Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Making the case for a timely Doug Martin promotion

Here's why it wouldn't be surprising to see Doug Martin named permanent head football coach at New Mexico State University sooner rather than later:

• The recent job posting, open for just two days with an anticipated start date of Feb. 1, 2013. This can indicate the following: That the Aggies have a short list in hand, and perhaps their selection in mind. And if it's not the man they have as interim, than it better be someone who knocks their socks off during the interview process. The smart bet is on Martin.

• They have to move quickly in the hiring process to solidify a coaching staff and the upcoming signing class. Tough to do either with the interim label hanging over the head coach's title. While NMSU football faces a number of issues, this is the most immediate one that can (and must be) addressed.

• The hiring of offensive line coach Bart Miller, although in the works while DeWayne Walker was still in charge of the program, could indicate Martin is making key personnel decisions already.

• He's gotten support for the job locally.

• He wants the job.

All key factors. We'll see how things develop from here.

Follow me on Twitter @TeddyFeinberg

15 comments:

bill said...

for all of you who complain that nmsu is not paying there coaches well go to coaches hotseat and read what walker was getting. Then come back with your same argument that doesnt hold water.

Anonymous said...

Agreed. Smart money is on Martin. Really unfortunate timing as National Signing Day is at our doorstep. I wonder how this uncertainty has affected recruits.

Anonymous said...

Dewayne Walker was the lowest paid coach out of all the WAC coaches if I'm not mistaken. The only reason I could imagine he would want to stay here is because power. He was the man incharge of the entire football program. If Doug Martin isn't hired as PERMANT HEAD COACH then we should drop to FCS level or drop the football program entirely. Boston hire Martin, give hime 5 years or you need to leave town when he leaves for a better job again

Anonymous said...

Coach Martin resigned from Kent St. at the end of 2010 with back to back 5-7 season.
Two years later 1/2 of the kids he recruited were on the ranked Kent St. team that went to a bowl game last month for the first time in 40 years!

When he took over Kent St. they had the 2nd longest bowl drought (2nd to NMSU) and Alumni/ fans were considering killing the football program.

In a nutshell: Kent St. was in the same position we are now and Coach Martin was instrumental in the turnaround!

Sign him up and give him what he needs to turn this thing around!

Jefe

Anonymous said...


Bill 11:56

According to that website (Coaches Hotseat), Doug Martin (as it claims) makes $500K even though Walker is on the contract,and is ranked at 103 out of 124 football schools. Did you not notice that the remaining schools are ALL small schools compared to NMSU (enrollment, etc)? In comparison, Bob Davie (UNM) makes $800K (ranked #84). Do you not see the issue here? Same state, big disparity in salary. The site claims that the first 78 football schools pay their head coaches $1 million minimum. That grouping even includes smaller schools such as La Tech and Wyoming. As I've said many times before, you must spend money to make it. Nothing against Coaches Walker and Martin, but NMSU is NOT going to get top or middle tier coaches due to lack of support, funding and poor salaries. That's the world we live in folks. Teddy I agree with your judgement on this one. Martin seems like the obvious choice. We must ALL accept that this coming football season is going to be very rough due to the VERY tough schedule and the turnover at head coach. With this in mind, we ALL need to be out there supporting OUR Aggies no matter what the scoreboard looks like. Change is not going to happen over night nor within a year or two. It's going to take time, funding and support for this program to get more wins.
To NMSU and the Athletics Dept, PLEASE provide more funding and support to the team. Otherwise you're just spinning your wheels and not listening to your fans.

JH

Teddy said...

Just want to add two cents.....of course getting a quality head coach is important. Perhaps more important is getting top-quality assistants, particularly at coordinator, and retaining that talent. You get that by paying market value, something NMSU hasn't done. We saw that first hand in recent years. These coordinators must draw up gameplans and are in the trenches daily. A head coach in football is the head of the corporation, but having quality talent beneath that man will make or break a team.

Anonymous said...

jh again you think a coach who gets paid 1000 a month for rent a country club membership two cars and cell phone plus 400 thousand a year is not good. Coach coker who kicked walkers a#$ here is paid 225 thousand and has done more with less. Yes unm does pay more heck alford makes a million a year. Its always been that way thats why we need to go d2 play with our type of kids we recruit. Your thought dump more money into it doesnt hold water, would you keep pouring money into a clunker no you wouldnt. las cruces is a small town people here dont want to pay alot to go see the college team play we didnt pay alot back in the 70 when basketball ruled and boston came in and changed all that. Keep wishing but face it this town wont support them.

Anonymous said...

Ok...I think we can all agree that more money for salaries would be great. But where does it come from? I don't think anyone at NMSU is holding back available money--and you can bet the Athletics Department is very aware of their lack of funds. So...do they raise tuition on the students?

If fans wold actually attend games--and not just football--that would be very helpful. Las Cruces is not a great metro area for sponsors/donors. I wish the state favored NMSU more...but we all know UNM gets more of those funds. So how does Boston or anyone else expand the budget to pay coaches? Where specifically do you see the money coming from...and what gets cut if you shift existing funds to coach salaries?

Teddy said...

Larry Coker and UTSA have more football support than NMSU. The team plays in the Alamodome and is BUILDING A NEW STADIUM for the 2020 season. They're located in Texas and have dumped $$ into that program. They have nowhere to go but up.

