WEBVTT - Jason Eck joins Josh Pate - Pate State Speaker Series 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:15.400 It's really easy to sit around and talk about what's wrong, 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:17.320 So why don't we do it for a second. You 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:19.799 and I were just talking before we press record about 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:22.480 a lot of the calendar related stuff, and there's this 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:24.560 senate build that they're trying to push right now. Some 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:26.400 parts of it I like, some parts of it I 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:26.759 don't like. 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:28.360 But the whole. 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:30.520 Concept of what they're calling the Lane Kiffin rule, which 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.560 is painting this negative light on coaches who move before 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:37.760 the season's over, which is not ideal to me, ignores 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.040 the whole problem in the room, which is the calendar, 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:42.880 which is why the coaches are moving when they're moving, 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.599 And so everyone's got thoughts on how you fix the calendar. 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.360 But you've lived it, like you've been involved in searches 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.400 while the season's going on. You are a current head coach, 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.600 describe the current state of the college football calendar. 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.680 To me, it's a hodgepodge. It's all put together, and 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:00.720 I think there's a lot of things that were without 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.480 looking into the unintended consequences. I think Joan Bos just 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:06.480 have to get back to the roots and the big thing, Josh, 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:08.240 I think got to move the season up. Football has 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:10.559 always been a one semester sport, and now we're sitting 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.319 where the championship game is the twenty sixth. And the 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:15.840 thing I don't feel good about is I just think 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:19.679 the College Football Playoff is deeply affected by coaching changes, 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:22.600 and those coaching changes are necessitated because of the transfer portal. 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:25.120 And I know you love banging on the group of 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.280 six teams getting killed. Well, I think part of it 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:28.880 is they had a big distractions because you have some 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:33.440 wrong going to Florida and you have Chesney going to UCLA, 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:35.560 and that's a big distraction. Yeah, just like it was 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.120 it Oh Miss, just like it was at Oregon with 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:39.880 their coordinators leaving. So I think the more we can 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.360 get our season moved up and finished and then have 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:45.000 time for the transfer portal per second semester, the better. 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:45.240 You know. 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.600 The one thing I guess if I had some commentary 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:51.680 on like G five G six, the caliber of your 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.600 average G five G six playoff contender today to me 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:56.840 pales in comparison to maybe the quality you would have 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:01.320 had Boise two thousands of UCF mid twenty teens, which 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:02.960 is where another part of the Senate bill is kind 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:05.960 of interesting. Where you sit in your shoes right now. 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:08.680 It's this great catch twenty two. Like if you guys 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.280 go play Michigan week one and a guy jumps off 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.799 the screen, you're happy because you had a guy kill 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.240 it that day, but you also know there's a thing 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:17.359 called the transfer portal. 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:19.880 I may be seeing the very last. 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:21.919 Of him in the new Mexico uniform, but. 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:23.320 All of a sudden, if we live in a rule 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:25.639 where you got five years to play five, but you 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:29.320 also have only one penalty free transfer, I don't think 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.560 enough people are paying attention to what that could do 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.760 to fortify G five rosters to where you're not constantly 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:35.519 having a look over. 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.160 Your shoulder worried man. We're having too much success. Our 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:40.000 entire roster is going to get gutted. 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:41.920 No question. And you see it a lot in our 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:46.040 league right now. You know UNLV's quarterback. Last year, Calandria 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:48.480 started at Virginia, kind of came back to the UNLV, 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:50.760 had a great year, and now he's at Nebraska. Yeah, 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.120 we had Dorian Thomas who had a great year for US, 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:55.440 had the great game against Michigan last year. I had 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.560 transferred here from Arizona. Now he's at cal So you're 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:00.680 seeing that quite a bit. That would be a very 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:03.359 good change. And you know, again, I think probably to 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:05.480 do something still with the head coaches. If head coaches 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:07.359 leave to give the guys out, I think that's something 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:08.960 they got to look at as well. But I think 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:10.320 that'd be a positive change. 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:14.720 When you've been involved with your name being mentioned, which 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:16.600 is not going to stop as long as you have success, 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:18.720 so it's like a really good first world problem. But 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:22.000 when you've been involved with the concept that my season's 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:26.240 not over, people are coming after me, and balancing the 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:28.960 responsibility to your team. You want to be honest with 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:30.960 your staff, you want to be honest with your family, 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:33.720 but then you also want to maintain like the integrity 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:35.120 of the competitive. 