August 27, 2008
Santa Fe New Mexican
NCAA football: Long still standing with the Lobos in 11th season
Tim Korte | The Associated PressDean of the Mountain West coaches. That's what reporters are calling New Mexico's Rocky Long these days.
"From when the league started, I'm the only coach who's still around," Long explained. "I don't know if that's a good sign or a bad sign."
It must be good, considering the coach signed a new five-year contract last week. The new deal pays Long about $750,000 annually, a healthy boost from his former salary of $439,000.
Then again, Long was apologizing the next day for his program's trouble with the NCAA infractions committee, which cut five scholarships to penalize New Mexico in an academic fraud investigation.
"We will go with the process and put this behind us. We have to make sure it never happens again," said Long, who wasn't accused of any wrongdoing.
Stick around long enough and you'll probably see a little of everything.
As the Mountain West marks its 10th season since breaking from the Western Athletic Conference, Long is the only coach among the original eight schools still working the same sidelines.
Long has staying power for a reason. He has taken his alma mater — a college football doormat for decades — to unprecedented success.
The Lobos have reached a bowl game in five of the past six seasons, beating Nevada 23-0 in the hometown New Mexico Bowl last December to end a 46-year drought without a postseason win.
It capped a landmark 9-4 season, just the fourth time in the program's 109-year history that New Mexico won nine games.
Ah, but there's always another season, and Long and the Lobos must start all over this fall. Most preseason forecasts predicted New Mexico will rank in the middle of the Mountain West, fourth or fifth.
New Mexico returns 12 starters — six on each side of the ball. It's a young but talented group that plays two red-letter non-conference games, facing Texas A&M and Arizona in Albuquerque.
Much of the preseason talk has focused on how the Lobos will replace the most productive receiver tandem in school history, now that Marcus Smith and Travis Brown are gone.
The top returning receiver is former walk-on Roland Bruno, who caught 21 passes in six starts last season. Jermaine McQueen is another candidate.
"Marcus Smith and Travis Brown were big assets to the offense last year," quarterback Donovan Porterie said. "But the same things were said about those guys that are being said about the guys we have now."
Tailback Rodney Ferguson returns, seeking his third straight 1,000-yard season, and he'll be eager to prove himself after being academically ineligible for the bowl. His replacement, Paul Baker, had 167 yards rushing in that game.
Porterie, now a junior, is coming off a big year where he had 3,006 yards passing and 15 touchdowns.
"He gets better every year," Long said.