Aggie defensive coordinator Woody Widenhofer announced his retirement today. Widenhofer will step down on Jan. 20th.
McKinley Boston said that it will be up to NMSU head coach Hal Mumme to hire a replacement. Widenhofer has coached football for over 40 years. Something had to be done on the coaching staff. Widenhofer took the fall. The defense was horrible. But will this move make it any better? Who should they bring in? And how will Mumme sell the position?
I don't think a new coordinator will make that much more of a difference. Talent wins you games and creates good teams. It will be a hard job for whoever takes over.
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He was a great coach, but he was old. I think he did the right thing to retire. I have to disagree with you. I think we have the talent we need on defense to have a very good defense, but I thought the coaching was poor on defense this year. I have been around football my entire life, so I can tell you when I see talent, and when I don't. I think we should find a coach who runs a 4-3 defense. I would move Fonoti 6'4 255 to DE, and have Rhyan Anderson 6'4 280 at the other DE. Fakalata 6'4 315 should play DT, and all we will have to do is find another DT. We already have a few freshman red-shirting this season, and already have two commits one from a JUCO transfer, and the other from a hs kid from Hawaii. Jamar Cotton 6'1 220 4.4 speed, Chris Nwoko 6'1 235 4.5 speed should play the will, and same linebackers. Freshman Jeff Lucas 6'2 225 4.6 speed should play the middle back position. Then I would start Vince Bulter 4.4 speed, Devon House 4.4 speed at the corners, and Richardson 4.5 speed, and Woods 4.4 speed at SS, and FS. I also think we will have a lot more depht next season, and I also see that Hal Mumme is going after quite a few JUCO transfers, and I think a new DC is what we needed, because we are going to have a great offense next season. Chase Holbrook, Chris Williams, A.J Harris, Tony Glynn, and Justin Buries all returning, and we have a few good freshman WR getting time this year, and also have DeAundre Brown a 6'0 180 WR who has 4.47 speed, and Lavorick Williams a 6'3 187 WR with 4.28 speed who I think both could be getting a lot of playing time. We also have Chris West who red-shirted this year who in hs put up huge numbers. Over 1000 yards rushing, and 1000 yards recieving, and over 35 touchdowns, and well also played corner, and had 11 INT. I'm telling you that Hal Mumme can recruit, and that he is going to get this program turn around. You people just need to be patient, and stop thinking that we are Nebraska or something, because we are not. I'm disapointed about this year, but I know the reason why we didn't play so good was because of injuries. Last season we played good, because we had no key injuries, and this season it is like almost everyone has been hurt.
Sounds like Mumme will be around next season if Boston is allowing him to find the replacement. I think Mumme will have to go out of staff to satisfy everyone. Will they bring in a scheme that is better suited to college talnet? Maybe Woody's d's were over the head of some players? This won't sit well with those of you who want Mumme fired, but atleast it is a step towards either fixing the situation or cementing the fate of the head coach. Good Luck to Woody and his wife, wish it oculd have been better. Support the Aggies this Friday if you can, It is Senior night.
I don't think anyone is surprised by this. His actions the past month have said it all. Damn quitter!
I still think Dr. Boston needs to go out and find a DC.
Mumme only cares about offensive numbers and has no clue how to spell D-E-F-E-N-S-E!
How do you sell the position? It's a tough call cause Mumme needs to have "do or die" season in order to save his job next year.
We will need to find a young coach that kids respect, a guy who is not afraid to line up in practice and have a, "let's kick some F....ass" attitude!
We saw that an old fart like Woody couldn't get it done.
Definately some young blood is in order!
Hey Woody,
Go hold hands w/ that quitter Patera!
Misery loves company!
Ganja Boy
Ganja Boy,
Why are you bringing up Paterra as a quitter? I guess if someone retires they are labeled quitters. Paterra decided to leave last January and spend time with his wife. Get your facts straight before popping off.
At least Woody didn't quit as quick as some of you "fans" did. Get a grip dude.
Ganja boy,
the first commenter sold the DC position just like Mumme is going to sell it. We have talent, just need to bring in somebody to mold these young men.
First of all, I'm not a quitter.
As bad as the FB team has been, I haven't missed a home game in over four years and recently traveled to Hawaii last month to catch the game.
Can any of you boast the same? Never question my fanhood!
Widenhofer milked us and milked the system.
He's 64 and turns 65 in January. Oh, and he also retires in January?
C'mon, guys!
He was just going thru the motions waiting to get full retirement age for social security purposes.
He and Patera were thinking like retirees when they came to NMSU. You can say that he coached Jimmy Cotrell when he lead the nation in tackles, blah, blah, blah. He led NMSU in tackles every year!
Jimmy Cotrell, Matt Griebel and Courtney Bryant are tremendous players and great kids.
But, these are Tony Samuels kids that the "Air Raid" inherited.
I'm also big on our current LB's, D-line and I think our secondary is just oozing with raw talent!
All I can say is; if you can't win with these players. The coaches aren't doing there job because they are thinking like retirees! They are more interested in getting the Senior discount at Golden Corral, playing shuffle board and complaining about the goverment full time!
Our next DC needs to be young, full energy and bring a winning attitude with him.
