The New Mexico State Aggies football team represents New Mexico State University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. Although New Mexico State remains a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for other sports, the WAC ceased to offer football as a sport after the 2012 season due to a realignment in which most of its football-playing members left for other conferences.
On September 12, 2012, New Mexico State announced that it would stay in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and become an independent. New Mexico State returned to the Sun Belt Conference (of which it was formerly a full member) for football only in 2014.
Despite some impressive single game wins and individual player stats, the Aggies have struggled as a team on the field. As of 2014, the team had not appeared in a bowl game since 1960. This is the longest period of any FBS team without a bowl appearance.
§History
§Early history (1894-1928)
One of New Mexico State's earliest football games was the first match-up against in-state rival New Mexico on January 1, 1894.
From 1914- to 916, Clarence Russell served as head football coach of the Aggies, compiling a 7-2-6 record.
Dutch Bergman served as head coach from 1920 to 1922, compiling a record of 12-1-5.
R. R. Brown served as the head football coach of the Agggies from 1923 to 1925. He led the 1923 team to an undefeated 9-0 record, including victories over Hardin-Simmons, and rival teams New Mexico, and UTEP.
§Jerry Hines era (1929-1939)
Jerry Hines began coaching the Aggies in 1929, and was also coach of the men's basketball team. Hines' teams competed well in the new Border Conference. Between 1934 and 1938, the football record was 31-10-6, and the team was invited to the first Sun Bowl in 1936 where they tied the powerful Hardin-Simmons Cowboys 14-14. Hines' coaching career ended with his induction into military service during World War II.
§Julius Johnston era (1940-1945)
Julius Johnston took over the Aggies football team after Hines' resignation, and led the Aggies for three seasons before departing to serve in World War II. In his absence, assistant coach Maurice Moulder led the team. Johnston's record was 6-21.
The Aggies did not field a football team from 1944 to 1945 because of the events surrounding World War II.
§Ray Curfman era (1946-1947)
From 1946 to 1947, Ray Curfman was the head coach of the Aggies, then in the Border Conference. Curfman's Aggies compiled an 8-11 record. He resigned in December 1947 to work in the sporting goods industry in Texas.
§Corley, Coleman, Patton and Cavallo (1948-1957)
From 1948 to 1957, NMSU compiled a dismal 21-74 record under four head coaches (Vaughn Corley, Joseph Coleman, James Patton and Anthony Cavallo) that were either fired or forced to resign in succession. Fan support and attendance declined, recruiting was becoming more difficult and alumni and administration support was drying up. This would be a sign of things to come for the Aggie football program.
§Warren Woodson era (1958-1967)
Future College Football Hall of Fame inductee Warren B. Woodson took over as head coach in 1958. He previously had success at the Conway Teachers College (now Central Arkansas) and Hardin-Simmons. In his second season at New Mexico State, Woodson's team defeated North Texas in the 1959 Sun Bowl. The following year, Woodson guided the Aggies to an 11-0 finish, the only perfect season in school history. That year, New Mexico State defeated Utah State, 20-13, in the 1960 Sun Bowl and attained a final AP Poll ranking of 17th. Quarterback Charley Johnson won the bowl MVP honors both years becoming the first and still only player in NCAA history to win the MVP award from the same bowl game in back-to-back years. Johnson went on to play in the National Football League for 15 years with the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Oilers, and Denver Broncos. During his NFL career he managed to complete a Doctorate in Chemical Engineering making him one of only a handful of NFL player to earn a Ph.D. Dr. Charles Johnson is now a professor and department head of the Chemical Engineering school at NMSU.
The Aggies continued to fare well under Woodson through the 1967 season. However at the end of that season university administration, with whom Woodson had a contentious relationship throughout his career, invoked a clause requiring state employees to retire at age 65. Thus Woodson, who would turn 65 that offseason, was essentially forced out despite a 7-2-1 1967 campaign that ended with a 54-7 shellacking of archrival New Mexico.
Despite some impressive single game wins and individual player stats, the Aggies have struggled as a team in the days since Coach Woodson. As of 2013, the team had not appeared in a bowl game since 1960. This is the longest period of any current FBS team without a bowl appearance. Since his departure Aggie football has spiraled into an abyss of perennial futility that some Aggie fans have begun to refer to as the "Woodson Curse." In the 45+ seasons since Woodson's firing, NMSU has amassed just four winning seasons, while failing to appear in a single bowl game.
§Wood, Bradley, Krueger and Zechman (1968-1985)
During this time peiod, NMSU's football program declined, failing to reach a single bowl game and struggling to win football games. The Aggies' best season during this time period was a 5-5-1 mark in 1971 under head coach Jim Wood. Jim Bradley, Gil Krueger and Fred Zechman also led the Aggies football program during these years, and they failed to produce any winning seasons.
In 1978 Coach Krueger and the Aggies went 6-5 and won the Missouri Valley Conference.
§Mike Knoll era (1986-1989)
Miami linebackers coach and former Aggies linebackers coach Mike Knoll was named NMSU's head coach after Zechman's firing. Under Knoll, the Aggies were abysmal, compiling a 4-40 record that included a 17-game losing streak at the end. In each of Knoll's four seasons, the Aggies were outscored by at least 200 points. Knoll was fired after a winless 1989 campaign.
§Jim Hess era (1990-1996)
NMSU, hoping for a positive change in results, hired Jim Hess away from Stephen F. Austin in December 1989.
In November 1990, the Aggies managed to snap their 27-game losing streak, the longest active losing streak at the time, when they defeated ranked Cal State Fullerton 43-9. Fullerton dropped its football program following the 1992 season. The 1988-90 NMSU team is ranked the ninth worst college football team of all time by. The Aggies were also featured in the August 31, 1992 issue of Sports Illustrated in a piece that chronicles a tradition of losing games.
