(The following story appeared in Wednesday's Las Cruces Sun-News online edition and Thursday's print product)
As of Wednesday night, DeWayne Walker and his agent Don Yee were negotiating with the Jacksonville Jaguars in hopes of getting a multi-year contract agreement from the NFL organization, according to New Mexico State Athletics Director McKinley Boston.
Boston said multi-year contracts are rare in the NFL for assistant coaches, which is what Walker is speculated to become if he gets the job in Jacksonville. It’s believed the Aggies current head coach interviewed with the Jaguars on Tuesday to be the team’s defensive backs coach.
School officials said Wednesday night that a decision on Walker’s future at NMSU is expected to come today.
Walker still has four years remaining on his NMSU contract, which paid him close to $375,000 last year.
Speculation on Walker’s departure has long been a topic of conversation.
On one hand, he just wrapped up his fourth season at New Mexico State — a critical year for many college football coaches looking to turn around a program — with a 1-11 season. Such a record brought his career mark at the school to 10-40. While three of the four years the team was largely uncompetitive, it came with a caveat: Walker spoke frequently during that time of a program that wasn’t well-enough supported to put wins in the record books, making it unfair to judge his coaching acumen entirely on his win-loss standing.
On the flip side, one of Walker’s career goals — being the head coach of a major college football program — could be put on hiatus with such a departure. While Walker’s experience at NMSU hasn’t been easy — at times it’s been anything but — it still provides one of just 120 Division-I college coaching jobs available in the country.
The 52-year-old Walker came to the school in 2009 to replace Hal Mumme, becoming the 33rd head coach in New Mexico State history. It’s the first head-coaching experience of his football career.
Prior to his job with the Aggies, Walker was defensive coordinator at University of California, Los Angeles (2006-08) and at University of Southern California (2001).
He does have experience as an NFL defensive backs coach, when he held such titles with the New York Giants (2002-03) and Washington Redskins (2004-05).
Follow me on Twitter @TeddyFeinberg
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
DeWayne Walker: 10-40
Hal Mumme: 11-38
Tony Samuels: 34-57
Remind me again why they fired Tony Samuels.
Good luck to you, coach, on whatever you decide to do.
Good luck Coach Walker to you and your family in Jacksonville. I will be rooting for you on Sundays!
Thank you for trying your hardest to try and turn this program around.
Too bad that Boston & his cronies didn't give you the tools to succeed.
Honestly, I wish Boston was leaving and not you!
Godspeed, Coach Walker!
Jefe
Maybe Anon 10:02 is on to something. Last I checked Tony Samuel is still coaching and has been pretty successful at SEMO. The program has done well. Maybe NM State needs to give him a closer look????
NMSU needs to find a coach that has proven they can turn a program around. Look into the Div II or Div III ranks. Many of these schools face the same financial challenges as NMSU. Yet some coaches are able to still succeed. These coaches get picked up pretty quickly, but a few that are still out there.
A couple up and coming coaches that I think should be pursued: Ed Lamb, Southern Utah University or Rob Ambrose, Towson.
I also think bringing back Tony Samuel is a great option.
How can people be wishing this guy well so much? I dont hate him by any means, but he has to know that he is leaving at the absolute worst time as far as recruiting is concerned.
As a fan of Aggie football you have to be a little bit upset about that. Leaving for a position coaching job in the NFL? Not even a OC or DC position. Man... Boston has to be at least a little emabarrassed about this???? He is putting both feet of the football program into the grave.....
CDW is a class act even if his W-L record was on the short end. Best of luck in your new endeavors!
I hope Doug Martin gets the support Walker didn't get from Boston & Co.
Here's my input on this situation. I am fairly level-headed and have been around NMSU Athletics for a long time.
Dr. Boston is a good AD and a good person.
DeWayne Walker is a good coach and a good person.
Las Cruces and southern NM, not being around a major city to adopt, has to be one of the most difficult regions to have a successful football program. We have "successful" high school programs because of the community aspect and cheap tickets. College football needs $$$$$. If NMSU Football is to be successful, the $$$ needs to flow into the program much more than it has been. Utah State & LaTech have recently seen their respective universities receive an influx of funding to their whole Athletics department, including (and mostly toward) their football programs. NMSU has not. Who knows what the football program could have looked like if Michael Martin had stayed with his foot on the Athletics-funding gas pedal. You may say that we would then be throwing away even more money than we are now, but that is not true. A successful football program can bring in HUGE profits that can not only lead a football program to be financially self-dependent, but can also fund the other sports.
We recruit the same players as USU and LaTech - their stadiums, locker rooms, weight rooms, etc. are better and more up-to-date than ours - so those players don't come here.
If we were to hire Chris Petersen, I still think we would struggle mightily.
Include the fact we are without a conference. No conference wants us because our TV audience is so small. The horizon is not looking so bright for NMSU football. It’s not Dr. Boston’s fault. Dewayne Walker has every reason to get out and he may soon be a D-Coordinator in the NFL.
Post a Comment