UNM football: Urlacher says Mendenhall is ‘right guy’ for New Mexico

After a minute or so of mulling over his promotional wager, Brian Urlacher stepped up to the counter with a question.

“Is there a moneyline on the Lobos game?” the Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker and former UNM star said at the ribbon cutting ceremony for Sandia Sportsbook.

The teller shook his head and said no — Sandia doesn't take wagers on New Mexico or New Mexico State.

“Nevermind, I was just kidding,” Urlacher deadpanned. The teller laughed, Urlacher settled on — who else? — the Chicago Bears as six-point underdogs at home against the Green Bay Packers and the rest of his promotional appearance at Sandia Resort and Casino’s new sportsbook went off without a hitch.

But if Urlacher couldn’t quite put his money where his mouth is, it didn’t dim his feelings on the current state of New Mexico football. The former consensus All-American at UNM said first-year head coach Bronco Mendenhall was, in fact, his pick to coach the Lobos after former head coach Danny Gonzales was fired last November.

Urlacher played his final two seasons at UNM under Mendenhall, then the defensive coordinator, and former head coach Rocky Long, who both helped put the Lovington High School graduate on the path toward football immortality. A product of Long’s famed 3-3-5 defense, the eventual College Football Hall of Fame inductee won Mountain West Player of the Year honors in 1999 before going on to a legendary 13-year run with Chicago.

“Him or Rocky I thought needed to come back to kind of turn the program around,” Urlacher told the Journal. “He’s done it already — we’re 4-6, pretty close to being 5-5, you know. But you just look at the culture and the way the team plays, how hard they play, they’re run to watch.

“I think he’s got a ways to go, and he’ll tell you the same thing. He’s never gonna be satisfied, but he was definitely the right guy for the job.”

Few would know better than Urlacher. When Mendenhall was brought on as UNM’s defensive coordinator in 1998, he remembered that the former BYU and Virginia coach was “different” in the sense that he challenged Urlacher and his teammates just as much as his NFL coaches would.

Both on and off the field — after all, how many coaches regularly complete workouts with their own players?

As Urlacher fondly recalls, Mendenhall did.

“He took us out to the sand hills south of town and we ran those damn sand dunes,” Urlacher remembers. “On the weekend, he’d run with us. He had this competition, and he would compete against us.

“I don’t know if that’s a tall tale or not, but it’s just (one) of the things he did to kind of be a part (of things) and draw our defense closer.”

As Urlacher was in the midst of a Hall of Fame career with the Bears, he said he tried not to bother Mendenhall as he was coaching. But he noted the two have managed to stay in touch over the years, and Urlacher acknowledged how much he influenced his career.

“He’s a great man, he’s a great father, he’s a great friend to people,” he said. “Just a good dude all the way around. Man, I don’t know anybody who’s known Bronco or been around him who doesn’t like him, or have a good thing to say about him.

“Just a good man, always positive, always upbeat, excited — even when things aren’t going well.”

Crimson to cherry

In September, defensive tackle Garrison Walker made the long-anticipated trip back to his old school in Auburn. Last week, safety Noah Avinger did the same at San Diego State

This week, it’ll be Gabe Lopez who gets to welcome his old team to University Stadium for a “full circle” moment of his own.

Lopez, a redshirt senior edge rusher and one of UNM’s four team captains, spent three seasons with Washington State — the Lobos’ opponent this week. The 6-foot-2, 236-pound team captain said he’s had this game circled on his calendar since the Mountain West entered into a one-year scheduling agreement with Pac-12 holdovers Washington State and Oregon State last November.

Lopez transferred from Washington State to UNM in 2023.

“Coming out of high school, going there, (you) usually don’t expect to transfer or whatever — I thought I was gonna be there my whole career,” Lopez said. “But that’s not how things happen. Life gives you challenges.

“And now I’m here. When I got here, I never expected to play them … that (scheduling agreement) happened, and of course it’s a big game for me.”

Injury report

UNM lost a handful of players in the secondary during last Friday’s 21-16 win at San Diego State, and the list of inactive players at Tuesday’s practice reflected as much: Cornerbacks Noa Pola-Gates, Bryson Taylor and Jahvante Royal were spotted in turquoise jerseys (meaning injured, non-contact or limited) while safety Dereck Moore was not seen at practice. All three suffered undisclosed injuries against the Aztecs.

If those players remain sidelined, expect cornerbacks Cam Watts and Drew Speech and safety Skylar Cook to see expanded roles against Washington State.

Defensive tackle Kyler Drake and running back Javen Jacobs also remained inactive on Tuesday, but UNM did get one player back. Safety Bobby Arnold III was out of turquoise for the first time since he suffered an undisclosed injury in a 52-37 win against Air Force on Oct. 12.

Editor's note: The story has been updated to reflect that Sandia Sportsbook does not take wagers on New Mexico or New Mexico State.