Bob Davie to New Mexico A Perplexing Move

Reduce. Recycle. Reuse. These are wonderful principles for living an eco-friendly existence, but in hiring a head college football coach? New Mexico went this route in replacing ousted Mike Locksley, yesterday announcing it signed Bob Davie as its new leader.

Job seekers can attest that gaps in employment have to be explained in the application process. Davie hasn’t coached since leaving Notre Dame. That was in 2001.

UND is Davie’s sole head coaching experience. Now, he had the unfortunate duty of following a legend in Lou Holtz, and the list of national championship winners and Hall of Famers’ successors who forge their own stellar careers is short. Davie was dismissed just one season after reaching the Fiesta Bowl, a victim of the perhaps unrealistic expectations of the Notre Dame fan base.

But Davie’s time away from coaching doubles his tenure in South Bend. A common cliche emphasizing how crucial time is in sports is “__ is a lifetime.” That adage doesn’t do justice to just how significant a decade-long layoff is. The game has changed dramatically in the last 10 years, both in how it’s played and how teams are formed.

An offense like Oregon’s didn’t exist 10 years ago, and the air raids squads like Oklahoma State are employing to win were novelties tucked away in the MAC. Rare were the freakishly athletic defenses that are so prevalent today. Now, as a television analayst Davie has observed these on-field changes actively, but observation and action are worlds apart.

Recruiting has evolved even more than the on-field product. When New Mexico hired Locksley, he was tabbed for his recruiting chops. Obviously there were snafus along, even if UNM was briefly in play for highly touted offensive lineman Cyrus Kouandjio. That Kouandjio’s consideration of New Mexico made such a splash is a testament to how much the recruiting game has changed.

Prep stars are household names before ever suiting up on the collegiate gridiron now because of national combines and recruiting websites that barely registered a blip on the radar 10 years ago. Now, recruiting is a very public, very high pressure facet of the game that in some way exceeds in-game production. One need look no further than Albuquerque for evidence.

The primary criticism of Rocky Long was his age and ability to recruit with younger, more spry coaches around the Mountain West when he was dismissed after the 2008 campaign.

This compounds the irony of Davie’s hire. The disastrous Locksley experiment was sandwiched between Davie and Long — Long, a coach who, like Davie at Notre Dame, was fired after one bad campaign. UNM had played in bowl games five of the six seasons before 2008, easily the longest period of success in program history. Long’s leash ultimately proved short like Davie’s at Notre Dame. Meanwhile, Long’s age was a concern three years ago at 58. Davie is currently 57.

Perhaps hiring Davie is an admission that Long’s ouster was a mistake. And indeed, if Davie wants to coach again, he should get the opportunity. He didn’t leave amid scandal and at 35-23 his tenure was by no means cataclysmic. The UNM has been oddly high profile though, the result of Locksley’s abysmal mark there over 2^1/2 years and suspicious circumstances under which he left. With just three wins in three seasons, Davie is leaving the booth for a position in need of a serious overhaul that will require a keen mind and likely several years.

Perhaps that’s why this was the opportunity afforded him, given how toxic the program is. But it’s not what UNM needs. The list of young coordinators who are doing impressive deeds around the nation is seemingly at a record high. A retread so long on the shelf getting the nod is surprising indeed.