LOBOS, ROCKY GET TOGETHER AGAIN
It’s been 9 years since Rocky resigned at UNM and eventually headed west to SDSU
The UNM football team is preparing to visit a familiar face — Rocky Long.
In past years, Rocky Long has said coaching against his alma mater and the program he guided for 11 years was one of his least favorite things.
This week in San Diego, one would never know which school that was.
Has that much time passed since Long, arms perpetually akimbo, walked the west sidelines at University Stadium? Yes, almost a decade.
Long now coaches the San Diego State Aztecs, who host the New Mexico Lobos Friday at San Diego County Credit Union (formerly Qualcomm) Stadium. And, yes, Long played quarterback for the Lobos from 1969-71 and was UNM’s head football coach from 1998-2008.
That fact hasn’t come up this week in San Diego, it seems, and the Lobos (3-8 overall, 1-6 in Mountain West Conference play) barely have.
As the Aztecs (9-2, 5-2) prepare to wind up their regular season as a huge favorite, the dominant story line is the record-setting game SDSU running back Rashaad Penny had last week — and the disrespect Penny is being shown by the college football establishment.
In a 42-23 victory over Nevada, Penny had a game for the ages: 222 yards rushing, a 100-yard touchdown kickoff return, a 70-yard touchdown punt return, 429 allpurpose yards.
The day before, Penny was not named a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, presented annually to the player judged to be the nation’s best running back.
Long was not pleased, seeing the snub of Penny has part of a far bigger picture.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” he said on Tuesday at a news conference. “I talk about this all the time, and nobody wants to hear it, but I’m going to say it again. The financial resource gap between the Power Five (conference) group and us (Group of Five) is ridiculous . ... They are trying to exclude us, they are trying to eliminate us and trying to make us a different division than them.
“So the people that are with them are going to make sure that the non-Power Five guys don’t get any recognition if they can help it . ... I’m really disappointed for our team and for Rashaad, but it’s not surprising. It gets worse every year.”
Then, an indirect, though chilling, reference to New Mexico: If the Lobos were hoping the Aztecs would be looking past them to whatever bowl game SDSU winds up in, well, probably not.
“I hope what it does for our team is make us mad,” he said. “I hope it makes Rashaad mad, too. Then we will have no problems on Friday.”
Long did mention New Mexico in his opening statement, though not as his beloved alma mater.
“The most concerning thing is the kind of offense New Mexico runs (the triple option),” he said. “It takes a long time to get ready for that kind of offense.”
On Monday, Long participated in a nine-minute podcast with a San Diego radio station. He was asked if he thought Penny would be invited to New York for the Heisman Trophy award ceremony on Dec. 9.
Would he? “You’re asking the wrong guy,” Long said.
Should he? “I think they’re really making a mistake if he’s not one of the guys,” he said, “because he’s proved over and over against good competition, as well as maybe not good competition, that he’s one of the best players in the country. And if he’s not recognized that way, obviously there’s a prejudice out there.”
New Mexico wasn’t mentioned on the podcast until the 7-minute, 51-second mark, when Long noted that the Lobos had rushed for 482 yards last Friday in a 38-35 loss to UNLV (a team the Aztecs beat 41-10).
Neither Long nor his interviewers mentioned his prior connections to New Mexico.
But then, it was nine years ago last Saturday that Long stepped down as UNM’s coach, saying he believed he had taken the program as far as he could. The Lobos’ problems are no longer his and haven’t been for a long time. Friday, the Aztecs become the Lobos’ problem. For the record, the Journal, through SDSU media relations, requested a phone interview with Long this week. There was no response.