Albuquerque Journal

Two Search Parties
By Randy Harrison, Journal Staff Writer

New Mexico State University football is a better program than it was four years ago, insists athletics director McKinley Boston. Better kids making better grades. A better conference. Better facilities, both realized and planned.
       But the bottom line wasn't any better. Not the 11-38 record in coach Hal Mumme's four years, and flagging attendance figures.
       “I couldn't sell hope” to Aggie fans or their corporate partners under Mumme's leadership, Boston said, in announcing Tuesday from Las Cruces that Mumme would be fired.
       It was an announcement that was widely anticipated, since New Mexico State had been expected to contend for its first bowl berth since 1960. Instead, it finished the 2008 season at 3-9, on a seven-game losing streak and saved the worst for last, a humiliating 47-2 loss at 3-9 Utah State this past Saturday.
       And while preliminary numbers suggest the Aggies drew just enough fans to meet the NCAA's 15,000 average-attendance threshold for major-college programs, it's not what Boston needs to make his athletic budget.
       So beyond an implied admission that Boston's first major hire at New Mexico State failed, the search is on for the next coach to take what has been one of the nation's most difficult major-college jobs.
       “I wish hiring coaches was a science,” he said. “I wish recruiting was a science. You look at Alabama, and they had three or four difficult choices before they got Nick Saban. Unfortunately, I don't have $5 million to hire a head coach.”
       Boston, who will hit the road quickly to meet candidates, hopes to bring “six or eight” to Las Cruces for a second interview, and expects to make a recommendation before Christmas. He is forming an advisory committee headed by NMSU alumnus and former NFL place-kicker Danny Villanueva to assist in the process.
       There are two internal candidates — defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn and recruiting coordinator/running backs coach Earnest Wilson.
       “I think I can put people in the stands,” said Dunn, whose head coaching experience is four years at New Mexico (1983-86) and the 2007 season at Ridgeway High in Memphis, Tenn. His contract extends through the 2009 season, and Boston suggested he wants Dunn to remain on staff in any scenario.
       Boston also said he expects some of the candidates on his “laundry list” are also on New Mexico's, which is searching to replace Rocky Long. “I think we both have a pretty good sense of who the upcoming stars are,” he said.
        The salary, he said, will be consistent and competitive with others in the Western Athletic Conference, where the range is from $250,000 to seven figures.
       Among the qualifications Boston said he is seeking:
       n Experience at least at the offensive or defensive coordinator level.
       n A commitment to run a similar style of spread-formation attack as Mumme's, though “I don't think it'll be exactly the same unless we hire somebody from Texas Tech.” The No. 8 Red Raiders are coached by Mike Leach, a Mumme protégé.
       n Familiarity with the Southwest, especially as a recruiter.
       n An enthusiasm for the “external part of the job,” or the public relations aspect of it. One of the pervasive criticisms of Mumme was he didn't have that.
       Charley Johnson has been named interim football coach, which means he is the administrative head of the program while the program transitions to the next regime.
       Johnson, a former Aggie and NFL quarterback, is a professor and assistant to the NMSU president in the area of “athletic growth, which has been one-third of my job. For now it'll go to two-thirds,” he said.
       Johnson said a key part to his responsibility now will be recruiting, and that includes the current Aggie players who are losing their coaching staff. The NCAA's Academic Progress Rating (APR) penalizes schools when athletes leave the program, and even more so if they leave and are ineligible. And until the next coach arrives, they can sell recruits on the same style of offense and Dunn's defensive scheme.
       Mumme will receive a $385,000 buyout that pays him through the last year of his five-year deal. Boston said the buyout is from private funds, not state or university money. Mumme was offered a one-year extension a year ago that he didn't sign. His attorney, Russ Campbell, has said in previous media reports that Mumme didn't sign the written extension because it didn't match Boston's verbal offer, but offered no specific details otherwise.
       “I'm sure coach Mumme and his attorney will engage the process,” Boston said.
       The other assistant coaches will be paid through Jan. 31, 2009.