Sunday, September 25, 2011

On Locksley firing

New Mexico Lobo football coach Mike Locksley getting fired on Sunday shouldn't come as a surprise.

He had a long list of off field issues, culminating in Saturday's episode with a minor — who claimed to be a UNM recruit — driving Locksley's SUV under the influence of alcohol before the Lobos played Sam Houston State in Albuquerque.

The fact the team lost to Sam Houston, an FCS school, seems almost irrelevant at this point.

Sure the Lobos have been bad the last three years — very bad actually.

Locksley took over for Rocky Long — who I thought did an excellent job at UNM. Locksley talked about adding another digit to the scoreboard — a way of touting his offensive philosophy — and there was talk of his recruiting prowess.

None of it happened — the team went 2-26 in his two-plus years at the school.

But the off field problems was a big elephant in the room — punching an assistant coach during a meeting, a sexual harassment lawsuit, and other brushfires along the way.

Administration can look past poor performance on the field if they believe in the coach — they can always cry for more time to build the program, more experience, more recruits, patience.

What they can't cry is ignorance, or look past repeated egregious behavior.

UNM put up with more than enough trouble.

Perhaps the only surprise was that it took them this long.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You need look at the kind of news coming out of UNM, ALL of it. The whole school is an embarrassment to the state.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised they allowed him to coach a game. "Add another digit to the score board." What a joke, LOL!!

The Unm players have to be devastated by his firing.
NMSU needs to jump on them early and often.
This is a golden a opportunity to get another win and then take a week off.

Anonymous said...

Everyone thinks NMSU should win this game fairly easy.

Well, this is NMSU were talking about folks.
This is the same team that was favored to beat utep because they were without there starting QB, DT & CB. We all know how that game went, right?

NMSU should be favored.
If they lose to a HORRBLE unm team, a team without a head coach.
Then NMSU should just drop football all together!!

Anonymous said...

Teddy,
Locksley went 2-26, not 3-27.

This is a dangerous game for NMSU.
If they go in all big headed like the utep game, unm will beat them!!

Anonymous said...

What if NMU is a lousy team and the reason was Locksley ?

What if they weren't giving 100 % because of Locksley ?

What if they show up at NMS with a whole new attitude because he's gone is it possible we see a different NMU team ? Just a thought .

Anonymous said...

Lobos win by 5 points. Aggies fumble, stumble and bumble the game, snatching a loss from the jaws of victory. Mediocre game calling leads the way to the "L" once again.