Tony Sanchez to become New Mexico State Head Coach as Jerry Kill Resigned for Health reasons.
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Sanchez
- Thread starter Buffel
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Obviously hope Kill is okay. In early 2000s, he was having seizures that lead to a kidney cancer diagnosis. Went into remission, then at Minnesota was having those seizures gameday. Hope JK is okay.
For Sanchez, that's awesome. Head coach at his alma mater. He'll be fired up to continue success and prove that he learned from his time at UNLV. Maybe even get a little financial help from the Fertitas.
I'd guess we never see him tie his horse to one QB again.
He will tank it in less than 3 years
Also
Kill will only be remembered for whining about how UNMs AD was mean, and lauding himself for how much class he had while cursing to the media
Also
Kill will only be remembered for whining about how UNMs AD was mean, and lauding himself for how much class he had while cursing to the media
Back to back bowl seasons for them and a little momentum.
Cannot afford any drop off at all.
I kind of agree that I don't see it ending well either. Different ball game with NILs, but who exactly are you whipping up money from in Las Cruces... I imagine the Sanchize at UNLV in NIL era mightve had different results but honestly he served his purpose...
Also 0 chance Fertittas care about NMST...
Depends. If you’re Sanchez, you try to make the Fertittas care. How do you do that? Hire their son away from UNLV. Give him a shot as an associate coach. Its a gamble, no telling if its enough to have the Fertittas care enough to donate money. Their son doing well may be enough of an incentive to boost the program so he can go to other places.
I tweeted to Coach Sanchez that I hope he’d get the head coaching job there someday. I didn’t think it’d be this soon. He wish the Reb’s better succeed in 2022 when he messaged me. He’s a good guy!!
Good for Tony Sanchez. My god UNLV could do a 30 for 30 on how he brought UNLV Football to relevancy. Not by record but by marketing Las Vegas, not running from it. Uniforms, Fertitta Center, National commercials on ESPN that were hilarious. I don't get it maybe he rubbed people the wrong way never met the man however, first year beating Reno in Reno jumping over the sidelines into our section celebrating loved it. If he came back for a UNLV appreciation day I'd stand and tip my cap. Good guy.
Congrats to TS. He left more of a lasting positive mark on UNLV football than about anyone else. Best of luck.
I'm happy the guy got a second chance somewhere else, but the amount of UNLV fans that are over the moon excited for him to get a HC job is amazing...
Like dude was our Football coach for 5 years of bad to mediocre football that we paid him for at a time where the landscape of college football changed forever.. I get he was the name behind the money for the practice facility but we had to watch bad football for 8 years before we hired a competent HC.. Imagine if instead of a gimmick fundraiser as HC, UNLV had its collective S**t together and had gotten a competent HC like we have now? Yeah I'd trade the practice facility for P5 offer because eventually something was going to be built, and Tony just sped that up, but it cost us 5 years and who knows what lost opportunities.. it looks cool because of the facility and its importance to here and now, but man...
Like dude was our Football coach for 5 years of bad to mediocre football that we paid him for at a time where the landscape of college football changed forever.. I get he was the name behind the money for the practice facility but we had to watch bad football for 8 years before we hired a competent HC.. Imagine if instead of a gimmick fundraiser as HC, UNLV had its collective S**t together and had gotten a competent HC like we have now? Yeah I'd trade the practice facility for P5 offer because eventually something was going to be built, and Tony just sped that up, but it cost us 5 years and who knows what lost opportunities.. it looks cool because of the facility and its importance to here and now, but man...
Looks like their starting QB just entered the portal.
Following Hauck's awful tenure here, Sanchez's 3-4-5 wins were a godsend. Hauck won 2 games every year except the one he tried to throw away by not starting Caleb.
Tony wasn't some top tier Xs and Os guy. He did embrace the city. He didn't embarrass the program.
On a personal note, I worked fairly closely with both him and Hauck (Hauck for 4 seasons, Sanchez for 1). Sanchez I would nearly consider a friend. Hauck was barely more than an acquaintance. No doubt there is some bias here.
UNLV paid him what, $700k? They weren't gonna find a guy who was capable of getting them over that realignment hump anywhere near that cost with the facilities available at that time. Especially not with the administration as it was back then. At least not IMO.
