NMHU hires Marty Fine as new coach
Cowboys also plan to replace their aging turf
Anew football coach will soon have a new football field for his team. New Mexico Highlands University recently announced that, after two years at the helm, Jeff Mills is no longer the head coach. He has been replaced by interim head coach Marty Fine, who plans to stay in Las Vegas “10 years,” he said.
In two seasons with the Cowboys, Mills compiled a 2-20 record and the team has a 12-game losing streak.
“Marty understands the two most important things to make Highlands football successful,” said Highlands athletic director Bob Clifford. “Our athletes are students first, and we’re in it to win.”
In keeping with the new era at the school, the threadbare, 14-year-old turf will be replaced, hopefully by June 1, Clifford said.
The work is expected to cost $450,000 and the school has several fundraising plans, said Theresa Law, Highlands’ vice president for advancement.
“We’re starting it off with ‘Highlands loves Alumni’ at the Student Union on Feb. 9,” she said. “We’re going to have a silent auction as part of the event and it will be the official kick-off to our ‘Homefield Advantage’ program to raise funds for the field.”
The goal, Law said, “is we hope to raise as much of that through donations as possible.”
That’s important to the school, she said, because the field is also used by the women’s soccer program and the Vatos national championship rugby team — and is even available to the local community.
Fine, who started this week, recently retired from Bryant University in Rhode Island, overseeing its transition from a Division II school to Division I playing in the Northeast Conference.
“I was going to take a little time off,” he said after compiling an 80-61 mark in 13 seasons. “This opportunity came up to help the school and keep the football thing afloat. When Bob Clifford made the call, I was thrilled to have the opportunity. I met with the administration and I think that they have a great plan in place. There are so many positives here, I can’t even list them all.”
Before heading up the Bryant program, where he was a 2014 finalist for the esteemed Eddie Robinson coach of the year award, Fine was an assistant coach at Iowa State and Indiana State. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Western New Mexico in 1985. His résumé includes references from Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and longtime NFL offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.
Although temporarily listed as an interim coach, “my goal is to be here 10 years,” Fine said of his plans. “We need to win. Winning cures all evils.
“The rebuilding of the football program is what I’ve done. I’m really excited to have the opportunity.”
Fine said he will be meeting with the Cowboys players who still have eligibility remaining to try and convince as many as possible to stay with the program. “I’m going to try and retain every single one,” he said. “Every single player that comes here is going to have a positive experience. And part of that experience is winning.”
Moving forward, he said he’d like to begin his recruiting with as many New Mexico players as possible and expand outward from there as he seeks the right players for the program.
“We’re not going to have a quick fix,” Fine said. “We’re going to build it the right way, with stable players from good families. We’re not going to rush to recruit. We’re going to make sure the kids that we do recruit are the right ones for the program.”