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:35.560 Edge that you want to have. 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:38.200 I don't think there's a perfect way to handle it. 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:40.160 What's the best way you found to handle it? 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:42.880 Well, a couple of things I think of that. You know, One, 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:45.600 you end up doing stuff late at night that becomes 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.600 the answer. It's yeah, I can, I can talk to you, 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.280 but it's got to be tonight after thirty after I 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:55.640 finished the responsibilities of my team, and then I spend 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:57.040 a lot of time talking with their team about it. 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:59.560 As well, because I do think coaches and players are 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:03.000 in the same situations now, you know, whether it's agents 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.040 reaching out to our players and trying to tell them 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:08.800 about their opportunities are out there. You know. The nice 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:10.600 thing is that I was having an agent is you 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:12.560 don't have to deal with it personally. You know another 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:15.000 person dealing with you. But I I just try to 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.800 tell our players and our coaches if we had to 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.119 keep our focus on what we're doing our job at hand, 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:23.960 and by doing that, you'll create value for yourself in 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:25.840 the future. If you start worrying about other stuff and 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:28.640 getting distracted, your product that you're putting out on a 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:30.400 daily basis is not going to be as good and 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:32.239 you're not going to create as much value for yourself. 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:34.560 And you know, there's times, you know, it's nice in 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:36.719 college football at the FBS level where you have that 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:39.520 little break between bowl games or between the playoffs where 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:41.360 you have some time down pack. I think that was 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:43.560 trickier at the FCS level when I was an FCS 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:45.760 coach because you go right for the regular season into 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.400 the playoffs. You know, so when you're dealing with it 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:52.159 with jobs or the portal, that gets really crazy. You know, 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:56.360 we had a player Andrew Marshall starts at Nebraska now 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:58.640 at Idaho who was ready to go, and he had 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:00.560 a great game against Oregon in twenty twenty four of 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:01.919 the first game, and that was the same thing. I 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:03.800 kind of knew, a we're probably not gonna have this guy, 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.160 and he knew we wanted to move on, and yeah, 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:07.559 we had a big talk. That was when the portal 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:09.360 open in December, so it was even more of a mess. 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:11.479 You know, he wanted to try to go in day 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:13.120 one and I just kind of told him, hey, and 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:14.760 I talked to his parents. I said, we can't have 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:16.920 you go in day one and still play for us, 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:18.800 because I just think it's it puts too much pressure 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.480 on you now and our staff. If you have one 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:23.520 bad play, it's while you're distracted going in. I said, 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:25.320 I'll try to help. You'll call these coaches, try to 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.400 help you find a spot. But we needed to go 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.920 in right after our last game. And it's tricky. 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.800 A lot of times when we're talking about the coaching 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:37.880 carousel season, the majority of the conversation is on the 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:41.240 big jobs, like if Florida's open, everyone's got an opinion 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:45.520 on the University of Florida head football job. But it 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.760 also if you're in the running for the New Mexico 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.320 job or the Idaho job, far less spotlight is put 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.520 on those jobs. Therefore, far less people have opinions of 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:58.480 those places. Far less people of notoriety had experience at 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:00.680 those places. So like, sometimes, so when you're trying to 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:03.039 feel a place out that you've never been, how do 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:04.840 you get a scouting report? Like how do you figure 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.400 out what New Mexico is about? Sight unseen? 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:11.560 Really? For you before you take this job us. 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:13.480 Your network, you know, I talked to coaches who had 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:16.480 been here before. Kevin Cosgrove was a great resource for me. 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:18.680 He was a retired coach now, but he was a 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:20.960 decordinator when I was a player at Wisconsin and spent 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.080 eight years here on Bob Davy staff. And I've probably 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:28.120 talked about six or seven coaches who'd been here. You know. 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.239 TCU was playing in the New Mexico Bowl that year, 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.640 and uh, there there. GM is a friend of mine, 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:36.960 Ryan Dorchester, and so he was here like on his 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.680 site visit for the New Mexico Bowl game. And I 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:41.400 told him, yeah, take pictures when you go through all 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.839 the facilities. Me send me what these facilities look like, 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:45.600 So you got to research it. But again, you're trying 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.240 a lot of times is having those conversations, uh you 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:51.480 at night after you finished practice, after you watch the tape, 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:53.760 and now you're you're trying to do that. So I 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:57.880 get the distractions. I see why you know. I'm sure 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.279 will Stein and uh Tash got no sleep during that 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:02.800 time where you're trying to get ready for the college 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.279 football playoff and you're also working putting things together at 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:05.960 a new head job. 