KTSM: Going in for the Kill: newest New Mexico State football coach Jerry Kill arrives in Las Cruces

[Wexahu]

I know this is historically true (I grew up watching the best El Paso teams get thumped in the playoffs by Permian and Lee), but I'm not sure why it has to continue to be. It's a long way from everywhere, but the El Paso-Las Cruces CSA has more than a million people, and if you consider Juárez, it's 2.7 million, which makes it comparable to Baltimore and St. Louis. NMSU is among the few schools with a program that allows Mexican citizens to enroll at 1.5 the in-state tuition rate.

There isn't the money or mindset there for families to invest in high-level skill development, but kids there love football (not just fútbol) and if UTEP and NMSU could find resources to invest in developmental programs, I don't see how, over time, they couldn't regularly populate a pair of 85-player rosters with pretty good local talent, augmented by working the portal for kids from TX, AZ and CA.

I think Kill is a terrific hire for them. Low stress, supportive community, and his past performance suggests he'll field a team that doesn't beat itself, which clears the very low expectation bar of admin and boosters.

Football isn't ingrained in the culture there anywhere close to like it is other parts of the country. They've got a long, uphill battle on that front.

NMSU should not be trying to play FBS football.

 

[JogginFrog]

Football isn't ingrained in the culture there anywhere close to like it is other parts of the country. They've got a long, uphill battle on that front.

NMSU should not be trying to play FBS football.

Wex, I appreciate your commitment to bringing a dose of reality to the craziness on this board. Maybe my post deserves it.

But I disagree about the lack of football culture in El Paso-Las Cruces. It's not Friday Night Lights, but it beats anywhere outside of the South. They've hosted bowl games in that valley longer than anyplace but Pasadena. I defy you to find a higher saturation of NFL gear anywhere outside of a 6-hour drive from an NFL stadium. They love football. What they don't have is youth camps and travel budgets. (And south of the border, gear and facilities).

I don't disagree that NMSU would be better off playing FCS due to conference issues and travel. And I don't disagree that developing top-level local talent is a long-term proposition. Kill should major on the portal, which sets up very well for NMSU to build something quickly.

And if I were Kill, I would also create a program dedicated to local talent development. There's literally 300,000 boys in northern Chihuahua whose families would do anything to open the door to a college education. If you promised to reserve one roster spot a year for the best of those kids who met a gpa or SAT threshold, it would be a prize to be chased on the field and in the classroom. And it would be an easy sell for corporate giving to supply equipment and develop school facilities. It might not take as much time as you think. And the day that TCU or another P5 team came to poach would be the ultimate signal of success.

I know nothing about NMSU and peanut butter sandwiches, but while living in the area, I never saw a budget shortfall that failed to be met with the suggested solution of a Tamalada.

 

[Wexahu]

Wex, I appreciate your commitment to bringing a dose of reality to the craziness on this board. Maybe my post deserves it.

But I disagree about the lack of football culture in El Paso-Las Cruces. It's not Friday Night Lights, but it beats anywhere outside of the South. They've hosted bowl games in that valley longer than anyplace but Pasadena. I defy you to find a higher saturation of NFL gear anywhere outside of a 6-hour drive from an NFL stadium. They love football. What they don't have is youth camps and travel budgets. (And south of the border, gear and facilities).

I don't disagree that NMSU would be better off playing FCS due to conference issues and travel. And I don't disagree that developing top-level local talent is a long-term proposition. Kill should major on the portal, which sets up very well for NMSU to build something quickly.

And if I were Kill, I would also create a program dedicated to local talent development. There's literally 300,000 boys in northern Chihuahua whose families would do anything to open the door to a college education. If you promised to reserve one roster spot a year for the best of those kids who met a gpa or SAT threshold, it would be a prize to be chased on the field and in the classroom. And it would be an easy sell for corporate giving to supply equipment and develop school facilities. It might not take as much time as you think. And the day that TCU or another P5 team came to poach would be the ultimate signal of success.

I know nothing about NMSU and peanut butter sandwiches, but while living in the area, I never saw a budget shortfall that failed to be met with the suggested solution of a Tamalada.

You bring up some good points. I've never lived in EP but have spent considerable time there for work. My impression has always been that soccer was BY FAR the "biggest" sport there. Go into a restaurant or bar and there is just as good or better chance a soccer game will be on than a football game. Not to say they don't like football, but football is not THE game in town. I'm sure a large part of that is simply funding. Lots and lots of lower income folks in that part of the country and football equipment is not cheap.

I still think NMSU would be much better served dropping down a level.

 

[Paint It Purple]

Hey, it might be the only way I'll ever be able to attend another TCU game!

We'll get HCSD to send the FrogCopter for you.

 

[JogginFrog]

I still think NMSU would be much better served dropping down a level.

A good "comp" for NMSU is another group of Aggies: Utah State. USU is a land-grant school and the third FBS program in a state with a population of 3 million. (NMSU could be considered the third program in greater New Mexico--population 3 million--after UNM and UTEP.) USU is much further from recruiting hotbeds than NMSU; their stadium capacity is 25,000 (smaller than NMSU's). USU was stuck playing as an independent in 2001 and 2002 after the Big West dropped football.

We might both have argued then that USU ought to drop down to FCS. But they put in the work, moved to the WAC and then the Mountain West after BYU left, and this weekend 9-3 USU will play San Diego State for a conference championship. Their football program essentially breaks even financially, so you might argue that even with success on the field, they ought to drop down. But I don't think many people in Utah are arguing for that.

They might have a bigger donor base, but beyond that, any reason why New Mexico State can't become Utah State?

 

[Wexahu]

A good "comp" for NMSU is another group of Aggies: Utah State. USU is a land-grant school and the third FBS program in a state with a population of 3 million. (NMSU could be considered the third program in greater New Mexico--population 3 million--after UNM and UTEP.) USU is much further from recruiting hotbeds than NMSU; their stadium capacity is 25,000 (smaller than NMSU's). USU was stuck playing as an independent in 2001 and 2002 after the Big West dropped football.

We might both have argued then that USU ought to drop down to FCS. But they put in the work, moved to the WAC and then the Mountain West after BYU left, and this weekend 9-3 USU will play San Diego State for a conference championship. Their football program essentially breaks even financially, so you might argue that even with success on the field, they ought to drop down. But I don't think many people in Utah are arguing for that.

They might have a bigger donor base, but beyond that, any reason why New Mexico State can't become Utah State?

Just spitballing here, but Utah being a highly Mormon state, they probably have quite a few Tongans and Samoans on their team? I think that helps those Utah teams quite a bit. Those are football-centric communities and those fellas are built to play football.

 

[ticketfrog123]

Maybe he can hire Steel to pursue collection

Can @steelfrog be the escrow attorney for Kill?