Feb. 23, 2008

Albuquerque Journal

UNM's Long Haul (Editorial)

Despite some fan heckling and a sometimes prickly demeanor, University of New Mexico football coach Rocky Long has done good things for a program that has struggled since the 1960s.
   
The former UNM star quarterback coached the Lobos to a 9-4 season last year, and then led the team to a bowl game win for the first time since 1961. UNM's 49 wins from 2001-07 are the most for the school during any seven-year period.
   
True, he hasn't won a conference title. But Rocky Long is a keeper. The question is: will the contract extension being worked up by Athletic Director Paul Krebs be enough to keep him?
   
The $440,000-a-year Long now earns would feel like winning the lottery to most of us, but it places Long second from the bottom of head coaching salaries in the Mountain West Conference.
   
Krebs turned a lot of heads (including Rocky's, probably) when he brought in men's basketball coach Steve Alford at $975,000-a-year. Again, big numbers by New Mexico standards but modest in the runaway spending of modern day college athletics.
   
Rocky Long is a proven program builder and has UNM football headed in the right direction. He deserves a contract extension and a solid raise— even if UNM is in no position to get into a college football salary war.