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:08.479 You're entering your second year here. 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:12.280 You've been a head coach since twenty twenty two, which 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:13.920 means you're still brand new on a lot. 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.400 Of people's radars. Like there are very very. 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.720 Huge chunks of the college football public that know of 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.160 Jason Eck only recently. But pres is behind his camera 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.360 over here. He was born in nineteen ninety eight. You 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.320 started coaching in nineteen ninety nine, so like you've been 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:32.840 you've been coaching throughout the entire adult lives of some 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:36.160 of our staff here. And what I want to know is, like, 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.520 how weird is it sometimes to know your entire journey? 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.480 And there's like a laundry list of places you've worked 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:46.040 and then still to be aware that I'm like a 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.560 new commodity, Like the concept of me as a coach 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.360 is still new to most people, and they're talking to 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:54.960 you like trying to get to know you. You know, I've 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:56.120 been around for a long time. 0:07:56.200 --> 0:08:01.000 Guys. One of my mentors helped me out who he 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.400 was an administrator, but he texted me that, you know, 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:06.960 we had some success as a head coach. You're you're 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:10.520 a twenty five year in the making overnight success. But 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:12.600 I learned a lot. I had twenty three years as 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.360 an assistant coach. I mean there's a lot of times 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:16.840 in my career I don't think i'd be a head coach, 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:19.320 and I think everything that I kind of went through 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:20.800 and I went through a lot of coaching changes when 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.480 I was an assistant I worked for in twenty three 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.600 years as an assistant coach, I worked for twelve different 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.080 head coaches. But you learn a lot. You learn a 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:30.640 lot through the way. You see how to do things, 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:32.320 see how not to do things. You take a little 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:34.920 bit from everybody along the way, and I think it 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:36.800 put me in a position where when I finally did 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:38.520 get the opportunity, I was I was ready to take 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:39.120 advantage of that. 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:41.520 You know you mentioned at some point you never knew 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:43.959 if you'd be a head coach. Some guys who are 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.360 current head coaches, if you ask them, they'll tell you 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:48.440 my goal from day one was to be a head coach. 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:50.680 I always thought I'd be a head coach. Other guys 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:54.040 are like, honestly, this is not how it started for me. 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.360 This is what it evolved into. Did you always from 0:08:57.440 --> 0:08:59.200 day one in nineteen ninety nine, I think, man, I'm 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:00.840 I'll be a head coach? Or was there like an 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.280 inflection point where all of a sudden it became real 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.640 for you this this may be a possibility and it's 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:07.880 something I could see myself doing. 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:10.360 I was not that way, you know. I thought, maybe 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:13.120 be an offensive line coach, trying to you know, move 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.680 up the ranks, be a power power four, power five 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:17.800 at that time, to get to the NFL and be 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.319 an offensive line coach. I think that was more of 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.920 my goal earlier in my career. Jim Huber, who I 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.600 played for at Wisconsin, you know, had a great career 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:27.120 as an online coach, spend a little time with the 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.280 NFL at the end of his career and then you 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.520 know John Stifelmeyer, who I worked for at South Dakota State, 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.240 great head coach. I spent six years with him. Him 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.160 and coach Alvarez were the two coaches I spent the 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:39.720 most time with. And he told me after my first 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:41.400 year there, he goes, I think you'd be a very 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.240 good head coach. And he was the first person who 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:46.720 really ever said that to me. And I think that's 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:48.800 something I remember a lot with our players because the 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.520 power of belief. I think when you show a belief 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:53.959 in someone. I think that kind of changed the way 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:56.800 I thought about things. And I'm glad he said that 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:58.960 to me. I'm thankful for that because they got me 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.679 thinking about it. And I really enjoyed being a head 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:03.320 coach now because it's scary when you go into it. 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:06.439 It's so different being a coordinator, so different being a 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.480 position coach. Being a head coach is so different than 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.400 being a coordinator. And I think there's a little nerves 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:12.720 like it. Am I gonna be good at this? Am 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:15.160 I gonna like it? And I found out that I 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:17.200 like it, and my family likes it, and I'm pretty 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:17.560 good at it. 