Overall, the same subpar results remained under Hess, leading to his firing after seven seasons. Hess' record at NMSU was 22-55. However, Hess did lead the Aggies to their first winning season in fourteen years in 1992, a 6-5 campaign.
§Tony Samuel era (1997-2004)
Nebraska defensive ends coach Tony Samuel took over the Aggies football program in December 1996. Under Samuel's guidance, New Mexico State compiled a 34-57 record. The highlight of Samuel's tenure was on September 18, 1999, when the Aggies traveled to Tempe and upset #22 ranked Arizona State by a shocking 35-7 score, bringing much-needed attention to the football program. Running back Denvis Manns became the third college football player to rush for 1,000 yards each of his four seasons. At that time the only other backs that had accomplished the feat at that time were Tony Dorsett (Pittsburgh) and Amos Lawrence (North Carolina). After eight sub-par seasons, Samuel was fired as head coach.
§Hal Mumme era (2005-2008)
NMSU turned to former Kentucky head coach Hal Mumme to turn around the morbid program in December 2004. Mumme brought his high-scoring, pass-oriented offense known as the "Air Raid" to NMSU. Under Mumme, the Aggies compiled an 11-38 record. At the end of the 2008 season the Aggies ended their fourth season under Mumme at 3-9 (1-7 WAC) with a disappointing 47-2 loss to Utah State. The following Tuesday, December 2, Mumme was fired. The former quarterback and 15-year NFL veteran Charley Johnson, who was then a chemical engineering professor at New Mexico State, was appointed as interim head coach during the search for a replacement.
§DeWayne Walker era (2009-2012)
UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker was named NMSU's head coach on December 31, 2008, signifying a new direction for the pass offense-oriented squad. Under Walker's tutelage, NMSU compiled a 10-40 record, failing to win more than four games in a given season. Walker, facing mounting pressure from administration, alumni and fans, departed NMSU to serve as defensive backs coach for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.
§Doug Martin era (2013-present)
NMSU hired Boston College offensive coordinator and former Kent State head coach Doug Martin as the program's 34th head coach in February 2013. In Martin's first season at the helm, the Aggies compiled a 2-10 record.
§Rivalries
§New Mexico
NMSU's biggest rival is in-state foe New Mexico. The series, known as the Rio Grande Rivalry, dates back to Jan. 1, 1894 - eighteen years before the state of New Mexico achieved statehood - when the schools met in a football contest in Albuquerque. While it is clear that New Mexico won that first game, school records seem to disagree on the score. According to New Mexico media guides the final score was 25-5 but according to New Mexico State media guides the score was 18-6. By the time New Mexico entered the union in 1912 UNM and New Mexico A&M (as NMSU was known prior to 1959) had already met on the gridiron six times. Beginning in 1993, the two universities played for the Maloof Trophy, but it was short-lived; the trophy was retired in 2000. Until 1937 the series was competitive with the Aggies holding a 15-12-4 lead over the Lobos. Since 1938 the Lobos have dominated the series 54-16-1 except during 1959-1968 when the Aggies won 7 of 10 meetings. The Lobos all-time advantage is 67-31-5, however the rivalry remains spirited. The September 26, 2009 game when the Aggies won 20-17 in Albuquerque was the 100th time the teams had played each other. Most recently the Lobos defeated the Aggies 27-14 on September 22, 2012 in Las Cruces.
§UTEP
The Aggies also hold a rivalry with UTEP, known as the Battle of I-10. Although UTEP holds the series lead at 52-35-2, largely due to dominance in the series from the 1920s to the 1960s, UTEP's advantage is just 22-19 since 1969.
The winner of the annual matchup receives a pair of traveling trophies. The older of the two is known as the Silver Spade. It is a replica of an old prospector's shovel found in an abandoned mine in the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces and has been traded between the schools since 1955. A second trophy, officially titled the Mayor's Cup but commonly nicknamed the Brass Spittoon, was added in 1982.
Due to the close proximity of the campuses it was natural for a rivalry to develop. The Texas College of Mines played its first ever game against a collegiate opponent versus New Mexico A&M in 1914 and, with few exceptions, including during World War I and World War II, the teams would meet again every year. Following World War II the series resumed on an annual basis from 1946 until 2001, when UTEP's administration made the controversial decision to cancel their scheduled trip to Las Cruces in favor of scheduling an additional home contest against a Division I-AA opponent. The schools agreed to meet again in 2002 (a 49-14 NMSU win, their biggest blowout of the Miners since 1922), but did not play again until 2004 in El Paso when the Miners exacted revenge for their blowout loss two years prior with a 45-0 pasting of the Aggies, the most lopsided result in the series in 55 years. The blowout marked the beginning of a three game winning streak for UTEP in the rivalry. The tide of the series then seemingly turned back in the Aggies' favor, as NMSU defeated UTEP the next two years, their first back-to-back wins over UTEP since 1994 and 1995. The Aggies edged the Miners 34-33 on September 20, 2008 at the Sun Bowl for their first win in El Paso since 1994. However the most recent three games in the series have gone back to the Miners, with UTEP defeating NMSU at Aggie Memorial Stadium 38-12 on September 19, 2009 (only their second win in the Mesilla Valley since 1991), topping the Aggies 42-10 at the Sun Bowl on September 18, 2010, and again defeating the Aggies 16-10 on September 17, 2011 in Las Cruces for their first back-to-back road wins in the series since winning four straight games in Las Cruces between 1986 and 1991.
§Achievements
§Bowl games
§Conference championships
§Future non-conference opponents
§References
§External links
- Official website
Interesting Informations
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