Locksley: I don't ever recall being 0-6
Smile Lobo fans — the UNM football team can’t possibly lose this coming Saturday.
UNM won’t play for two weeks thanks to a bye this week, something Lobo football coach Mike Locksley said is a blessing, considering how banged up the Lobos are.
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Most notably, tailback Demond Dennis was absent and didn’t play in UNM’s 37-13 loss Saturday to conference foe Wyoming. Defensive end Jaymar Latchison was injured during Saturday’s contest. He is day-to-day with a high ankle sprain, Locksley said, adding that other players have “nicks and bruises.”
It doesn’t help that, for the first time since 1987, the Lobos are 0-6 — and have lost 10 consecutive games dating back to the 2008 season. UNM was competitive for a half, heading into intermission down just 17-13 to the Cowboys. But the wheels fell off in the second half, and the Lobos couldn’t sustain the momentum they built.
Almost a foot of snow fell on the University of Wyoming campus on Friday, and the snowstorm continued through Saturday, leaving icy conditions at kickoff.
But the frigid conditions couldn’t freeze linebacker Carmen Messina, who continued his hot streak. For the fifth-straight game, Messina finished in the double digits with 11 tackles.
Wyoming scored its first points with 7:06 left in the first quarter. Quarterback Donovan Porterie threw a lateral pass to running back James Wright, who was dragged down in the end zone for a safety.
Porterie responded by throwing a first-quarter touchdown to wide receiver Ty Kirk, giving UNM an early 7-2 lead.
Porterie went 26-of-40 for 252 yards. He threw a touchdown but had two interceptions. A 23-yard Porterie-to-Kirk scoring pass was Kirk’s first career touchdown reception. He finished the game with three receptions for 40 yards.
If anything, Locksley said, UNM needs to find a way to maintain competitiveness for four quarters, not just a half.
“That’s the big question,” he said.
Locksley said he couldn’t recall a time in his coaching career that he was winless six games into the season.
“I’ve never been 0-6. There’s been some 1-5’s,” he said. “I don’t ever recall being 0-6 per se, but I do recall going through long stretches without wins. I think the best way to keep (this team) together is to keep loving them, keep showing them the positive things they’re doing and staying consistent. I’ve been on some staffs where you’ve had long stretches of losing and sometimes you go into panic mode.”
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by Arkannis
When are they going to fire that son of a bitch?
0-6 is not acceptable!
by Jean-Luc Picard
Since when was it not acceptable? UNM was never in it to win- only to treat its players like absolute royalty. God forbid our football players break a nail!
by Junior
Please refrain from calling for a coach’s firing only midway through his first season. This is a rebuilding year, so some leeway should be allowed. 0-6 is painful, but you must think to the future. UNM won’t (and shouldn’t) fire a 1st year coach for a bad record.
About the only thing you could hope for at this point is if coach were to, say, cold cock or punch an assistant. Then, UNM would have no choice but to fire him. They’d be all over that FAST!
Go Lobos.
by Sad Day
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4556183
What a joke.
by Jonathan
I take this to mean that any UNM staff member who assaults a fellow co-worker is only given a suspension? That’s an interesting policy concerning violence in the workplace!
by JA
Mike Locksley and the man who hired him should both be fired.
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MIKE LOCKSLEY IS IN OVER HIS HEAD
• New Mexico finished the season 1-11, its worst record since the 1980’s. Many of those losses were blowouts.
• Coach Locksley admitted striking an assistant coach during a “physical altercation”.
• As of 10-10-09, Locksley had been blown out in 5 out of 6 games.
• Loss at home to undermanned and less talented NMSU squad.
• Poor leadership and example for student athletes — physical violence in the workplace.
• Talented recruiting class not yet in the works, despite Locksley’s supposed expertise as recruiter.
• Rapid decline in football game attendance, and general apathy toward program under Locksley.
• Segment by ESPN Outside the Lines alleges cover up and previous anger management issues.
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Despite big promises and big words, University of New Mexico Lobo head football coach Mike Locksley delivered only a single victory in 2009, at a cost of $750,000 to the taxpayers of New Mexico. That’s right, $750,000 per victory — what a bargain. The Lobos finished near the bottom of the NCAA in most important offensive and defensive statistical categories — so much for Locksley’s bragging assertion that another number would need to be added to the scoreboard — if it was needed, it was needed on the opposing team’s side this year. Coach Locksley was hit with an EEOC complaint earlier in 2009 that has now been settled, with his former employee being given a newly created, higher-paying position, back pay, lifetime season tickets to UNM sporting events, and an undisclosed, behind the scenes settlement. Coach Mike Locksley has admitted to striking assistant coach J.B. Gerald in a “physical altercation”, and it appears possible that this incident may result in a lawsuit against UNM, as Coach Gerald has opted to leave the team, and retain an attorney. Locksley has also failed to land the recruits he could supposedly deliver, losing two of his top three recruits in 2009 to their failure to qualify. Another one of Locksley’s highly touted recruits briefly left the program and returned because of the controversy surrounding the gerald situation.
The University of New Mexico pays Coach Mike Locksley $750,000 annually, or approximately $14,423.08 per week. Has Coach Mike Locksley done anything to demonstrate that he is qualified to be a head football coach at this level? Is Mike Locksley representative of the values of the University of New Mexico Lobos, or the state of New Mexico? Does he really deserve this kind of money, based on performance, or should the University of New Mexico have terminated him for cause when they had the opportunity to do so? We feel the answer is a resounding “yes”, based on his record, performance, and behavior. Mike Locksley was a very bad hire.
The taxpayers of New Mexico and fans of University of New Mexico Lobo football deserve more coaching and more integrity for their money. It is time to recognize the mistake made by Paul Krebs in hiring Coach Locksley, and sever ties with Coach Locksley, before the program suffers irreparable damage. New Mexico Lobo football cannot survive 5 more years of Mike Locksley, and this style of management, or lack of coaching ability. Our student athletes deserve better leadership.