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Dec. 14—ALBUQUERQUE — It may not have been the splashy hire some Lobo fans were hoping for, but it’s certainly one they’ll come to appreciate.
That was the message delivered by University of New Mexico athletic director Fern Lovo after Saturday’s announcement that he’d named Jason Eck as the school’s new football coach.
It came just nine days after the sudden and unexpected exit of Bronco Mendenhall, the one-year wonder who bolted for conference rival Utah State after a single season.
Eck, 47, agreed to a five-year contract. Lovo did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but multiple sources close to the process indicated it’s for less than the $6 million Mendenhall would have made over the course of his five-year agreement.
Eck’s buyout with Idaho is $525,000. His annual salary was just under $200,000, roughly one-fifth of what he’s expected to make at New Mexico.
Lovo said he was immediately drawn to Eck’s energy, a personality trait that helped him stand out during a hurried and secretive hiring process that was helped along by Parker Executive Search, an independent firm based in Atlanta.
“One of the things you will hear from me often, he is a program builder. He’s not a team builder, he’s a program builder,” Lovo said.
Conventional wisdom suggests Lovo would use his connections from the University of Texas, Ohio State, Florida and Houston to help land a prospective candidate. He has spent more than a decade working closely with the football programs at all four schools.
Eck didn’t have direct ties to any of them, but Lovo said his name kept surfacing as he networked his sources for candidates.
“Just having spent 12 years in college football, there were things that I took from my time that were very helpful in this search and across the board,” Lovo said. “Obviously it was helpful and certainly something…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lobos-hire-idahos-eck-coach-043500628.html
Author : The Santa Fe New Mexican
Publish date : 2024-12-15 04:35:00
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