He was a necessary gamble for UNLV because it upgraded the facilities.
As far as thinking it would work on the field, I think it was a pipe dream. I really don't think anybody excepted it to, to be perfectly honest. Hoped yeah..Thought it would? I don't think so really.
Other schools tried the HS coach path and they all failed. Including Notre Dame who has every advantage imaginable to make something like that work.
No ill will towards Tony. He gave it everything he had. Did some good things for UNLV. Seemed like he might get over the hump, but his last two years were just more of same issues popping up.
He left the program better than when he arrived. I wrote when he got hired that there was a good chance he’d probably never use the facility he was building. I’d say his tenure was a success just because of that. I was rooting for him to win, and I hope he finds success in NMST.
Out of the four high school coaches that have been promoted directly to helm a HC at the college level; only one other (Gerry Faust) saw HC at a college more than once.
Out of the four high school coaches that have been promoted directly to helm a HC at the college level; only one other (Gerry Faust) saw HC at a college more than once.
I don’t really look at the Sanchez era fondly, we had some real tough and embarrassing losses under TS. I don’t think he was HC material (still isn’t), much less deserving of the unlv job then . He had questionable staff hirings, and focused too much on surface level things and not on actual results. The guy had 5 seasons and didn’t produce anything of note on the field.
Actually thought it would have been better for TS to have been hired as an Athletic Director rather than a HC of UNLV, since he can cobble together the funding for the new football facility and cares about Las Vegas. Great guy, but I don’t have much respect for his coaching acumen. Gorman is still rolling even after he left.
Good luck to him at NMSU, he’s going to need it, sounds like it could be a one year tryout to see if he can keep things rolling. They had enough money to extend Kill and increase his salary. So I don’t think TS is going to be given any time, certainly not 5 seasons.
Actually thought it would have been better for TS to have been hired as an Athletic Director rather than a HC of UNLV, since he can cobble together the funding for the new football facility and cares about Las Vegas. Great guy, but I don’t have much respect for his coaching acumen. Gorman is still rolling even after he left.
Good luck to him at NMSU, he’s going to need it, sounds like it could be a one year tryout to see if he can keep things rolling. They had enough money to extend Kill and increase his salary. So I don’t think TS is going to be given any time, certainly not 5 seasons.
Definitely won't argue with that. I think his personality and connections would have lent him to being a really solid Associate AD and ultimately AD. Still could somewhere
Cotton and that defense coordinator that I don't care to remember were not his choice if i remember correctly. The OC and DC were handed to him with 2 year contracts so as to help him along. Just goes to show you how UNLV athletic department idiots wanted to push a narrative of supporting a High School Coach.
I actually liked Cotton as OC. Thought he did a decent job. Wasn't great, but they avg close to 30 a game with him. Baer at DC felt like the game had passed him by. It was agonizing to watch teams just go up and down the field. Weren't good at forcing turnovers. Weren't good at getting to the QB. Basically we Weren't good at anything.
Thought it might get better under Tim Skipper. If it did it was negligible at best.
Did not understand his loyalty to his QB coach. None of the QBs under Sanchez ever really improved.
if I came to you and said
“I’ll build you a 40 million dollar house if you let my kid live with you for 5 years”
What would you say? No?
“I’ll build you a 40 million dollar house if you let my kid live with you for 5 years”
What would you say? No?
Nobody is saying he didn't.
But by all accounts the facility money was there upon his hire. It's why he was hired. There was absolutely no reason for a struggling college football program to gamble on hiring a successful HS coach. It had never worked in the past and if it didn't work at Notre Dame with all that booster money, it sure as heck wasn't going to work at UNLV.
I applaud UNLV for taking the gamble.
However.
If there was no Fertitta money behind him, he never gets the job to begin with. He had a preexisting relationship with the Fertittas.
That's not nay saying..That's being honest about the situation.
Tony's impact was huge off the field.
On the field the results were middling at best. That's how coaches are ultimately judged. He was let go at the right time.
I hope he's able to keep things rolling at NMSU. Now having the experience of running A D1 program he'll be better prepared for the challenges than he was here.
