Thursday, January 14, 2010

Walker's coming back in 2010

Just got a text message from Tyler Dunkel confirming DeWayne Walker's return to Aggie football.

My text message read: can you confirm that DW is staying?

Dunkel replied: Yes he is.

Here's the link to the Sun-News story.

All's well that ends well.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Back to recruiting...........I count 13 verbals so far (ESPNU source). Does that mean we have 4 more to go for a total of 17 scholarships?

Anonymous said...

yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!! We got some studs!!!

JD said...

Any publicity is good publicity???
http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/features/rumors
Never had this much coverage over one of our coaches in football. Obviously his has been a good hire to this point.

Anonymous said...

NMSU has also confirmed this with a press release to the media:

Walker to Remain as NM State Football Coach



LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico State head coach DeWayne Walker released the following statement, Thursday morning, announcing that he will be the Aggies’ head coach in 2010.



“In order to put an end to wild speculation and inaccurate reporting, I am announcing that I will happily remain the head coach at New Mexico State University for the 2010 season,” Walker said.

“I am proud to be a New Mexico State Aggie and remain committed to making this program a winning one. I feel good about the direction of our program. We are going to have a great recruiting class and hire excellent coaches. We are building a program that Aggie fans can be proud of.

I want to thank New Mexico State University, Southern New Mexico residents and Aggies fans for being patient during this time.

I am looking forward to the challenge of the 2010 season.”

Anonymous said...

YES! Let's hope DW is still busy recruiting and trying to get the remaining coaches to fill out his staff.

On a side note Tuberville fired 6 assistants at Texas Tech that were there under Leach. Might be able to pick 1 of them up.

IC

Anonymous said...

JD do you have the actual article? Maybe you can post it, because we cant read it without paying to become an insider.

9pistolPETE9 said...

So the sun is shining bright over the Organ Mountains on this cloudy day. The truth has been spoken for now, and DeWayne Walker will continue what he started. What we know from this week of speculation is how highly regarded DeWayne Walker is throughout both the NCAA and NFL coaching ranks. It is impossible to find a negative comment on this man from his peers. What we can also prepare for is with some success in Las Cruces, Walker's stay here will be short. With a touch of success, his phone will be ringing off the hook with great personal and career opportunities. A nice change from the previous men whom have held the title of Aggies Head Coach whom have stayed in Las Cruces only until the Athletic Director cut the cord.

When that phone call does ring for DeWayne Walker, let's hope that it is an NFL Coordinator position. An opportunity which he will leave behind seasoned coaching staff that have been built in his regimen. R. Todd Littlejohn just may be Walker's successor on the sidelines of Aggie Memorial.

All of this is said with the belief that we truly have a diamond in the rough with Walker and his staff. That it is just a matter of time that great things happen for the Aggies, which in turn will lead to a great career that I for one am excited to follow in Mr. DeWayne Walker.

Anonymous said...

Teddy I know that before today, Doc Boston said they still hadn't planned on giving Walker a pay increase. But as 9pistolpete9 said and everyone else has figured out that Coach DW is in fact a highly regarded coach. So why not add say a year or two, and bump him up, but put in a good buy out clause for the University? We got nothing in the Reggie deal, we can't let that happen again. Because unless we get a seasoned staff and have an heir apparent we will have to put on a search and interview process. Let's get ahead of the game and cover ourselves. DW is getting nothing but praise and he only won three games. With his recruits coming in and it's a talented bunch, he could get us to 5 this year and maybe 7 next. Thats progress we all want but if that happens he could be gone.

Anonymous said...

I am curious as to why didn't he state his commitment to the school at the beginning? Is this one of those not committed until the job ISN'T offered and then committed situations?

Sure would have saved a lot of time and energy had he come forth at the beginning.

JD said...

Will Walker regret his decision?
11:01
AM ETNew Mexico State Aggies Top Email ESPN The Magazine's Bruce Feldman tweets that a source has told him that coach DeWayne Walker is not going to be joining Pete Carroll with the Seattle Seahawks, as has been reported. While we applaud Walker for honoring his commitment to his players and the school that took a chance on him, we can't help but think that he'll regret his decision a year or two down the road.

