Eck, UNM embrace MWC Media Days in Vegas

NIL

Jul 18

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Jason Eck seems like the type of guy and head football coach who will give it everything he’s got.

But to turn around one of the most dismal college football programs of the last 15 to 20 years, he’s going to need SOME help from Lady Luck.

For Eck though – UNM’s new head football coach – he understands the task of transforming the Lobos’ football program into a winner.

“Football,” Eck said at the 2025 Mountain West Conference Football Media Days. “You don’t have anything to get excited about… You see a community that doesn’t necessarily have an apathetic fan base. It’s just (UNM fans) have been very passionate (about) other sports like basketball and selling out (The Pit).

Eck is the third different head coach to lead UNM in the last three years.

Danny Gonzales was fired at the end of the 2023 season, having taken over in 2020, just before the COVID-19 Pandemic hit.

Bronco Mendenhall replaced Gonzales in December 2024, but after what may have been the most exciting Lobo football season in a decade, which resulted in a 5-7 record, Mendenhall returned to his home state of Utah to coach at Utah State University.

Defensive edge rusher Gabe Lopez transferred to UNM in 2023 from Washington State and has had a front-row view of the coaching changes since then.

Lopez said that the most notable difference with Eck now in charge is that he’s a players' coach.

“The (offensive) line, they needed a new sled and (Eck) went and bought it right away. No questions asked,” Lopez said. “He’s been taking care of us and if we need something, he’s gonna get it. I feel like that’s been a huge impact on us. He brought in all these (transfers) and he’s trying to gain his trust.”

Trust and not change seem to be a priority for Eck.

For the third straight year, the UNM football program has had a different face at its helm.

UNM is also one of two teams in the FBS that will have a new head coach open the season for the third straight season. Oddly enough, the Lobos join the Aggies of Utah State with that statistic.

UNM has seen turnover in the front offices of the Athletic Department and with the men’s basketball team.

Eck said much hasn’t changed since he and UNM Athletic Director Fernando Lovo joined UNM in December, but Lovo has worked hard behind the scenes.

“I think it’s been impressive to see how our athletic department has punched above its weight, you know, winning six conference championships last year,” Eck said. “But football is still kind of the marquee sport in college sports. I think getting football fixed and us being better is going to be huge for our university.”

Mountain West Preseason Polls

For the second straight year, the Lobos were picked to finish 11th out of the 12 teams that currently play football in the MWC. (Both years, Nevada was voted to finish last by the media.)

Boise State was selected as the preseason favorite to claim the 2025 Mountain West football regular-season title. BSU has been voted first every year the Broncos have been a member of the MWC since 2011.

Humphrey, Williams honored

Running back Scottre Humphrey and kick returner Abraham Williams were the only two Lobos named to the Preseason All-Mountain West team.

Humphrey is UNM’s first preseason running back and first preseason offensive player since 2017.

Humphrey was a FCS All-America by FCS Football Central, Stats Perform and Phil Steele last season.

While at Montana State, he rushed for 1,386 yards en route to the FCS National Championship Game Appearance.

Football

Ryan Tomari

Host of The University of New Mexico-centric sports show “The Pit Press Live!” and “The Pit Press Podcast,” Ryan Tomari wrote the famous prognosticating column that led to former UNM head coach Mike Locksley’s infamous blowup at ABQ Uptown Sports Bar. Tomari is equal parts New Jersey and New Mexico, although his tenure in the Land of Enchantment is more successful than 2-26. It took him a decade to get his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of New Mexico. Still thinking two plus two is five, he’s a statistics class away from a print journalism degree, but he doesn’t really need it after spending his college years at the Daily Lobo, the beloved and bedraggled independent voice known affectionately by students as “The Daily Low Blow.” Rising to sports editor, Tomari covered the failed Locksley experiment, New Mexicans’ jilted love affair with former UNM men’s head basketball coach Steve Alford and the abrupt retirement of former UNM women’s head basketball coach. He worked in media relations for the Albuquerque Isotopes. He spent a year with the Albuquerque Journal before returning closer to his family roots in Central New Jersey, where he worked for CBS Sports, cutting highlights and doing research during live broadcasts of NFL, college football and basketball games. Tomari loves the tortured New York Mets, and joyously took in David Tyree’s miracle-helmet catch and Mario Manningham’s toe-tapping “insurance” clutchness that aided the New York Giants’ blissful Super Bowl runs. A sports nerd, Tomari has an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball and still regrets not approaching baseball icon Tony Gwynn at Bandido Hideout decades ago. He misses his late father, Stephen, a Rutgers graduate who started his Ph.D. at Wichita State University before moving to New Mexico to take a job at Sandia Labs. And he enjoyed every moment of Wichita State’s magical tourney run in 2013. Tomari has a 7-year-old son, Aidan, who loves his home state because it’s “not that new and not that old,” prefers green over red chile and considers 1990s Homer Simpson the “best thing since sliced bread.” His radio personality is a little bit Jim Rome and a little bit Jay Mohr – sharp, comedic and endearing. He’ll never regret calling the new Lobo men’s head basketball coach “Rich” on air. Strike that Richard Pitino.

Eck, UNM embrace MWC Media Days in Vegas

UNM is Built to be a Championship Contender

Millions on the Line for UNM Athletics as Pac-12 & MWC Lawsuit Fails to Settle