Jason Eck didn’t uproot his family from northern Idaho and move thousands of miles south to Albuquerque, New Mexico, on a whim. He did his due diligence on every aspect of the Lobos’ football program and truly believed he could turn it into a Mountain West contender.
Eck said Monday he focused on three key areas before taking the job. The first was a supportive administration committed to athletic excellence. Eck said he found that in the Lobos’ new athletic director, Fernando Lovo.
The second thing Eck said he focused on was the Lobos’ position in the state. He said he likes the fact that they don’t have to compete for fans against any other major college or professional teams.
The final thing Eck said he took into account was the athletic department’s attempts to improve the resources at his disposal, especially in the NIL era.
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“Next year will probably be the first time in I don’t know how long but probably in most of our lifetimes that you can say New Mexico is amongst the leaders in resources in the conference,” Eck said during his weekly press conference. “I knew we had to create some momentum this first year and get to a bowl game, but then I thought, ‘Yeah, now we can be one of the top teams in the conference every year going forward.’”
There’s been so much coaching turnover in the Mountain West the past couple of years that it’s hard to say there’s a short list of usual suspects for the coach of the year award. It usually goes to the coach of whichever team wins the championship, often deservedly so, but Eck has emerged as a dark horse candidate to win it this year.
Mountain West Championship Odds
San Diego State is now the college football betting odds favorite to win the Mountain West title at -125 on BetMGM. If the Aztecs keep winning, SDSU head coach Sean Lewis could win the COY award, but you never know what could happen.
Boise State or UNLV could rebound to play for the championship for a third-straight year, and the coach of the winning team will probably take home the award. Or teams like New Mexico, San Jose State, or Hawaii could win out and find themselves playing for the title. Either way, the Mountain West Coach of the Year race is going down to the wire.
Rebuilding The Lobos
Eck didn’t exactly have a ton to work with when he replaced Bronco Mendenhall at New Mexico this year. The Lobos lost dynamic quarterback Devon Dampier and just about every statistical leader from last season to the transfer portal, leaving Eck to rebuild the roster from scratch.
All he’s done in Year 1 is lead the Lobos to their first-ever win over a team from the Big Ten and bowl-eligibility, which is something the program hasn’t achieved since 2016. He also helped make them a realistic contender for the Mountain West Championship. New Mexico is one of six teams with two conference losses, and it’s within striking distance of San Diego State (7-1, 4-0 MWC) and Boise State (6-3, 4-1).
Eck has done all of that by filling his roster with FCS transfers and Power Four cast-offs and turning them into a cohesive, explosive unit.
Almost all of the Lobos’ top players are transfers, including quarterback Jack Layne (Idaho), running backs Damon Bankston (Weber State), Scottre Humphrey (Montana State), and DJ McKinney (Sam Houston), wide receiver Keagan Johnson (Kansas State), tight end Dorian Thomas (Arizona), and linebacker Jaxton Eck (Idaho), who ranks No. 2 in the conference with 95 tackles and 10.6 tackles per game.
New Mexico is scoring 30.2 points a game, which ranks No. 5 in the Mountain West. The Lobos are No. 2 in the conference in rushing defense (116 yards per game), and their 21 sacks are also No. 2 in the league.
Eck has done a masterful job. Plenty of teams around the country are full of transfers, but they don’t all look like they’ve been playing together for years the way the Lobos do.
I believe Eck deserves to win Mountain West Coach of the Year even if New Mexico doesn’t win a conference title and that the UNM administration probably needs to go ahead and sign him to a contract extension while it still has the chance.
