was hired by his alma mater to resurrect the ThunderWolves football program in 2007. Wristen spent 15 seasons (2008-22) as the head coach.
“I’d like to express my gratitude to President (Dr. Timothy) Mottet and Dr. (Paul Plinske). My family and I are incredibly excited to return to Colorado,” Vigil said about returning to his home state as CSU Pueblo’s head coach. “I’m thankful for the time we had in Silver City and for the support of our friends and colleagues at Western New Mexico University. Melanie and I are looking forward to joining the Pack and becoming active members of the Pueblo community. Coach Wristen established a great program at CSU Pueblo. I’m honored to be named as the second coach in ThunderWolves’ history and I’m eager to get to work.”
Vigil's second Pack team in 2024 posted a 10-2 overall record and went undefeated in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with a 9-0 record. The Pack earned the program's ninth all-time RMAC title and first outright league title since 2013. The team earned the No. 1 seed in Super Region IV and hosted a second round NCAA Playoff game against Minnesota State. The Pack finished the season ranked No. 8 and No. 11 in the final AFCA Division II Coaches and D2Football.com polls.
The Pack offense finished the 2024 season ranked in the Top 10 in Division II in passing (6th, a school record 308.5 yards per game), scoring offense (7th, a school record 40.2 points per game), total offense (9th, a school record 462.3 yards per game) and passing completion percentage (10th, a school record .656 percent). In addition, the Pack was 11th in Division II in team passing efficiency at 163.5.
Meanwhile, on the defense, the Pack was sixth in sacks as they averaged 3.33 per game and 16th in interceptions as they picked off 15 passes and was eighth in Division II in blocked kicks with seven, including a school-record tying three blocked kicks.
In his first season with the Pack in 2023, Vigil led the program to an 8-3 overall record and a 7-2 mark in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. His first Pack team ended the season by winning seven straight games.
Vigil’s 2023 Pack team led NCAA Division II in kickoff return average as they averaged 29.95 yards per return and also ranked in the Top 15 in Division II in passing offense (289.7 yards per game), scoring offense (42.0 points per game), 10th in sacks (3.27 per game), 10th in sacks allowed (0.91 per game), 13th in turnover margin (1.09) and 15th in red zone offense (.878 percent).
Vigil, who is no stranger to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, played at Colorado Mesa from 2005-08 and also coached with the Mavericks from 2012-14 and spent one season coaching at Colorado School of Mines, arrived at CSU Pueblo after spending the last two seasons (2021-22) as the head football coach at Western New Mexico University, which is an NCAA Division II school in the Lone Star Conference that is located in Silver City, New Mexico.
Under Vigil’s leadership, the Mustangs recorded the program’s first winning season in the LSC since 1993 during the 2022 campaign. During Vigil’s tenure, the Mustangs’ football program earned 22 All-Conference awards from the LSC, including a program-best 17 selections in 2022. Those 17 selections were the most for the program in its LSC history.
Following a 30-year championship drought, Vigil led the Mustangs to the Chile Bowl Championship in 2022 as Western New Mexico defeated its rival, Eastern New Mexico, 38-24. The win over Eastern New Mexico culminated a 6-5 season in 2022. The six wins were the most for the program since the 2005 Mustangs team posted a 5-5 overall record.
Prior to Vigil’s arrival, the Mustangs football program had won a total five football games over a span of four seasons.
Prior to getting his first head football coach position at Western New Mexico, Vigil spent 12 seasons as an assistant football coach at the collegiate level.
Vigil came to Western New Mexico in 2021 after serving as the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator for Head Coach Colby Carthel at NCAA Division I Stephen F. Austin in 2019 and 2020.
During his time with the Lumberjacks, Vigil played a pivotal role in Stephen F. Austin in recruiting back-to-back Top 5 recruiting classes and back-to-back No. 1 recruiting class in the Southland Conference.
On the coaching front at Stephen F. Austin, Vigil coached freshman running back Ja’quarion Turner to First-Team All-Conference honors in 2020. The 2020 SFA team captured its first winning season in over a decade by posting a 6-4 record. The only four lossses that season came against Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs.
Prior to coaching at Stephen F. Austin, Vigil coached four years at (2015-18) as Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kan., as the program’s Pass Game Coordinator and Recruiting Coodinator.
During his time at Fort Hays State, the Tigers posted a 36-12 overall record and qualified for the postseason all four years and won back-to-back Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) in 2017 and 2018.
In both 2015 and 2018, under Vigil’s leadership, two different Tiger quarterbacks (Treveon Albert in 2015 and Jacob Mezera in 2018) would break school records for both total yards and total touchdowns. Those two quarterbacks would also go on to earn both All-Conference and All-American honors.
Before arriving at Fort Hays State in 2014, Vigil was the Associate Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach for three seasons (2012-14) as his alma mater, Colorado Mesa University. During his time coaching at Colorado Mesa, the Mavericks won a total 15 games over three seasons and also won 13 conference games during that same time period.
From 2010-11, Vigil spent two seasons coaching running backs at NCAA Division II powerhouse Northwest Missouri State University. During his tenure with the Bearcats, two of his running backs earned All-Conference and All-American honors.
As a team, the Bearcats posted a 22-5 record over Vigil’s two seasons in Maryville, Mo., and he was part of the coaching staff when the Bearcats won 46 consecutive games in MIAA play. In 2010, Northwest Missouri State finished ranked No. 3 in the final AFCA Division II Top 25 poll and advanced to the National Semifinals, while a season later, he helped the Bearcat offense lead Division II in scoring as they averaged 48.6 points per game.
Vigil started his collegiate coaching career in 2009 as a defensive backs coach at Colorado School of Mines.
A former quarterback at Colorado Mesa from 2004-08, Vigil was a two-year starter under center for the Mavericks. In 2007, he led Mesa to a 10-2 record and an NCAA Division II Playoff appearance. The 2007 Colorado Mesa team ended the season ranked 19th in the final AFCA Top 25 Poll.
He finished his playing career at Colorado Mesa as a two-time All-RMAC selection and was ranked all-time in school history in career passing yards (4,583) and second and third in single season passing yards (2,032 and 1,960). In the classroom, he was named an RMAC All-Academic honoree four times.
Vigil, who is a native of Arvada, Colo., and graduated from Faith Christian High School, earned his bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from Colorado Mesa in 2008 and his Master’s degree in Education from Northwest Missouri State in 2011.
He and his wife, Melanie, live in Pueblo West have three children - son, Peyton and daughters, Ava and Olivia.
