Mike Locksley’s Payday

The new head man at the University of New Mexico, Mike Locksley, was introduced and had his press conference yesterday. His contract is quite surprising which is a six-year contract worth $750,000 annually. That amount is huge if it is just his base, because most coaches in the league make almost that amount with incentives.

“Locks is the whole package,” Illini coach Ron Zook said. “He can coach, he can recruit and he can motivate his players. He did a tremendous job with our offense here and will be missed.”

“We’re not going to take a back seat to anybody in the Mountain West,” Lockeley said. “We’re not going to take a back seat to anybody in the nation.”

This choice is very good for New Mexico and the league because of his offensive success at Illinois and he turned around that program to a Rose Bowl visit in two years to go along with a dynamic offense.

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Mountain West Coaching News

New Mexico made their hire today and they picked up Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley.

A 17-year coaching veteran, Locksley previously was running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Florida under Ron Zook, with whom he works at Illinois.

This guy has the experience of a big time school, and it looks as if New Mexico will be changing their offense to what he did at Illinois with a spread option by using a dual threat quarterback.

The Locksley File
2006-	University of Illinois (offensive coordinator, quarterbacks)
2005	University of Illinois (offensive coordinator, tight ends)
2003-04	University of Florida (running backs/recruiting coordinator)
1998-2002	University of Maryland (running backs/recruiting coordinator)
1997	University of Maryland (running backs)
1996	Army (receivers/tight ends)
1995	University of the Pacific (outside linebackers)
1994	U.S. Naval Prep School (defensive coordinator/defensive line)
1993	U.S. Naval Prep School (defensive coordinator/defensive backs)
1992	Towson University (defensive backs/special teams)
Home Town: Washington, D.C.
Birthdate: Dec. 25, 1969
Family: Wife, Kia; Sons, Mike, Jr. (19), Meiko (15), Kai (10); Daughter, Kori (8)
Education: B.S. Business Administration and Marketing — Towson, 1992
Playing Experience: Towson, 1988-91
Bowl Games: Rose Bowl, 2008; Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, 2004; Outback Bowl, 2004; Peach Bowl, 2002; Poulen/Weed Eater Independence Bowl, 1996
Honors & Awards: 2007, Recruiter of the Year Finalist (Rivals); 2007, Hot Young Assistant Coach (Lindy’s); 2006, Top-20 National Recruiter (Sports Illustrated); 2006, Top-10 Big Ten Recruiter (Rivals); 2005, Top-25 National Recruiter (Rivals); 2003, Top-25 National Recruiter (Rivals)

Other news is that Kalani Sitake will be promoted to the University of Utah’s new defensive coordinator. Also, Gary Andersen who recently left Utah to become Utah State’s head coach will stay on the staff and help with bowl preparation.

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Final Bowl projections for the MWC

There were no major upsets, well technically if you count Florida because they were behind in the rankings, but a 10 point favorite. There has been steam gaining that since Florida is ranked sixth by the computers and fourth in the coaches poll. I crunched some numbers and if Florida moves up to number three in the computer rankings which is where Alabama was, then if Florida jumps Texas, only 9 poll votes, and takes the second spot and gets the same votes as Oklahoma did at number two, and finally in the Harris poll if they stay true to their rankings Florida would be number one and just for this purpose get the same votes Alabama did at that spot.

Here is a small chart below to point out how close it would be. This is my estimation, but Texas could get a strength of schedule boost for beating Oklahoma earlier and perhaps get a big bump ahead of Florida in the computer, but who knows.

Florida Texas
Computer Avg .920 (3rd ranking) Computer Avg .950 (2nd ranking)
Coaches Poll .9161 (2nd ranking) Coaches Poll .9154 (3rd Ranking)
Harris Poll .9965 (1st ranking) Harris Poll .9115 (3rd Ranking)
Total .9442 Total .9256

Utah vs. Alabama

This is the best possible matchup for Utah because Alabama’s offense is not that great and the only great player is running back Glenn Coffee and freshman Julio Jones is pretty good.

BYU Vs. Arizona

This is a financial decision for the bowl to sell out the crowd and hotel sponsors. BYU gets the reward by playing a 7-6 Arizona team.

Colorado State vs. Fresno State

Fresno has all ready accepted this bowl invite and almost a certainty to be playing Colorado State, because the New Mexico bowl gets the last selection of MWC teams.

Air Force vs. Nevada

This is a good fit, because San Diego has a presecence in the armed services, and this spot is an at large Nevada gets the cut because they are 7-5 and close to the area. There is speculation that TCU and Boise State would play here, but I can not see the bowls releasing either since they both have the chance to play at home. A Boise State versus TCU would be a great matchup and possible one of the highest ranked teams in a non-BCS bowl game.

TCU vs. Houston

This would be another old Southwest Conference matchup. A good matchup between a great offense and a great defense.

