I have a great boss!
He let me go to The Pete McDavid lounge yesterday afternoon, February 6, 2008,
a RED letter day for UNM football.
Later that night I
attended the BIG PARTY at Kelly's Brew Pub, and let me tell you brothers and
sisters it was a PARTY! I got a chance to speak with all the coaches and I
think that they feel that this can turn into one of the best classes and maybe,
just maybe, a couple of these young guns could see some on-field action next
year!
Signing Day is
always replete with "war stories" and this year was no exception. The
Rock relayed to the live audience and over the airwaves how he believed the
program has arrived, at least in one small part of Florida. At Apopka
High in Apopka Florida, a Lobo pipeline has been established. Carmeris
Stewart, all 6'-3" wide receiver is the latest to ink with the Cherry
and Silver. Usually in the pecking order that is college recruiting, the
"haves" get to go first. The coaches at Apopka have come to embrace
the honesty and integrity of The ROCK and his crew, so much so, that now Florida,
Florida State, Miami, etc., all have to wait until the Lobos
are done talking to a recruit for their turn! Coach Troy Reffett deserves
a big pat on the back for the job he did in Florida!
Coach Wells spoke
about how efficient UNM was in the new recruiting scheme, thanks to Paul Krebs,
the UNM head honcho that put money in the recruiting budget that allowed UNM to
send a recruiter, a position coach, and Coach Long to visit. It paid tremendous
dividends because UNM needed only 26 visits to ink 22 young men!
Of course that means
that UNM had to hang onto these guys because the vultures are always circling
as in the case of at least 5 young men who stuck with their commitments in the
face of constant and "accidentally" illegal contact
from BCS schools who whiffed on their number one recruit and came
swooping in on UNM's young pups. These young men, however, stood up and
asked to be counted as a Lobo!
Another big change
this year is that UNM recruited from a position of strength. If a recruit was
extended an offer, he was given a reasonable length of time to decide. You
know the old saying "to not decide is to decide"? Well, if time was
up and there was no response, the offer was withdrawn and UNM moved on.
Again, an honest and straightforward way to approach a young man. That is
refreshing in the vicious world of college football recruiting.
One question: Where
the heck were all the loyal members of The Red Menace? Next year we have to
REPRESENT! Where were all the OVER 21 Section 26 crazies? Come on people, a new
age has dawned at UNM in football! Paul Krebs has taken steps
to upgrade the coach’s salaries so that they can also stay and be happy
Lobos! Now it is up to us to energize the community to sell 25,000 season
tickets, and when UNM does that, my friends, then not only have they arrived but
also UNM will be a BIG player! With Texas A&M, Arizona
and a great MWC home schedule including Utah, Wyoming,
TCU, there is no better time to get some! (Season tickets I mean... get your
mind out of the gutter!)
Lobo Coaching News
New Defensive Coordinator Troy Reffett
We found out earlier
this week that Coach Osia Lewis has left the University of New Mexico to take
the same position at El Paso. So of course the defensive coordinator position
had to be replaced, so Coach Long went to his staff and promoted current cornerback
coach Troy Reffett to take the defensive coordinator spot.
Also, Dom Zarrella
reported this afternoon that Coach DeAndre Smith will be named the running
backs coach here at the University of New Mexico next week. Coach Smith comes
to UNM from the University of Miami Ohio.
Coach DeAndre Smith
Congratulation to both gentlemen on their new
positions here at UNM.