Wright: Short name, tall assignment: that’s Eck’s job now

To UNM President Garnett Stokes, the Board of Regents and whoever else had anything to do with it, The Headline Writers of New Mexico thank you.

First, after the departure of Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez — he of that troublesome tilde over the “n” — you’ve given us Fernando Lovo. Crisp and clean, no tilde seen.

And now, with Lovo driving the bus, you’ve replaced Bronco MenDenHall, that three-syllable seceder, with Jason Eck.

Eck: that’s all there is. It’s not a nickname, as with baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley and (probably) former Albuquerque Duke Larry Eckenrode. Just Eck.

Aside from its Eckonomics, the new UNM football coach’s name is a headline writer’s potpourri. “Loboland Eck-static,” in good times, “Eck as in Wreck” in bad.

Therein, though, lies the question.

How soon will the good times roll, if ever?

Eck, the head coach at Idaho the past three seasons, comes to UNM with credentials similar to those of Dennis Franchione (1992-97), though with far less head-coaching experience. Franchione, like Eck highly successful at the NCAA 1-AA/FCS level, took the Lobos to their first bowl game in 16 years and to a Western Athletic Conference divisional title before leaving for TCU.

It wasn’t easy. Fran, as he was known for headline purposes, went 24-32 with just one winning season during his first five years at UNM before skedaddling after his breakout year in 1997. And Franchione never had to deal with NIL and the transfer portal.

Clearly, Eck’s path to success here is littered with obstacles. Since Mendenhall’s departure on Dec. 6 after just one season, the UNM roster has been decimated by portal defections.

Quarterback Devon Dampier, the straw that stirred the Lobos’ drink during Mendenhall’s one and only campaign, is headed for Utah.

Running back Eli Sanders (1,076 yards rushing) has offers from Arkansas, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Stanford and Memphis.

Former Cleveland High School wide receiver Luke Wysong (69 receptions) has committed to Arizona, where former UNM head coach Danny Gonzales, the guy who recruited him to UNM, is an assistant.

In fact, eight players responsible for 214 of Dampier’s 226 completions are in the portal. So, as well, are all eight of the Lobos who earned all-Mountain West honors, whether first-team, second-team or honorable mention.

Eck, though, brings impressive credentials as a program builder. That’s why Lovo hired him.

As Eck noted at Tuesday’s introductory news conference at the Pit, Idaho had enjoyed just two winning seasons in the 22 years before his arrival. He gave the Vandals three winning seasons in a row, going 26-13 and taking Idaho to the FCS playoffs all three years.

He knows something about the portal, having lost eight players to FBS programs after the 2023 season. The Vandals nonetheless went 10-4 this season, beat Wyoming (which Mendenhall’s Lobos failed to do) and played unbeaten and top-ranked FBS power Oregon to the hilt before losing 24-14.

And there’s how he did it: full tilt.

During his three seasons at Idaho, the Vandals went for it on fourth down 84 times — converting exactly half of them.

“I believe you need to be aggressive,” he said after Tuesday’s news conference. “I think the kids respond to that.

“If we make errors, I never want to make a conservative error. … I don’t want (his players) playing tentative and slow. If occasionally they’re going 100 miles an hour and make a mistake, I can live with a full-speed error. That’s how I want to coach.”

Home attendance more than doubled, Eck said, during his three years at Idaho.

He looked at the crowd of 11,149 that attended the UNM men’s basketball victory over Western New Mexico and said he believed that kind of enthusiasm could easily transfer to a consistently winning football program.

The odds of that happening, he said, will increase once Boise State, Colorado State, Utah State, Fresno State and San Diego State leave the Mountain West Conference starting in the fall of 2016. Smaller pond, bigger fish.

Yet, Franchione, Joe Morrison in 1982 and Rocky Long in 2008 all left, in part, because they didn’t see winning seasons rewarded with sell-out crowds. Those damn fans, Long grumbled on the way out.

New Mexico, though, hasn’t had a consistently winning program, producing conference championships and the like, since the late 1950s-early 60s, before college football went two-platoon.

Eck coached the past three seasons in the shadow of Boise State, for decades the gem of Group of Five football — not just winning, not just winning consistently, but consistently winning big.

Can it be done at New Mexico? Is Eck the guy who can do it?

Stokes, Lovo, the Regents, et al, are betting on it.