Walker, 49, already has NFL experience, but it appears that he is choosing being a head coach over being an assistant, even at this level. However, one could argue that he could parlay a stint as an NFL coordinator into a better head coaching job than the one he has. The Aggies have finished above .500 only four times since 1967 (though, to be fair, two of those came relatively recently, in 1999 and 2002 under Tony Samuel). We hate to say it, but the NMSU job is something coaches don't usually recover from.
- ESPN NCAA football Rumor Blog

Anonymous said...

Thanks JD. That last sentence says it all. I think that's why DW took so long to confirm his return. That said, I love his confidence in being able to turn the program around and making us contenders. Now we need some WRs.

Anonymous said...

I definitely have way more respect for DW now. Here to finish what he started.

Anonymous said...

The man should have spoken up from minute one and said I'll think about the job if offered or said he wasn't interested period.

As it is, we'll never know if he didn't take the job because it was never offered or he didn't want the job because he was the coach of the Aggies.

He gets no props from me. At best, he gets a neutral on his handling of this.

Anonymous said...

To “Anonymous” January 14, 3:40 PM, that said: "The man should have spoken up from minute one"...I suggest you take a deep breath and relax. Do you seriously expect me (and plenty others like me) to believe that YOU have the "big picture?" Coach Walker is an intelligent, football-savvy, opportunistic person. I say “fine...let the rumors swirl.” He's in the middle of a NMSU football recruiting trip half-way across the country...he's doing his job, trying to rebuild the Aggie program. The amount of "free" publicity lauding Walker's expertise and possible hiring as the Seahawks' defensive coordinator was tremendous in terms of NMSU name recognition (a.k.a. a public relations “home-run” for Aggie recruiting/football/ticket sales). The fact that Walker's name was heavily reported for over a week as Pete Carroll’s (you know...the wildly-successful head coach of the 2-time national champion USC Trojans...not too shabby) leading candidate for the DC job, only served to HELP Aggie recruiting. If things had played out as you’ve suggested (“The man should have spoken up from minute one”) the PR miracle would have NEVER happened (Walker was all over the Seattle Times, ESPN, and other national media). I think I prefer the way it actually did go down. Bottom line: there's a bigger picture. Don't be so quick to bad-mouth the man (...a person that's highly-respected among his peers and clearly someone with integrity).

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous January 14, 2010 7:58 PM,

I say again, he should have spoken up right away and said he wasn't interested. If he had so much "integrity," he would have. At least Reggie told us up front that if a pro job opened up, he'd be gone.

The fact that Walker was in the middle of recruiting players is EXACTLY the reason he should have stated where he stood. Why put the possibility of him leaving into the minds of the recruits? Makes zero sense.

Again, I give him no props for the way he handled it. Period.

An I am very relaxed and comfortable with this point of view. Maybe you should take a breath and think about it...

Anonymous said...

7:58 is spot on.

Anonymous said...

We can all breathe a sigh of relief now, CDW is gonna turn this thing around.

I know some people may be a bit irked that this dragged on a few days but, we all have to remember that coaching is a business.

The uproar that we saw the past few days is because everyone knows CDW is a good one and we are on the right track.
We got a winner in a our hands. When the season rolls around, let's say thank you to CDW by showing up to the damn games!

BTW,
Any word if we have hired some new coaches?
Former TTech D/C Ruffin McNeal could be a good one.

Jefe

Anonymous said...

I'm ecstatic about Aggie FB in 2010and beyond. Especially w/ CDW at the controls!

One thing I want to ask you Teddy,
Why did you waste your time and everyone elses w/ the Bob Gallagher story?

It was pretty obvious the guy was WRONG but, what makes him a credible source in your book?

I realize you got papers to sell but, it made you look pretty bad.
You ain't no spring chicken and you are to seasoned a reporter to be taking the bait.
I hope you learned from this.

Anonymous said...

any more news on recruits?

Unknown said...

Come one Anon Jan 12, 3:40...he put a stop to rumors after only a couple of days. Its not like he strung us out for weeks. AND he's COMING BACK..that's huge. I wish I could some how divorce myself from some of the "fans" of NMSU!

Anonymous said...

Teddy, I know your counterpart's blog covers basketball but he does not seem to respond or post comments... Any word on Gillenwater?

Anonymous said...

Anon. 10:31
If you can't get an answer from Jason Groves.
Ask Bob Gallagher about Gillenwater. He seems to know everything in Aggie land and Teddy seems to believe him. LOL!

Teddy said...

10:31

In his recent blog entry, Jason addressed Troy's situation. Copy and past the link below....

http://bballgroves.blogspot.com/