So for those of you that don’t know it yet Coach
Rocky Long
has stepped down as the head coach of the Lobo football program. Sorry
folks, I can’t do a sanitized or even professional
story about this. I’m really bummed about tonight’s news… I’m saddened
because
for the past 8 years since we started TheRedMenace.com we have gotten
to know
and love Coach Long around these parts!
Who
would have thought being a 40 year old man I could still
have a hero… There I said it Rocky Long is a hero to this delusional
fan. Coach
Long showed up to UNM in 1998 to coach his alma mater. He left the
comforts of
the PAC-10 UCLA Bruins D-coordinator position to be a head coach at a
school
that has known more misery then mediocrity. While greatness has always
escaped
the grasp of Lobo fans…
It
was 3 years later that 2 goofballs on the radio got
together and said, “why don’t we start a group in that new North End
Zone and
go hang out there… So we started talking to the powers that be and
through our
website started trying to sell tickets into that north end zone
section… Our
idea was to be loud and boisterous and riotous like the Dawg Pound in
Cleveland…
Somewhere in that time 4th year Coach Rocky Long
caught wind of what we were doing and with UNM marketing at the time
had a meet
and greet in The Tow Diehm facility. It was the first time I ever met
Coach
Long and to be honest my life has never been the same since. Rocky
talked to
the fans that day telling them how important a fan base is to his
program and
how our group could be special and the catalyst for the UNM football
program…
I remember that night like it was yesterday as
Graphic
Connections made a ton of Red Menace T-shirts to had out to everyone at
the
meet and greet and how excited and proud I was to be able to do
something for
the Lobo community.
Shortly thereafter Dom, John Salazar, and myself
started
attending Lobo football practices and talking to coaches and players.
And Coach
Long being the type of guy he was thrilled to have us! The papers in
those days
didn’t cover Lobo football like they do now, radio for Lobo football
wasn’t
non-existent but it wasn’t really bubbling with excitement, and every
so often
a TV camera would show up.
Dom, John, and myself quickly became the guys that
would
take pictures of the players, put them on the website, interview them
with
questions. In other words we gave a rat’s ass when no other media
really did.
The season kicked off and the Lobo Leap was born…
And behind all of silly dreams of ours and hopes
of creating
tradition was Coach Rocky Long! He encouraged his players and coaches
to speak
with us. He would speak with us and answer our questions, and then he
invited
us to the Lobo Coaches Luncheon, so we went there and bumped elbows
with the
elite media… Of course media members there questioned our right to be
there,
after all we weren’t media, we were those fools in the North End Zone.
While we
didn’t know it at the time, the guy that went to bat to get us media
credentials… Rocky Long!
As our first year was ending we came up with the
idea of The
Red Menace Fan Appreciation Award… The first year we didn’t make it up
to the
stage, but who guaranteed that we would every year after that… Rocky
Long!
Coach Rocky Long with Red Menace
members and Scott Gerhardt The original winner of
The Red Menace Fan Appreciation Award!
We wanted to do a weekly interview with one of the football
players on the website every week, his own column if you will. That
player
ended up being Big C. The guy that encouraged all of that player/fan
interaction… Rocky Long!
The
guy that would mention The Red Menace to the newspapers,
radio, TV, both locally and outside of New Mexico… Rocky Long!
Why?
Why would Coach Long take interest in us folks that
don’t have much money or prestige sitting in the end zone? Why would he
support
us and talk to people about our YAFL ticket program? Why?
In
today’s presser Coach Long said, “I’m not a sexy, flashy
enough, arrogant coach. I don’t have the right image.” Well we have a
word for
that Coach Long… We call guys like you junkyard dogs. Grizzled, mangy,
fighters
who will attack you I they don’t like you, but are still loyal to a
fault, and
make no doubt about it Coach Long has always been loyal to the
University of
New Mexico!
Coach
was younger and possibly naïve back then thinking that
he could build a fan base around here, and a winning program…
Flashback
to last year and quite possibly the greatest
moment in this sports fans life as my University of New Mexico Lobo
football
team captured the New Mexico Bowl trophy and I got to celebrate with
all my
Lobo football players and my Lobo football coaches! It was by far the
greatest
moment of my sports life…
This
should have been the catalyst for this program to take
off! This should have been the harbinger of greatness for Coach Long
and for
Lobo football program to take off both in the stands and on the field…
You
would think Lobo fans could finally say, we have arrived as a program!
Rocky after New Mexico Bowl Victory over Nevada in 2007!
Toss in that TCU, Texas A&M and Arizona were
coming to
town… You would think that Lobo fans would be chomping at the bit to
come out
to the stadium and watch Lobo football take off. Instead those regular
excuses
of Balloon Fiesta, State Fair, ticket prices to high, and the millions
of other
excuses that everyone yaps about once again became prevalent. The Lobos
lose
some games and the so called fans soured quickly, toss in many key
injuries,
and constant shredding in the papers, radio, and internet websites and
the
frustration boiled over…
So today November 17, 2008 Coach Rocky Long decides it is
time to leave…on his terms. He isn’t flashy, he doesn’t make a big
production
of it, and for those of you that don’t realize it, he also doesn’t
force UNM to
fire him for a huge severance package. Like a true hero in a Clint
Eastwood
movie he gets on his horse and rides off into the sunset.
Coach
Long leaves in my opinion the same reason that other
successful coaches have left UNM in my opinion. Very little support
both
financially, program wise, and fan base. While I have to give credit to
Paul
Krebs and David Schmidley for going out and trying to support Lobo
football
with salary increases and recruiting budget increases. It just wasn’t
enough to
catch the big 3 in the MWC…
So that brings me back to my question
why Coach Rocky Long
constantly reaches out to The Red Menace with his support? Why did he
put a
mural of us in his football stadium, and in the press guide, and in the
weight
room, and the practice field… And I think the answer was said in his
final
press conference…
“The community has to get behind a
good football coach, and
fill up the damn stadium every single game win or lose. Jump in with
both feet
and make this place special if they want to get on top. You need
something
special you can sell here! You want to compete with the big boys you
better
start acting like a big time program! And that isn’t just the football
team,
and the football coaches, that’s the damn fans! Since I’m quitting I
can
finally say it.”
Rocky tried very hard to help The Red Menace out because he felt that
maybe us loyal junkyard dogs could be the grassroots beginning of of
filling up the stadium… And start
acting like a big time program… Ultimately, we couldn’t do it, and
neither
could he…
Thanks
Coach Long! There will never be another coach
like you ever at the University of New Mexico and in my humble opinion
I must
say that the South Campus is a lot dimmer today as UNM’s biggest fan
has left
the building…