Monday, December 5, 2011

Lenzmeier, Lindsey, Williams: Gone

The New Mexico State Aggies lost three football assistant coaches on Monday — defensive coordinator Dale Lindsey, defensive line coach Jesse Williams and offensive line coach Jason Lenzmeier.

In my opinion Lenzmeier will be the toughest of the three to replace.

He is a good coach with recruiting ties in New Mexico and Texas.

Wide receiver Austin Franklin is one player he recruited and reports now have Cleveland High quarterback Cole Gautche planning to go to the University of New Mexico instead of NMSU — where he originally verbally committed to.

The Aggies tried to keep Lenzmeier but him leaving seemed like a no-brainer also.

It's like CC Sabathia — the Brewers tried to keep him and made him an offer they thought was fair, but they were going against the Yankees. More guaranteed money in a place he wants to be — he is a Lobo and so is his wife, they have family there. Tough to say, but it also makes sense.

Lindsey was a good coach too — tough, straight-forward and old school, he played at Western Kentucky from 1963-64, played for the Cleveland Browns from 1965-73 and then began his coaching career in 1974 with the Browns. In other words, he's been around football forever.

Perhaps not the best fit anymore at NMSU either, however. Again, he was older and coaching college players is different than coaching the professional ranks. That and the defense wasn't very good either.

NMSU head coach DeWayne Walker wants his unit to look more multiple next year and perhaps a new voice leading the way isn't a bad thing.

Initially, letting go of Williams came as a surprise.

He did what he could with a unit that was hit hard with two academic casualties and an injury to defensive tackle Tommy Stuart at the start of training camp. All three players — Stuart, tackle Augafa Vaaulu and end Donte Savage — were projected starters and their losses were obviously a huge blow to the group. I thought the defensive line played up to its potential this year — albeit that ceiling wasn't very high.

In the end, I think Lindsey and Williams can be replaced.

Lenzmeier can be too, although that will be tougher. Him going anywhere would hurt, him going back to UNM hurts even more.

We'll see how things transpire from here.

Follow me on Twitter @TeddyFeinberg

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you to all three coaches for all their hard work these past three years.

Losing Lenzmeier is a big blow...it's even worse that he went back to UNM...He was our Texas recruiter and brought some pretty good players with him. Tough, tough loss!!

Maybe CDW could consider bringing in former Aggie Asst., Mike Fanoga back to coach the D-line?
I believe he's at Laney CC and he was our Polynesian contact and many of the Hawain player are here because of him.

Jefe

JD said...

Loss of Lenzmeier will hurt Texas recruiting some. We will need a Texas recruiter with UTSA and Texas State coming in. Big void to fill.

Loss of the Cleavland High recruit is not a good sign. Maybe the fact that Manley and Colwell are here had a little more to do with him switching....I hope???

The only other coach we need to worry about is the O-coordinator. NEED TO RETAIN HIM AT ALL COSTS

Cruces Kid said...

Initially I wasn’t concerned about unm hiring a coach who has been out of coaching for the past ten years. Living in ABQ every thing is either really great @ unm or absolutely awful @ unm, depending on which day ends in y. After listening to new unm coach Davies press conference, I do have concerns about his impact on the Aggie football program. After 10 years as Dan Patrick calls it, The Mother ship (ESPN), he has become very media savvy & is personably engaging. He had stated that it is his commitment to own New Mexico from a recruiting basis. Coach Lenz was player & coach with unm before becoming a very good coach for the Aggie football program. I’m sure he has family & friends in ABQ so I get his desire to get back to ABQ & unm. Previous unm Coach alienated himself to the state of New Mexico which allowed NMSU to make inroads into recruiting & convincing local talent to consider playing @ NMSU. Something that was greatly hindered by Rocky Long when he was in charge of the unm football program. I agree that coach Lenz leaving gives unm and coach Davies a significant head start in returning unm football to prominence especially understanding that Coach Walker doesn’t have a coach with those New Mexico & Texas ties currently on his staff. The impacts of change has begun knowing that Cole Gautsche has decided to switch his commitment to unm now that coach Lenz is returning to his former school. Following an offensive line coach puzzle me? Wouldn’t you want to play for a former head coach who is now OC & QB coach in Doug Martin. Unless Coach Martin isn’t as involved in recruiting as I thought an OC would be, especially at the quarterback position. Will Gautsche become a quality player only time will tell but how many other players will follow coach Lenz and who will coach Walker tab to be that person to convince New Mexico football talent to play for NMSU & possibly steal from unm instead of the other way around.

Anonymous said...

look's at Lenzmeier's body of work
2011: NMSU's O-line give up 44 Sacks, got 4 QB's Hurt,...one to the point he had to give up FB ( Tanner Rust )
2010: NMSU's O-line give up 41 Sacks,
2009: NMSU's O-line was so bad, NMSU never tryed to pass the ball


Wow....with that body of work...i'm glad he's gone

Anonymous said...

I liked Lenzmeier but, he's a Lobo and he never looked comfortable wearing Crimson & White.

Even when Coach Walker introduced him during his 1st signing day party, Lenz wasn't wearing anything that said NMSU.

Maybe I'm over analysing it but, that's my take.
Either way, he's a HELL of a recruiter and wish him well. Go Aggies!

K Aggie '98 said...

Everybody knows that college football is all about recruiting. Walker can recruit and the team's improved performance is evidence of his recruiting ability. Also, there are know "student misconduct" issues to worry about. Lenzmeier surely helped in recruiting, but the head coach sets the tone for the team so I don't anticipate a major kink in the recruiting going forward.

As for Gautsche, I am sure he wanted to be a Lobo all along but didn't like the Locksley system or didn't like Locksley. I think his switch has nothing to do with Lenzmeier and was more about Davie.

So, with the changes on the horizon for the MWC we can only hope that NMSU will be considered for a spot in the MWC. But, small TV market and NM eyeballs already accounted for, I doubt it. I think UTEP, UNM and NMSU need to be in the same conference.

Is there any validity to hearsay that UNM (or other entities) is against NMSU joining MWC? If so, does anybody understand why this benefits UNM or the state of New Mexico?