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.160 You know, you mentioned something that triggered something to me 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.400 because I you know, there, I assume most people watching 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:26.800 this right now can identify with having self doubt or 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:30.840 at least uncertainty about self and someone you respect showing 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.400 more belief in you than you have in yourself, or 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.080 maybe claiming they see something in you that you don't 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:38.160 see in yourself at that time, because you never forget 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:40.760 those people, No, you never forget those moments. Now as 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.200 you get a little older, like you said, when you 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.439 reflect on them, then you start seeking out the opportunity 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:50.000 to do that with younger people. And I imagine like 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.400 that happening with you has to impact the way that 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:55.640 you interact with players or maybe even young coaches on 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:56.000 a day to. 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.680 Day, no question. And I've seen the power that the 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:00.720 power of building belief in people, and I think that's 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:01.960 maybe one of the best things they do as a 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.640 head coaches get get people to believe, even though you 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.000 know it might not be a you know, rational thought 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:08.800 to say, we can go compete with Oregon when you're 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:12.240 an FCS school, or you can beat UCLA when you're 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:14.439 you know, you've been playing football here one hundred years 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:16.640 and you've never beat a Big ten team. But when 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:19.720 you build that belief in getting them in that right mindset, 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:20.839 special things can happen. 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:23.319 The u c l A game last year sort of 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.280 slapped a lot of people in the face. It was 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.079 one of those games where New Mexico is going to 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:28.920 play u c l A. 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:31.679 When people are like mapping out their Saturday. 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:35.040 Most people probably didn't say I'm gonna end up focused 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.040 on this New Mexico u c l A game And 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.679 they're watching whatever game they're watching, and then that score 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.160 starts flashing across the bottom line. You're like, Oh, New 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.280 Mexico got out to a good start. Wow, they're pulling away. Wow, 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:49.319 this is a blowout in the Rose Bowl. How impactful 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:50.960 was that day for you? How impactful was it for 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:51.439 the program? 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:53.360 Oh? It was huge. It was huge for the program. 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:56.000 And you know the thing about it, it was unique. It 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:57.720 was a Friday night game. Yeah, so we had a 0:11:57.960 --> 0:11:59.960 you know, I got so many texts from you know, 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.280 coaches who were at the hotel the night before the game, 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:04.440 you know, watching their game. I mean that that game 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:06.439 really stood out to me just in the coaching world. 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:08.880 How many people watch that game and reached out to 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.720 us because you have those you know, we're the only 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:13.800 game on late at night on the on the West Coast, 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:17.040 and it was very ina fluential for a program just 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:18.600 because we had we had to rebuild. You know, we 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:21.040 were only averaging sixteen thousand fans a game. You know, 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.000 I think in the twenty four season here not getting 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.800 great attendance, And I think that game kind of inspired 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:30.520 our fans beating a brand name like UCLA and here, 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.320 I think, especially in New Mexico because we've lost some guys. 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:36.840 You know, the great basketball coach here, Coach Alford left 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.199 here to go to UCLA, and even a couple of 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:41.040 years ago they had a great basketball player down and 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.559 bendtn who went to make millions at UCLA. So I 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:46.120 think you had a little inferiority complex that we lost 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.160 people to UCLA before, so to beat them I think 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:49.920 inspired our fan base. And then we come back the 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:52.360 next week playing in New Mexico State, we have thirty 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:54.680 seven thousand people in the stands. It's the first sellout 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:56.920 since two thousand and seven. So I think that was 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.240 probably the most impactful thing to kind of get our 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:00.800 program turned aroun was that when. 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.200 To me, I have watched what you've done here and 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.400 sort of felt the vibe start to shift from classical 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:14.120 that's of basketball school mentality to. 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:16.200 Whoa man, we can be good in football too. 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:20.240 And it's really, really, to me, very correlated with what 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:23.880 Kurt Signetti has done at Indiana. And it didn't happen slowly, 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.080 like it felt like it all of a sudden happened. 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:30.960 And you realize once a traditional basketball school even shows 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.360 an ounce of potential in football, it's like a huge 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.240 damn breaks and like all these people were just waiting 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.360 to buy in, and you guys, it seems like are 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.880 starting to feel that where that dam's cracking and it's breaking, 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.600 and season ticket sales are going up and there's energy 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:46.320 and people are. 