Former Illini offensive coordinator Mike Locksley was fired by the University of New Mexico Sunday. Locksley had been the Lobos head football coach for the last three years. His teams won twice.
The firing was triggered by the DWI arrest, Saturday night in Las Cruces, of Champaign Centennial grad Joshua Butts. Butts, 19, was driving a car owned by the Locksley family.
Butts has a history with the Champaign County courts system, dating (literally) to the year he was born. In 2010 he was cited for fighting, resisting/obstructing a peace officer (both prosecuted as city ordinance violations) and operating an uninsured vehicle. In 2011 he was convicted for unlawful use of a black-jack.
Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Reitz says Butts “is on conditional discharge for a class C misdemeanor, less serious than the DUI in New Mexico, so we will let them deal with him.”