Yes, the Aggies loss to UTSA this year was embarrassing and we all knew it hit rock bottom at that point. But don't say UTSA has less resources than NMSU, because that's just plain off the mark.

For a coaching salary database, feel free to check out this link. It gives a listing of assistant coaches as well:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2012/11/19/ncaa-college-football-head-coach-salary-database/1715543/

Anonymous said...

ok can someone please tell me why you all dont want to go d2. We wont have to change anything and the same fan base turns out. so can someone explain?

Anonymous said...


Anon 6:16,

Those perks as you pointed out (golf, etc) are NOTHING compared to what other universities provide their coaches. Look through some of the contracts on that website you needed to mention. Cell phone? I am issued a cell phone for my job. Trust me, that's not a perk. What's makes you think we'll win in FCS? If we continue to not provide the appropriate funding to our football program we'll lose there too. Just because it's FCS doesn't mean all the schools are push overs.

Teddy thanks for the follow up. Yes we can't even begin to compare Las Cruces and San Antonio. As Teddy also mentioned, the assitant coaches need bigger salaries. You get what you pay for. A football program is not like a "clunker". The football program CAN be turned around with the appropriate amount of funding AND support which you obviously do not have. Folks this is PRECISELY why anything, but high school sports are doomed in Las Cruces. Cruces and Mayfield have had winning histories and the community shows up in large numbers to games because their children attend either school. I'm not saying that all the players at NMSU need to be locals. There are many more 5 star players from CA as opposed to NM.

The negativity is the same attitude that El Pasoans have. There's no support for UTEP either. Only when they win do people begin to show up. I'm VERY curious to see how much support the new AAA baseball team does in regards to fans after about 3 years and depending on their record. Lack of fan support is also why I think the NMSU athletics department needs to spearhead a MAJOR publicity campaign so that fans can have a sense of ownership/pride for NMSU athletics.

For those of you have think that NMSU can't turn itself around look at Boise St. young D-1A (1999) football program. It has 50K seat stadium, has played in two BCS Bowl games (won 2 Fiesta Bowls) within the last 5 or so years and they continue to grow. This is all done with a similar problem that NMSU has, poor tv market, remote location and small fan base. If it can work there why can't it work here?

ANON 6:16 you also mentioned paying a lot more than what we paid in the 1970's. Inflation has increased a great deal since then so that's why we pay almost $4/gallon for gasoline as opposed to less than a $1 back in the 70's. Boston had NOTHING to do with that. Show me another comparable university that charges less for any of their tickets. Not going to happen. Don't come to us with problems, come to us with solutions. Look if you don't have a solution that "holds water", stay home and be miserable. Those of us that sit in the stands or listen to the Aggies on the radio will be there to pick up your slack. Let's support the Aggies folks!

JH

Anonymous said...

jh you are so fun to argue with. You said stay home and you guys in the stands will pick up the slack. Then why are you begging for support. Those others decided to stay home of there own choosing so quit begging. You also havent mentioned when they said donate half your salary to the coaches well? And teddy what do other d2 coaches make on football scoop i have seen some of those salarys nmsu is paying more so why are you and jh afraid to go d2?

Anonymous said...

Aggies...WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM???

I think some of you really believe that it just exists in a bag somewhere and we just need to reach-in and spend more. Or maybe some think a new AD would bring in money? From who? What business in Las Cruces that has $$, and would be willing to invest in the program has not been approached?

Do you really think people in Las Cruces don't know about the games and that if we somehow found more money in our sock drawer they would show up?

Las Cruces fans are fickle. There is no pride in the university or team. Tickets are cheap. There are giveaways at the games. There have been fairly recent stadium upgrades. Fans still don't show.

Boise is significantly larger than Las Cruces...it is closer to Lubbock, TX in size, and just by sheer numbers there are more corporate and community investment opportunities. Additionally, the Broncos are the only D-1 football team in a large radius. And they are the "jewel" of the Idaho Universities and get more state funding. (Talk to an Idaho Vandal about how they view the scenario...eerily similar to UNM vs. NMSU).

NMSU has major hurdles and unfortunately, I don't see them having the ability to bring in the necessary dollars to compete with other Div-I schools. However, Div-II schools typically come from smaller communities and do not get the same state funding as the larger state schools. NMSU is more closely related in this way and because of that, I think a move to Div-II is a good idea. Big Sky Conference looks like a good fit.

aggiebacker35 said...

Let's get real here. Martin left us after one year to get into a situation that everyone knew was tenious at best. He has had a shot at an almost identical situation in Kent State and he failed. 28 wins in 7 years is not success. The fact that Kent State was successful this year does not directly reflect Martin. He has been gone for two years. That is enough time for new players and definitely new coaching to take hold.

aggiebacker35 said...

I do believe that Earnest Wilson would be a great hire for NMSU. He is great recruiter that can identify talent and get them to Las Cruces. His walk-ons earned starting spots and scholarships. He has had success as a head coach, albeit in the Arena leagues, but that means he knows how to operate with limited resources. His offenses since leaving NMSU have been at the top of the country in total offense and passing. He also will embrace the community and get more people to support NMSU athletics. There is a disconnect between Las Cruces and NMSU athletics. An individual like Earnest Wilson can bridge that divide.