Monday, December 3, 2007

Mumme staying

For those who did not read my article two days ago, Boston confirmed that Hal Mumme will be back next season. A few things I'm sure factored into his decision.

First off, Mumme has two years left on his deal. The school will not buy him out. I just don't think that was going to happen, so they bit the bullet. Next year will be critical. The team will need to win 6-7 games to justify keeping him on board.

This season was also a tough one to judge how far the team has come. I said it time and again, when you're top players are hurt, it's tough to win games.

The problem I saw with the team is that they're built to win one way - scoring touchdowns. If they don't outscore people, it's all over. Good teams can beat the opposition in a number of ways. One week it's the defense, the next week, the kicking game steps up and field position plays a big factor. Not with this team. Score, score, score. That's the mantra.

I expect the team to be better next year with a full cast of players. But there are no guarantees that everyone stays healthy again. Holbrook will always be a target dropping back 50-70 times a game. In football, people get hurt. Receivers, QBs, RBs, linebackers, DBs, linemen. It's a fact of the sport. And the schedule will be much tougher. No cupcake 1-AA school is coming to town. Tall order for Mumme and company next season.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

3 wins,tops.It doesn't look like coach is too interested in defense next year.Too many young players these days aren't taught the value of DEFENSE in the game of football-and coaches who are only interested in making their offensive numbers look good are willing to sell out a school like NMSU,because they know that nobody in the AD will stand up to them

Anonymous said...

Although I think Mumme has not done a very good job, I am not opposed to him remaining the head coach. NMSU is not, and has never been, a football school. As Aggie alums, we cannot honestly look at our alma mater and say, "man, we had some great football years." When I was a senior, the team went 7-5 in a weak Sun Belt, won every home game, but lost to UNT for the Sun Belt title. That was a great year in my book because I had never seen the Aggies play that well. Although we did not make a bowl game, most Aggie fans were content with the way the season went.

NMSU athletics has to play to their strength, which everybody knows is basketball. NMSU has a very rich basketball tradition and the community routinely relies on the basketball team to lift our spirits after an awful football season. This year, our basketball team has thus far under-achieved. I accept losses to UT, Duke, and WV (although I wish we would have at least competed in one of those games), but it is real hard to swallow losses to Ohio, UTEP and UNT. After a severe disappointment in football, all us Aggie faithful were saying "who cares, we have basketball." Suddenly, our season outlook is rather ominous. We very well could get swept by our rivals and enter conference play with a 5-10 record (assuming we beat PVA&M and Alcorn St).

I guess my point is that Aggie Athletics and its fans need to focus on the strong program. That means we as fans need to take Aggie football with a grain of salt and invest in basketball. I have been guilty of getting too mad at the football team and forgetting that football has always been bad at NMSU. The basketball team, on the other hand, with 4 returning seniors - 1 of them an All Conference pick - has no excuse to be as bad as they are. Aggie basketball benefits from a rich history of success and has several key players from last year's NCAA team. They need to start winning games consistently and that starts tonight.

Anonymous said...

Karl Dorrell goes 6-6 and gets FIRED? Why couldn't Mr. Boston have put offhis decision for a few days?How about we trade coaches for a year?-maybe UCLA can figure out how Hal's "Error Raid" game works-'cause it sure hasn't worked for us!!

Anonymous said...

It's only obvious.
The offense has a very good nucleus w/ Chase, CW, AJ, Glynn, Buries, Bolin, Taylor, Neiman, etc. all coming back.
If Mumme can't win w/ this group next year...trouble!

The defense does have some good DL, Lb and a raw yet, talented secondary coming back.
They just need a DC that will play to these kids strengths.

2008 will have to be a "do or die" year for Mumme.
I'm waiting for national signing to see our future. In the mean time, it's bowl season!

Anonymous said...

its basketball season now. post blogs about that. nobody wants to read/talk about an embarrasing football program.

Anonymous said...

I think NMSU will go to a bowl game next year if we stay healthy. We have the talent to have a great offense, and a good defense. I have no idea how people think Hal doesn't give a crap about defense, because that isn't true. He has been recruiting a lot of talent on defense. Our defense is going to be improved next year. This year we finally don't get hit by the APR so we will be able to sign 25 guys in Feb. Two years ago we only signed 16, and last year we only signed 19 so we lost about 15 guys because of the APR.

Anonymous said...

You said in one of your articles that they will need to bring in a Defensive Coordinator who will not allow the "Air Raid" to infect the D, that's the problem in a nutshell.
Hal's offense wears down the defense because they spend too much time on the field.
Hal's offense wears down the O-Line because passing the ball 50+ times a game means they're receiving the punishment from the constant pass rush as opposed to occasionally delivering the punishment when you have a running game. UNR's Ault put in the "Pistol" so the running back has more chance to run north-south, not east-west as Aggies seemingly always do.
Hopefully Mumme puts Chase under center more often and allows him grow as a quarterback and not just a thrower.
There is no question that Williams injury was devastating to the offense, his presence on the field always draws double coverage and frees up other things. Mumme gets one more chance and hopefully Chase and everyone can stay healthy enough for the Aggies to improve on this years disappointing record.
Three more things;
1. Lose the TOWEL and put on a headset.
2. Make everyone accountable on and off the field, that flag against New Mexico on Special Teams should have been handled instantly and publicly to send a message to the team.
3. The team needs to look more professional before and after games, it sends the right message.

Anonymous said...

There is no real reason to fire Mumme early. He has a 5 year contract and he has definately made progress in his 3 years. The WAC is a very respectably conference and the teams at the top have great traditions. Just look at the games against UNM and UTEP this year. Those teams destroyed NMSU Mumme's first year, and Mumme almost beat them both this season.

That being said, Mumme is jerk and has no respect or credibility in the coaching community. Ask anyone from anywhere he has ever been or visited. Coach Curry during the game on Friday night when asked by the play by play announcer what adjustments Mumme needed to make against Fresno, said "well the only adjustments he made so far have been on that towel around his neck".

So let Mumme put in his 5 years and continue to rebuild the program, then let him go and bring in a solid respectable coach who can better represent this university

Anonymous said...

I guess you missed the part where Coach Curry called Mumme an offensive genius also. I agree with you that the program is making strides, but they must show results next season or I am afraid that Mumme and staff will be gone. The graduation rate is better, talent seems to be getting better. Now we need to see the depth show up, better play on the field from both sides of the ball. Hopefully the fan base will support the team early on next season and the team will earn their support with good play. It is time that the Aggies had something positive from the football program. I think you're wrong on Mumme not being like, he is just a different person to the general public. The towell comment was a joke in relation to the weather and how it affected the spread offense. The schedule should quiet everyone that complained about playing 1AA schools, but by doing that they are going to have to step up early. why Nebraska? I thought we were only going to play those type of games every other year?

Anonymous said...

I will not renew my season tickets next year for football or basketball. I'm so fed up with Aggie sports or lack thereof that I'm just going to play like they don't exist.