Eric Hutchins

A college head coach got asked this week why his injured starter is not playing. He answered with three numbers. Say the guy is a 90, he said. He gets hurt, and now he is a 78. Your backup is an 80. So the 80 plays. That is a Madden rating. He explained a depth chart decision using a video game. "All the kids will know exactly what I'm talking about." Jason Eck coaches New Mexico, and this is not a bit he does once. Before his team went to Oklahoma this season, somebody asked him about the jump in competition. "It's kinda like we've been going to, like, fast food restaurants to eat." "Now, all of a sudden, we got an invite to the nicest steakhouse in town." "And you're checking your wallet to make sure you have enough to cover it cause you don't want to be embarrassed." Before Hawaii he called them a wounded animal. Here is the part that makes it more than funny. It is working. New Mexico went 9 and 4 last season, which was the first nine win season in Albuquerque since 2007, and he was named Mountain West Coach of the Year. This year the Lobos beat North Dakota State 21 to 16 and sit in first place in the league. San Jose State is next. Eck walked on at Wisconsin as an offensive lineman. He thought about law school and never took the test. His father Jay Eck coached college basketball. Toledo fired him in 1991, less than a week after a one point loss with an NCAA tournament bid sitting on it. Jason went into coaching anyway. His own son plays for him. Jaxton Eck was born in Moscow, Idaho, and went to high school in Brookings, South Dakota, because that is where his dad was coaching at the time. Jaxton played for his father at Idaho, then followed him to New Mexico. At Idaho he started all 14 games and led that team with 134 tackles. Last year he led the team with 129 tackles and shared Defensive Player of the Year in the Mountain West. He is also a first team academic All-American. He is out right now with a shoulder injury. Be straight about it. A press conference is not a program. New Mexico has had good years before and lost the coach every single time, and people online are already openly talking about who hires Jason Eck next, which is its own kind of warning. But understand why the Madden thing actually lands. It is not that it is clever. It is that an 18 year old who has never looked at a depth chart in his life hears 80 beats 78 and knows immediately that nobody is mad at him.

A night worth running back 🎬 #GoLobos

This man is a fantastic coach. He picked up the pieces after Bronco Mendenhall abandoned New Mexico after one season--for a lateral move no less. While Mendenhalol has failed at Utah State Eck has made a miracle happen in one and half seasons in New Mexico. 9-4 last year and only one loss so far this season--that by 8 points on the road to a good SEC team. They could certainly run the table and be in consideration for CFP Playoffs.

🏈 UNM FOOTBALL: INVEST IN THE STADIUM, BUT DON'T FORGET THE MAN BUILDING THE PROGRAM! New Mexico has allocated significant funding toward improvements to University Stadium. That's an investment in the future of Lobo football, but here's a question worth asking. Could a portion of those funds, if legally permissible, be redirected or supplemented to help retain Coach Jason Eck? Stadium upgrades are important. Better facilities improve recruiting, the fan experience, and the long-term future of the program. But facilities alone don't win football games. Coaches build programs, develop players, and establish winning cultures. If UNM wants to build something sustainable, retaining Coach Eck needs to be part of the financial conversation. That doesn't mean abandoning stadium improvements. It means examining whether the funding structure allows flexibility, whether legislative approval could authorize changes, or whether other university and private resources could be leveraged for a competitive retention package. What's the point of investing millions in a football stadium if we aren't equally serious about keeping the coach responsible for building the program that plays in it? New Mexico needs to think beyond concrete, seats, and scoreboards. Invest in the facilities. Invest in the players. And invest in keeping Coach Eck in Albuquerque. 🐺🔴 GO LOBOS! #UNMFootball #GoLobos #KeepCoachEck #NewMexico

So again I’ll be the one to say it. Please give Luke Moga another chance @LukeSchleusner Sincerely this entire fan base but a few 🤝

Another @MountainWest weekly honor for @BrawleyAustin 🔒 📰: shorturl.at/mncFS

The Most popular coach in college football. Jason Eck @Coach_Eck Of New Mexico.