Albuquerque is an excellent football town in Jason Eck’s eyes.
The people are passionate, from what the New Mexico head coach has gleaned. They’re tough. Prideful.
Eck sought to build a team that reflected all of those things in his first year with the Lobos last season. Even if fans hadn’t seen much to be prideful of in nearly a decade.
Eck changed that instantly, though. The team played with a newfound level of grit and emotion, and that was reflected in their 9-4 overall record. That was the most games UNM had won since 2016, and the Lobos’ nine regular-season wins were their most since 1997, when they were playing in the WAC and Dennis Franchione was their head coach.
When arriving at New Mexico after leading Idaho to a turnaround in the FCS, Eck embraced the challenge of trying to change things with the Lobos. His players did, too.
The Lobos are faced with a new challenge: sustaining that success in an ever-changing landscape within the Group of Six and Mountain West. And Eck believes, during the 2026 offseason, UNM is looking at some of the highest expectations the program has ever faced.
“Last year, our team didn’t have high expectations, which has kind of been like the norm at the University of New Mexico,” Eck told HERO Sports. “They haven’t had a lot of high expectations, but I think with the season we had last year, that’s changed. I think we’re going to have probably the highest expectations.”
“The team is growing with that. I think I’m challenging them,” Eck added. “I’m trying to hold them to a higher standard than we held them to last year when we were just trying to kind of build confidence and get things turned around.”
The Buzz At New Mexico
New Mexico’s desire to improve in every way has become palpable for Lobos fans.
UNM averaged an attendance of 25,252 per home game at University Stadium. That was a 57.8% increase from 2024, which was the most in the FBS year-over-year.
UNM’s rivalry game with New Mexico State – which the Lobos won 38-20 – was a sellout crowd, UNM’s first since 2007. The attendance for UNM’s game against San Diego State of 30,575 was its first crowd of 30,000-plus in the month of November since 2008.
Eck hopes the program continues this trajectory and that University Stadium will average 30,000 in 2026.
“Our fan base really supported us as we had success,” he said, “and I thought that was one of the things I thought that was attractive about this job is I had a feeling they would because I just think our role in the state, where we’re the biggest school, and there’s no pro sports here. There’s no Power Four teams in the state. I thought if we gave them some good football, they would rally around it, and I think they have.”
Eck believes in the talent New Mexico added in the offseason through the transfer portal and high school recruiting. He’s also ecstatic with the players he has coming back.
That includes his son, linebacker Jaxton Eck, and quarterback Jack Layne.
Jaxton Eck was a HERO Sports Group of Five All-American in 2025 and the Mountain West Co-Defensive Player of the Year. He totaled 129 tackles and was in the top 10 in the FBS for tackles per game. He also chalked up 6.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two pass breakups, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.
“I’m thankful Jaxton stayed with us because I think he was certainly one of our guys who probably could have made more money if you wanted to go in the open market and go to a Power Four school,” Jason Eck said. “He provides a lot of leadership, a lot of communication. … Just had a tremendous year and very, very excited to have him back with us and have him playing for us and expect big things out of him.”
Layne is back after setting the single-season program record with a 65.1% completion rate as a redshirt junior in 2025. He threw for 2,486 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions while completing 213 of 327 throws and rushing for 152 yards and four TDs.
Layne had offseason elbow surgery, Eck said, so it’s unclear how much he’ll be able to participate in spring practices. But he’s excited about Layne’s development.
“Jack, he really proved himself last year, leading us to nine wins, which hadn’t been done here in a long time,” Eck said, “and I think he showed great toughness and leadership.”
New-Look Mountain West
The Mountain West will be significantly different this year. Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Utah State, and Colorado State are going to the Pac-12 this season, and Northern Illinois, UTEP, and North Dakota State will be new to the league.
But even with a new-look conference and new opponents, Eck believes it’s a strong league.
“To me, adding Northern Illinois and UTEP kind of stabilized the league. They had to take some steps to stabilize the league when this first happened,” Eck said. “Now I kind of feel like we’ve gone out on the attack, picking up North Dakota State, who’s been the best program in the FCS over the last 15 years. And adding them, really a quality team that I believe will come in and be in the top half of the conference right away and make our conference a lot better and will be one of our main competitors and main challengers.
“So excited about the conference. Yeah, obviously we lost some teams, but I think we’re positioned well to hopefully be one of the better teams in the conference. And UNLV should have an excellent team this year. Hawaii should have an excellent team, and then I think North Dakota State really will be a great addition.”
New players. New team. New challenges.
Eck is embracing it all. And if last season was any indication, that’s a good thing for New Mexico.