My home streak continues, see you Friday!
Can you guys do the same?
Ganja Boy
Did anyone see the Hawaii-Boise State game over the holiday? What's so difficult about having a defense similar to what Hawaii showed out there? They ran the same basic offense that the Aggies did (80% pass 20% run)-BUT AT LEAST THEY SHOWED WHAT DEFENSE SHOULD LOOK LIKE!! This game film needs to be studied and notes taken by our current "defense"
Well said above. Some of the "fans" in this town have no room to talk about quitting. They quit on the team barely half way through it. For those that make it to the games, I salute you!!! I'll be there to support the seniors.
GO AGGIES!!!
Great job with the Woody Commentary. I think you are on to something style-wise.
I always try to be brief, but the Aggies get me all emotional. Here goes...
I am looking for a strong effort on Saturday. A strong effort against Fresno State would show the team will compete for a WAC title in the future. Winning is going to be tough, but not impossible. I hope the Aggies come out firing on Saturday and make it a Shootout. The offense is capable and needs to play to score on every possession. No more excuses, just go out and play hard and see what happens.
I think the LCSun-News can play a big part in the Aggie turnaround next year. Someone posted to the blog the 40 times of all the recruits and I would like these "commitments" substantiated by the paper. But make sure Player X is actually going to be eligible to play next year, so we don't get all excited about So-and-So Pope. Do a end of the year Boston Evaluation that outlines who will be back, who will be gone, and who we might get. We as Aggie fans need to do a better job of forgetting about what happened last week, last year, or when we were named the worst D-1 program in the land. Forget it! All of the big programs have disappointing years, but as soon as they are over they start talking about the new coach (we get to do that this year), next year's favorable schedule (this does not apply to us), or next year's hot commodity (not named Pope). Let's try that for an entire offseason, with real newspaer articles and everything, and see what happens.
There are plenty of bright spots on this team. The community needs to care about a turnaround so it will happen sooner rather than later. The players work very hard, we have seen flashes of it all year, and their effort should be applauded. We need to look to programs like Navy, UCONN, Kansas, and even WACky Hawaii for inspiration.
I don't know what happened this year, but if we are not going to talk about it honestly and objectively, forget about it. We were unlucky, the season didn't go as planned, whatever. Saturday can go our way. Everything can fall into place and we have a chance to make a play to win the game. It's a one-game season. Nothing else matters. Go Aggies!
It's interesting to hear that Widenhofer retires in January and BTW, turns 65 in the same month.
I agree to a certain extent w/ Ganja Boy.
Sounds like he was going thru the motions at his age and just collecting a paycheck.
He retires in January but he will also be in a lower tax bracket in 2008.
Just retire after the game. I don't see how he can help the program until January.
I like the future, both offensively and defensively. There's talent!
We just need the right DC to get that talent on the same page.
I'm curious to see who Mumme brings in.
I'll be there on Friday saying goodbye to those seniors that busted their butts!
Here is a very familiar story about age, quiting and fighting for your players.
Colorado State asked Sonny Lubick (70)to retire. He refused because, "he did not wan't to quit on the kids."
The University had to fire Coach Lubick because he would not quit.
I don't have problem w/ coaches leaving, as long as they leave a program in a better position.
The defense is worse now than when Widenhofer took over.
As soon as he sold his house and left the Nevada game w/o adressing his players. Widenhofer quit on a great bunch of kids a long time ago!
Call it retirement or whatever but, Woody can learn a lot from Coach Lubick and how he fought for players till the very end!
The are some really good coaches out there.
Ed Orgeron just got the boot at Ole Miss and was USC's DC/ LB coach in their two championships. He would be a nice candidate.
Who else do you guys like?
I have made every game home and away for the past 2 years. It is frustrating to see things not go as was expected this season. Maybe the expectations were too high, maybe the team didn't perform, maybe the coaches are not what we need long haul, but I think Mumme and most of the staff have 1 more season to win back the support. Would anoyne be happy if he went 8-4 next year and left to another school? I think the foundation is being laid for us to become a decent program in the Wac. If Woody can help until January there is no reason not to have him until then, he is very intelligent they say regarding defense, maybe he can teach the remaining staff a little more. See you Friday, those of you that are there. Good Luck to all the Aggies this weekend. MBB, WBB, Volleyball and Football.
I like what you guys write about our returning talent, but know next to nothing on the D side. Sure hope you're right, because it will take talent to get a good "up and comer", unknown DC to come to NMSU and join the offensive-minded Mumme. And I too think Ed Orgeron would be great, but get real. Whoever comes will likely be someone most of us never heard of. You Mumme bashers will hate this, but his judgement is all that matters here. At least, per Dr. Boston. And yes, as one of you pointed out, Mumme is coming back. Just like Teddy and some of us have been saying all along.
-Aggie Glare
An assistant coach from a great school like UCLA, Ole Miss, Nebraska etc would make a better head coach than what we have now, and he could bring in a staff wanting to develop these young men and build a program. No big time coach will come here to the desert, to a lousy program with lousy community support.
Well, that's what Tony Samuel was, an assistant from Nebraska. Didn't exactly do us a whole lot of good.
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