UNM football: Here are six potential head coaching candidates

Dec. 10—New Mexico football, a little over a year after its last coaching search, is right back to the drawing board.

After Bronco Mendenhall was hired by Utah State, the Lobos are looking for their third head coach in as many years.

UNM Athletic Director Fernando Lovo said the search will be a “national process,” but didn’t shed much light on a potential timeline or if previous head coaching experience would be a priority.

“We’re going to hire someone that’s a person of integrity,” Lovo told the Journal on Saturday. “Somebody that does things the right way always — that’s really important to me, that’s very important to (UNM President Garnett S. Stokes) and our university leadership. We will never waver from that.

“We’re also going to hire somebody that cares deeply about the student-athletes, and is committed to their development both on and off the field. And I know those sound like obvious elements of a search, but for me, those are critical.”

With the search underway, a list of six potential candidates:

Matt Wells

Analysis: A former head coach at Utah State and Texas Tech, Wells, 51, interviewed for the UNM job last year before he was hired as Kansas State’s assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator. The two-time Mountain West Coach of the Year was 44-34 through six years in Logan, Utah, leading the Aggies to five bowl games. He was left for Lubbock, Texas after the 2018 season and was fired midway through his third year with the Red Raiders.

Before he was a head coach, Wells worked as UNM’s wide receivers coach in two separate stints under former head coaches Rocky Long and Mike Locksley. He’s also cousins with former UNM baseball coach Ray Birmingham. And if he didn’t get the job last year, it’s not because he flunked the interview.

“I think the world of him, I really do,” former UNM Athletic Director…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/unm-football-six-potential-head-040300796.html

Author : Albuquerque Journal, N.M.

Publish date : 2024-12-11 04:03:00

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