The Guiding Principles of Lobo Football
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Lobo fans have seen the workouts on social media. They’ve seen a few new hashtags as well.
But why are guys in white shirts? Where are the numbers? What does Earned Not Given mean?
The players working out in plain white t-shirts with no numbers? Because for Lobo Football, everything is earned, and nothing is given. Why are there just names on the fronts of the workout shirts? Because everyone is someone, and everyone has a name, and we are all one family.
In short, what is this new era of Lobo Football all about?
What Lobo Football is all about cannot be defined in a sentence. It cannot be explained in a singular sound-byte. But make no mistake, everything fans have seen, are seeing, and will soon see has been carefully crafted and meticulously thought out. Nothing is happenstance, and everything is by design.
Everything has a purpose for Lobo Football. It’s all based on the accumulated knowledge of a head football coach who has seen it, lived it, and cultivated a set of guiding principles that is the recipe for success for Lobo Football.
It’s these tenets that form the basis of everything Coach Bronco Mendenhall and his staff have already installed, and are continually installing, and tweaking as Lobo Football marches ahead toward the 2024 season opener on August 24 against Montana State.
Lobo fans will see these tenets or guiding principles over the next few weeks and months. While these are new to the Lobo faithful, they are not new to Coach Mendenhall and his staff. That staff, who have all played for or coached with Coach Mendenhall previously, have lived these guiding principles whether at BYU or Virginia, two programs that were bowl-eligible for 16 seasons out of 17.
“It’s not a question of if it will work, because it works,” said Mendenhall, “But rather a question of how quickly.”
Certainly, the question of buy-in has not been an issue. The guiding principles were not foreign to any new player on the recruiting trail for UNM. They were front and center of UNM’s recruiting efforts, and the willingness, hunger, and buy-in were there from first contact to campus visits to spring workouts.
With any coaching change, other changes are usually inevitable, especially in the transfer-portal era. But the lack of player movement in the spring has shown an intense desire by the previous roster for the new era of Lobo Football. Player retention becomes easier when everything is planned out, everything is quantifiable, and everyone feels they are a meaningful piece of the process moving forward
It’s obvious in the workout videos, in the community engagement that the team has undertaken over the past few weeks, and in the pride the 2024 Lobo team has in themselves.
And now, the curtain will be pulled back to present the guiding principles of the new era of Lobo Football. Over the next few weeks, Lobo fans will hear from Coach Mendenhall and his staff on each of the tenets and guiding principles. Those principles all fall under the overarching theme of Family: First, Last, Always.
Everybody is Somebody
Earned Not Given
Will Before Skill
Hard Things Together
ADE
Two Ways
The Power of Choice
Less Drama More Work
400%
Greater Than Not Equal To
Champions Do Extra
It Pays to Be a Winner
Make It a Masterpiece
Lobo fans will learn what each of these principles means to the players and coaches, and what they mean for Lobo Football. How each of these principles mesh together seamlessly to form a tangible game plan for the entirety of the program moving forward.
Lobo Football has started a new era. Over the next weeks, we hope you enjoy learning about what is to come.