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:48.480 Talking about New Mexico in the middle of June. That 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:49.240 didn't used to happen. 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.520 It didn't happen here. And you know, again, so many 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.280 people have shown you can do it great in both. 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.040 I reme remember when Florida was good, when Billy Donovan 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.520 was in basketball and Urban was in football, and when 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:01.480 the national titles in both. Our fans have really turned out. 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.600 Last year. We had the highest percentage increase in FBS 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:06.480 and attendants. You know, we went from sixteen thousand a 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:08.880 game to twenty five thousand a game, and now I 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.160 think there's that was with not much buzz in the offseason. 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:12.720 Now we're getting a lot of buzz, and our season 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.400 ticket sales are rising up, and you know, I think 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.440 people are realizing, hey, it's a lot of fun to 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:18.640 do both. It's a lot of fun to come to 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:20.520 the University stadium and have fun. 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:21.000 In the fall. 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.360 We were six and oh. The last time the love 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:25.320 was were six and oh at home before last season 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:27.880 was like nineteen thirty eight, something crazy like that. So 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:31.040 you send them home driving home from the game happy 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:32.400 it just like they usually do when they go to 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.480 the pit across the street. And it's been a good combination. 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:37.040 Our fans have really supported us. 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:40.960 The NFL has become famous for how the social teams 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:44.560 handle schedule releases. College football not so much, except you 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:47.040 guys killed it a couple of weeks ago with the 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:50.920 whole Sopranos themed schedule release. So I'm watching that in 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:54.440 Nashville and I'm thinking, Man, someone was in the lab 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:58.360 in that building. Some creative genius had to be behind this, 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:00.480 But I didn't know who the creative genius as was. 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:04.960 You know who the creative genius was and his slash. 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.560 Her name is Kimberly. Kimberly is the creative genius. 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:11.080 Not even on the payroll here officially, no. 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:13.160 But she's a great supporter of our program. She's got 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:15.920 a big social media presence that I think really engages 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.200 our fan base, engages, you know, the female demographic. I 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:21.440 have countless moms and recruits who come up and tell 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.480 me how I follow your wife on Instagram already. So 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.680 she had that idea we would love the Sopranos show, 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.080 and then, you know, I'm kind of I'm not the 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:32.280 detailed guy and the idea guy. I gave that to 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.200 our team and then Brandan and Frank just kind of 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.400 ran with it and had some great ideas and of 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:39.560 how to how to market it, and uh, you know, 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:41.280 we try to be creative on that stuff. We try 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:43.440 to have fun and really we just got to get 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.760 people talking about New Mexico football because for a long 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.160 time people haven't talked about New Mexico football, and the 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:50.520 last two years we've done a great job of that 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:52.200 of getting some stuff to get us on the map. 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:53.680 I always think. 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.280 The job of a head coach varies greatly depending on 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.080 where you have the job, and there some places where 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:06.280 it's a legacy, blue blood like institutional bedrock part of 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:08.600 college football. Ryan Day does not have to worry about 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.240 getting Ohio State on the map, and so he does 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:13.280 not have to therefore focus a whole lot of his 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:16.880 energy on marketing. You've actually got to have the marketing 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.880 hat on. You've got to have that almost like a 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:21.760 pr hat on at times of. 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.000 I got to make sure people know that we exist. 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.920 I got to make sure we're on their radar before 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:30.160 I even worry about performing. Ultimately, it comes down to 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.880 wins and losses, Like you don't ignore someone winning. But 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:35.560 how I don't know how different is that compared to 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:37.840 just being like an offensive line coach in the Dakota's. 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.600 No, it's different, and I think that's you know, I 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:43.200 got these jobs, you know, Idaho and New Mexico because 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:45.440 they hadn't been good, no one wanted to or the 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:46.760 you know, the pool of who I had a beat 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:48.960 was not as good as obviously who Ryan Day would 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.360 have had a beat to get the Ohio State jobs. So, uh, 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.440 it's definitely different. And I think about that sometimes and 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.120 I think we play into h you know, to be 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.960 in the underdog or decordinator. Coach Newinsky does a great job. 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:01.800 It kind of calls our defense the mutch. You know, 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:03.880 a bunch of you know, guys at the pound with 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.320