Dec. 14—ALBUQUERQUE — It may not be the splashy hire some Lobo fans were hoping for, but it’s certainly one they’ll appreciate.
That’s the message delivered by University of New Mexico athletic director Fern Lovo after Saturday’s announcement that Jason Eck had been named the school’s football coach.
It came just nine days after the sudden and unexpected departure of Bronco Mendenhall, the one-year wonder who left for conference rival Utah State after just one season.
Eck, 47, agreed to a five-year contract. Lovo did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but several sources close to the process indicated the amount was less than the $6 million Mendenhall reportedly earned over the course of his five-year deal.
Eck’s buyout with Idaho is worth $525,000. His annual salary was just under $200,000, about a fifth of what he was expected to earn in New Mexico.
Lovo said he was immediately drawn to Eck’s energy, a personality trait that helped him stand out during a rushed and secretive recruiting process aided by Parker Executive Search, an independent firm based in Atlanta.
“One of the things you’ll hear from me a lot is he’s a program builder. He’s not a team builder, he’s a program builder,” Lovo said.
Conventional wisdom suggests Lovo would use his connections with the University of Texas, Ohio State, Florida and Houston to help find a potential fit. He spent more than a decade working closely with the football programs at all four schools.
Eck didn’t have direct ties to any of them, but Lovo said his name kept coming up as he networked his sources to find candidates.
“Having spent 12 years in college football, there are things that I have taken from my time that have been very helpful in this research and across the board,” Lovo said. “Obviously it was helpful and it’s certainly something I relied on in this research.”
The decision to hire an FCS coach with just three years of experience is a stark change from the decision that brought Mendenhall to UNM a year ago.
Mendenhall had 17 years as a head coach under his belt, building a proven track record that earned him a contract that made him the highest-paid football coach in school history.
Eck has been Idaho’s head coach since 2022, leading the Vandals to a 26-13 record and a top-three finish in the Big Sky Conference in all three seasons. His team went 10-4 this season, losing in the National Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinals Friday night to Montana State.
He informed his team that he was leaving for UNM shortly after the game, and by Saturday morning, the Lobos’ various social media accounts were spreading the news of his hiring.
Eck took the Vandals to the FCS playoffs every year. His team turned heads by pushing first-ranked Oregon all the way in the season opener on August 31. The Ducks, the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff as the only undefeated team at the sport’s highest level, needed a late touchdown. to secure a 24-14 victory at Autzen Stadium.
Idaho hit the road the following week to beat Wyoming, a team that handed UNM a loss in Albuquerque in November.
“I am truly honored to have been selected as head coach of the New Mexico Lobos,” Eck said in a statement. “I know the University community, students, alumni, Lobo Nation and the communities of Greater Albuquerque and New Mexico are hungry for success and I look forward to giving them that. We will have coaches and staff tremendous support and will develop our student-athletes into elite athletes, UNM graduates and people.
Idaho had only two winning seasons in the 22 years before Eck arrived. The program existed on the fringes of what was NCAA Division IA between 1996 and 2017, bouncing from the Big West to the Sun Belt, to the WAC and a final run in the Sun Belt.
The program moved to the FCS in 2018 after the Sun Belt removed it from the conference. The prospect of becoming an independent university forced the school to join the FCS and join the Big Sky alongside perennial powers like Montana State, UC Davis and Montana.
The Vandals had four losing seasons before Eck arrived. The team’s win total has increased every year since 2020; the 10 wins this season are the second most in school history and only the second time the team has reached double-digit wins.
His arrival on the UNM campus caps a wild and often turbulent introduction to Lovo’s early days as athletic director. Hired on December 1, he was greeted by Mendenhall’s departure just 24 hours after his introductory press conference.
“To say this is how I envisioned my first 13 days on the job, I wouldn’t do it,” Lovo said, adding, “I breathed today; it was good.”
Eck will have his hands full trying to maintain the momentum Mendenhall built in his lone season at UNM. The Lobos went 5-7 last season, winning three road games and finishing tied for fifth in the Mountain West after being picked 11th out of 12 teams in a preseason poll.
The Lobos entered the final game of the season needing a win against Hawaii to secure the team’s first bowl berth since 2016.
As of Saturday, as many as 30 players on Mendenhall’s roster had entered the transfer portal, many of them having already signed or committed to new schools. Players like All-Mountain West quarterback Devon Dampier (Utah), receiver Luke Wysong (Arizona) and offensive lineman McKenzie Agnello (Houston) have already joined the power four teams.
Between 15 and 20 or more other players are expected to hit the open market in the coming weeks.
Eck’s background is rooted in Big Ten country. Born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, he was an offensive lineman for four years at Wisconsin. He then began his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Badgers in 1999.
He had stops as an assistant at Colorado, Idaho, Winona State, Ball State, Hampton, Minnesota State, Montana State and South Dakota State before finally getting his first try as a as head coach when he was rehired by Idaho in December 2021.
An introductory press conference for Eck is scheduled for Wednesday morning at The Pit.