Without CTS we never get the facilities. Plus he was the first UNLV coach with an online presence and an unabashed promotion of Las Vegas. HUGE!!! It's a shame that DRF never gave him a chance to recruit to the infrastructure he put in place. Sad. Hate that ladder climbing wench!
Correct.
On what he brought. Did everything he could to promote the city and school.
I think if he had even coached at the FCS level a couple years before UNLV things might have gone better.
It's such a massive jump from HS to D1..
Dude, she gave him 5 years.. how many more losing years did you want to give the guy?
He wasn't hired to win apparently. Which is a failure for the wasted on the field circumstances but I guess we got the practice facility out of it so, Go us?
Honestly, I'm glad he's getting a job, I'm just not celebrating mediocre to bad football coaching because he had friends with money.
Nobody ever won at UNLV since Knapp. Pretty sure our high school coach did as good as any before him. Point is he brought in the resources but wasn't given a chance to recruit once they were in place.
Harvey Hyde won but the ncaa took away all his victories for using ineligible players. I don't think that would happen today because we have someone to monitor eligibility so closely. He had the team moving in the right direction. Tony Knapps teams were fun. Ron Meyer was a good head coach. John Robinson had 1 good year. Its been a long time for any consistency. Let's hope we can keep our staff long enough to create some.
Screw you guys, we took hot yoga classes at poweryogalv on Sahara and rampart.
I’m really happy for him. He won 3 outta 5 during the rivalry.
The only thing I did NOT like was giving Armani Rogers the helm at QB. He should have nipped that in the bud.
Never ever want to see a ATHLETE at QB ever again..
I’m really happy for him. He won 3 outta 5 during the rivalry.
The only thing I did NOT like was giving Armani Rogers the helm at QB. He should have nipped that in the bud.
Never ever want to see a ATHLETE at QB ever again..
Robinson showed that with decent coaching Rebels/UNLV could at the very least be competitive. But he knew without investment into football middling results were the ceiling.
Sanford struggled early. Year 4 team that went 5-7 was probably better than their record. Two P5 wins including a road win over a ranked ASU team. Four or five games they lead heading into the 4th. Again another rant about lack of facilities. He wasn't wrong, went about it the wrong way though upon his exist. Came off as sour grapes.
Hauck had the one good year but was otherwise dreadful. I think with facilities he would have at least been adequate. He's done well at two stints at Montana. He knows football. But he's more of a keep the train moving guy than a rebuild guy.
Sanchez' hiring brought the facilities and basically ended any more excuses. Whether he deserved another year with the facilities to see what he could do debatable. I get why some think he deserved it. Personally I think he had some weakness as a game day guy and made some questionable decisions with his staff. I thought not retaining him was the right decision. He also hitched his wagon to the wrong QB like you mentioned.
Arroyo was bad. I'll even throw out the Covid year. He just wasn't a particularly good game manager. And like Sanchez struggled to win 'winnable' or close games and like Sanchez far too many blowout losses.
Odom I think has a chance to keep UNLV competitive. I think next year's schedule is tougher so replicating 9 wins might be tough. But I expect the Rebs to be playing meaningful games in November and bowl eligible again.
Fertitta money was not a given. It was assumed and it took Tony getting most of the money from other donors. Fertitta's wanted the rest of the city to buy in. So Tony met with Adelson, Wynn, Mgm, Las Vegas Paving, Star Nursery, Findlay, Boyd, Gaughn etc... Not the AD, but Tony with Associate AD Harper sold the vision of UNLV football to raise 20 million outside of Fertitta $. He also met with design team weekly for a year while coaching and recruiting to layout what the team needed for a facility. I sat in design meetings with him, he was absolutely the catalyst. He motivated people to get things done.
He should get a chance to run a program again. He is a leader.
He should get a chance to run a program again. He is a leader.
I like that he's getting a chance. And I understand you have to take an opportunity when it comes. But this is his second chance and coaches seldom get three without proving success somewhere. He'll need to win.
This is all true. I posted to him on Twitter all year long that I hoped he’d get the head job there. I didn’t think it’d be this soon. I told him I’m going to support him at NMSU. I’ll never forget hanging out with him at the Aria before the kickoff event in 2019.
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