Albuquerque Journal

Mumme Era Over
By Randy Harrison, Journal Staff Writer

After four difficult losing football seasons, New Mexico State apparently is ready to throw in the white towel on the Hal Mumme Era.
       The school has called a news conference for 10:30 a.m. today to address the state of the football program, and the Journal has learned it begins with the removal of Mumme.
       Athletic director McKinley Boston will preside over the news conference at the Pan Am Center, and Mumme will not be present, according to media relations director Tyler Dunkel.
       Mumme, 58, wouldn't comment Monday, Dunkel said, adding, “not at this time, but most likely later down the line.” Calls by the Journal to Mumme's attorney, Russ Campbell, seeking comment weren't returned.
       The Associated Press reports that former Aggie and NFL quarterback Charley Johnson will be named as acting head coach until a permanent coach is named, though it is unclear if Johnson will attend the news conference. Boston did not return a phone call seeking confirmation.
       The Aggies ended their 2008 season Saturday with a listless 47-2 loss at 3-9 Utah State, which was playing under a coach (Brent Guy) who already had been fired.
       New Mexico State finished 3-9 overall and, for the second straight year, 1-7 in the Western Athletic Conference. That tied for last place with Idaho.
       Mumme's four year totals at New Mexico State are 11-38, with five of those wins at home against Football Championship Subdivision programs. His arrival in Las Cruces coincided with the Aggies' entry into the WAC. They are 4-28 in league games.
       Five of those 11 wins came in a seven-game span over the end of the 2006 and beginning of the 2007 seasons. Mumme's reputation as an offensive guru who draped that trademark towel around his neck but wore no headset was reinforced. His program, built around the exciting spread-formation, pass-oriented Air Raid offense, was beginning to gain momentum.
       But injuries have played a part in bringing that momentum to a grinding halt both in '07, when the Aggies lost seven of their last eight to finish 4-9; and this past year, when the Aggies scored their biggest WAC victory to date, 38-35 at Nevada, then didn't win again.
       The school in 2006 also had to deal with the embarrassment of a suit brought on by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of former starting running back Mu'Ammar Ali and three other players who alleged they were persecuted while in the Aggie football program and eventually dismissed from it in 2005 because they are Muslims. An out-of-court settlement cost NMSU $165,000.
       Mumme came to New Mexico State, his fifth collegiate coaching stop, from Southeastern Louisiana, where he had spent two years resurrecting football as an FCS program. He agreed to a five-year contract when hired in December 2004. After the 2007 season, Boston offered him a one-year extension through 2010, but Mumme didn't sign it. Campbell said in published reports that the coach turned it down because the written extension didn't match Boston's verbal offer.
       Boston reportedly has already begun his search for a new coach, spending some time over the weekend on the West Coast. UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker's name has surfaced in published reports as a contender for several head coaching jobs, including New Mexico State's even though there has been no opening. Another early name on the rumor mill was Eastern New Mexico grad and former coach Don Carthel, who has built a winner at West Texas A&M. But those rumors have cooled since its 93-68 loss to Abilene Christian on Nov. 22 in the second around of the NCAA Division II playoffs.