By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
When Lobo Coach Bob Davie talked to the media this week about his 2015 recruiting class, he mentioned how his program was “locked in.”
Davie was referring to the New Mexico system of moving the football – the “Pistol” he hopes to expand and improve for the 2015 season.
But being “locked in” for the culture Davie is building at the University of New Mexico encompasses much more than simply an offensive system. It is being locked into the expectations and demands of a class program. It is knowing how to act as representatives of a university, a city and a state. It is being locked into what is expected in the classroom.
It also includes recruiting.
To simplify: recruiting is kind of like a snowball that you roll down a snowy hill and it gathers bulk and momentum as it goes down the hill.
Davie started with a small snow ball because he inherited a program that lost its head coach during the season and the emphasis on the remaining staff was to find jobs rather than to find Lobos.
But Davie gave the snowball a push backed by his reputation and his knowledge of how to do things. The Lobos signed 26 players in Davie’s first recruiting period and 21 are still in the program today. That’s an impressive percentage – especially when you figure in some obvious factors:
1. Davie and his staff had to roll the dice a bit (something that’s always true) on the players they signed.
2. Those recruits had to take a chance on a new staff and a system and a culture that was still evolving.
Things worked out well.
Davie thinks things worked out well this season, too, with the 22 Lobos that joined his program for the 2015 season. “We were pretty efficient in how we did things,” said Davie, who said his staff made 39 visits in signing 22 players.
Of course, this efficiency comes from Davie’s reputation and his experience in coaching. But it also comes from that growing snowball (program) that includes recruiting. Players, parents and coaches knew what to expect from Davie because of his history. But you also want to see that growth on the football field.
“People have seen that we have made progress and people see that there is a chance now to go win and go get to a bowl game,” said Davie. “We have pretty good credibility.
“I think we’ve continually recruited better each year, quite honestly. I feel pretty good that we’re headed in the right direction with it.”
The Lobos’ recruiting has gotten better because of natural progression. But the system of recruiting – even the contacts – has been influenced by continuity. Davie calls its “textbook” recruiting and, yes, that’s part of it. But it also is more.
“We’re far enough along to where we know this landscape of what this is and what really fits and how we go about doing it,” said Davie. “That’s what continuity in the program does.
“It’s the whole recruiting system of who do we target and where do we go to get them and who’s going to like Albuquerque and be able to stay in Albuquerque.
“At the end of the day, we’ve taken one more step to winning. That’s what this is.”
Davie says the Lobos “have our brand going.” True. It is a brand that burns through this program in so many positive directions. But Davie also is a realist when it comes to that next step – one of the deeper burns in a brand.
“The next step is we have to go win,” he says.
Really, there is no concern about that. The snowball will pick that up, too.
Editor’s Note: Richard Stevens is a former national award-winning Sports Columnist and Associate Sports Editor at The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net.