Once the official bowl announcements are out I will post on that.

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2008 Mountain West All-Conference Football Team Announced

ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST FOOTBALL FIRST-TEAM
Offense
Pos.	Player	Cl.	School
QB	Brian Johnson	Sr.	Utah
WR	Austin Collie	Jr.	BYU
WR	Ryan Wolfe*	Jr.	UNLV
RB	Gartrell Johnson III	Sr.	Colorado State
RB	Devin Moore	Sr.	Wyoming
TE	Dennis Pitta*#	Jr.	BYU
OL	Ray Feinga*	Sr.	BYU
OL	Dallas Reynolds*	Sr.	BYU
OL	Blake Schlueter	Sr.	TCU
OL	Zane Beadles	Jr.	Utah
OL	Robert Conley	Sr.	Utah
PK	Louie Sakoda	Sr.	Utah
PR/KR	Jeremy Kerley	So.	TCU
Defense
Pos.	Player	Cl.	School
DL	Jake Paulson	Sr.	Air Force
DL	Jan Jorgensen*	Jr.	BYU
DL	Jerry Hughes#	Jr.	TCU
DL	Paul Kruger	So.	Utah
LB	Robert Henson	Sr.	TCU
LB	Jason Phillips*	Sr.	TCU
LB	Ward Dobbs	Sr.	Wyoming
DB	Glover Quin	Sr.	New Mexico
DB	Brice McCain	Sr.	Utah
DB	Stephen Hodge	Sr.	TCU
DB	Sean Smith	Jr.	Utah
P	Louie Sakoda*	Sr.	Utah
*--Two-Time First-Team Selection #--Unanimous Selection
ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST FOOTBALL SECOND-TEAM
Offense
Pos.	Player	Cl.	School
QB	Max Hall	Jr.	BYU
WR	Rashaun Greer	Jr.	Colorado State
WR	Freddie Brown	Sr.	Utah
RB	Harvey Unga	So.	BYU
RB	Rodney Ferguson	Sr.	New Mexico
TE	Kory Sperry	Sr.	Colorado State
OL	Nick Charles	Jr.	Air Force
OL	Travis Bright	Sr.	BYU
OL	Shelley Smith	Jr.	Colorado State
OL	Erik Cook	Jr.	New Mexico
OL	Marshall Newhouse	Jr.	TCU
PK	Ryan Harrison	Sr.	Air Force
PR/KR	Ian Clark	Jr.	New Mexico
Defense
Pos.	Player	Cl.	School
DL	Cody Moore	Sr.	TCU
DL	Matt Panfil	Sr.	TCU
DL	Koa Misi	Jr.	Utah
DL	John Fletcher	Jr.	Wyoming
LB	David Nixon	Sr.	BYU
LB	Jason Beauchamp	Jr.	UNLV
LB	Stevenson Sylvester	Jr.	Utah
DB	Chris Thomas	Jr.	Air Force
DB	DeAndre Wright	Sr.	New Mexico
DB	Steven Coleman	Sr.	TCU
DB	Rafael Priest	Jr.	TCU
P	Anthony Hartz	Jr.	Colorado State
HONORABLE MENTION
Air Force:	Chris Campbell, Jr., OL; Andrew Pipes, Sr., C; Reggie Rembert; So.; KR; Ken Lamendola, So., LB; Hunter Altman; Sr., LB.
BYU:	C.J. Santiago, Sr., P; David Tafuna, Sr., DB.
Colorado State:	Tim Walter, Jr., C; Jason Smith, Sr., PK; Ricky Brewer, So., LB, Mychal Sisson, Fr., LB.
New Mexico:	Zach Arnett, Sr., LB; Herbert Felder, Sr., LB.
San Diego State:	Russell Allen, Sr., LB; B.J. Williams, So., DE; Corey Boudreaux, Sr., DB.
TCU:	Andy Dalton, So., QB; Jimmy Young, So., WR; Marcus Cannon, So., OL; Aaron Brown; Sr., KR; James Vess, Sr., NT; Nick Sanders; Jr., CB; Anson Kelton, Fr., P.
UNLV:	Casey Flair, Sr., WR, Frank Summers, Sr., RB; Johan Asiata, Sr., OL; Malo Tuamua; So., DL.
Utah:	Zane Taylor, So., OL; David Reed, Jr., KR; Greg Newman, Sr., DL; Mike Wright; Jr., LB.
Wyoming:	Kyle Howard, Sr., OL; Mitch Unrein, Jr., DL; Tim Bond; Sr., C; Chris Prosinski, So., DB.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR Brian Johnson, Sr., QB, Utah
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR Jerry Hughes, Jr., DE, TCU
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE YEAR Louie Sakoda, Sr., PK/P, Utah
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Tim Jefferson, QB, Air Force
COACH OF THE YEAR Kyle Whittingham, Utah