New Mexico State Aggies
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New Mexico State University's teams are called the Aggies, a nickname derived from the university's agricultural beginnings. Since 2005, they have competed in the Western Athletic Conference. The mascot is known as "Pistol Pete". The current athletics logo was designed in 2005 as part of a controversial plan to remake the university's image on the national stage; Pete's pistol has been replaced with a lasso, and his name was briefly officially abbreviated to simply "Pete". In addition to the new logo, the costumed mascot seen at games was also given a new look, losing his six shooters and holster belt in favor of a lasso. The disarming of Pete led to a massive uproar among students, alumni and outsiders demanding the return of Pete's guns. The decision was even criticized by Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly during his "Most Ridiculous Item of the Day" segment.[1] The most popular nickname given to the widely unpopular new mascot was "Lasso Larry". After one year the university dumped the cartoonish mascot in favor of a real student dressed in more traditional cowboy attire, carrying a holster belt and six shooters, and wearing nothing on his head but a black cowboy hat. The "Pistol Pete" name was also restored. NMSU's colors are crimson and white. The current athletics director is Dr. McKinley Boston (since December 2004).
Prior to 2000 the women's intercollegiate athletic teams were known as the Roadrunners, placing NMSU among the handful of NCAA Division I schools which had separate nicknames and mascots for its men's and women's programs. By the late 1990's sentiment began to grow for the university to adopt a single, uniform mascot for all its athletic teams, and during the 1999-2000 academic year the school's female student athletes voted to adopt the "Aggies" moniker. NMSU's women's teams officially became the Aggies at the start of the 2000-2001 academic year.
The NMSU Aggies have had various conference affiliations, listed below with the year of change: [1]
- 1931 - Border Conference
- 1962 - Independent
- 1971 - Missouri Valley
- 1983 - Big West (formerly Pacific Coast Athletic Association)
- 2001 - Sun Belt
- 2005 - WAC
NMSU maintains major rivalries with the University of New Mexico (see Rio Grande Rivalry), and with the University of Texas at El Paso, called "The Battle of I-10." The winner of the NMSU-UTEP football game receives the Silver Spade trophy.
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[edit] Basketball
NMSU Basketball has seen much success throughout the years, even making an NCAA Final Four appearance in 1970. Aggie Basketball has seen 17 NCAA Tournament appearances, 5 NIT Tournament appearances and 14 conference championships.
Marvin Menzies is coaching his first year at NMSU, succeeding Reggie Theus. Menzies inherits a talent-laden team that is favored by many to repeat as WAC champions and return to the NCAA Tournament in 2007-08.
[edit] Football
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It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled New Mexico State Aggies football. (Discuss) |
Under coach Warren B. Woodson, the Aggie Football team was very successful during the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1959 the NMSU went 8-3 and in 1960 the Aggies had their only perfect season, finishing 11-0 and ranked #17 in the year-end Associated Press poll. Both years they won the New Year's Eve Sun Bowl. Charley Johnson, the Aggie quarterback from 1958-60, is the only player in NCAA history to be selected as MVP in a bowl game two consecutive years (Sun Bowl 1959-60) and went on to play in the NFL for 15 years with the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Oilers, and Denver Broncos.
The Aggies continued to fare well under Woodson through the 1967 season. However at the end of that season Woodson, who had a contentious relationship with university administration throughout his career, was controversially fired after a 7-2-1 campaign that ended with a 54-7 shellacking of archrival New Mexico. Since his dismissal Aggie football has spiraled into an abyss of perennial mediocrity (at best) that some Aggie fans have begun to refer to as the "Woodson Curse." In the 40 seasons since Woodson's firing, NMSU has amassed just four winning seasons and a single conference title (1978), while failing to appear in a single bowl game. The Aggies' current 47-year bowl drought is the longest in Division I-A. The Aggies have once again failed to accrue enough victories to be bowl eligible for the 2007 postseason.
On October 31, 1998, Aggie running back Denvis Manns become just the third player in NCAA Division I-A history to surpass 1,000 rushing yards in four consecutive seasons. The only other backs that had accomplished the feat at that time were Tony Dorsett (University of Pittsburgh) and Amos Lawrence (University of North Carolina).
On September 18, 1999 the Aggies travelled to Tempe and upset the #22 ranked Arizona State Sun Devils by a shocking 35-7 score.
The Aggies started the 2005 season with some interesting changes in the coaching staff. Hal Mumme stepped in as head coach, best known for this success at the University of Kentucky with his "Air Raid" offense. Woody Widenhofer took over as defensive coordinator, known for the "Steel Curtain" defense that took the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl victories in the 1970s. Roy Gerela, known for his days as a placekicker with the Pittsburgh Steelers, became the kicking coach. However, the new staff failed to bring much immediate success, as the transition from the option-based offense of previous coach Tony Samuel to Mumme's wide-open "Air Raid" resulted in a humiliating 0-12 record, the Aggies' first winless season since 1989 and just the fourth in school history, not including a few limited schedule campaigns in the early years of the program at the turn of the 20th century.
During the 2006 season sophomore quarterback Chase Holbrook totaled 4,619 yards passing, the most in Division I-A. This broke the NCAA record for a sophomore set by Ty Detmer at BYU in 1989 with 4,541 yards. The same year Chris Williams was first in the nation with 1,415 receiving yards, 7.67 receptions per game and 117.92 yards per game. However, despite the prolific offensive output, the Aggies only managed a 4-8 record, with just two of their four wins coming against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents.
Despite some impressive single game wins and individual player stats, the Aggies have struggled as a team in the days since coach Woodson. In November 1990, the 106th ranked team managed to snap their 27 game losing streak, the longest active losing streak at the time, when they defeated 105th ranked Cal State Fullerton 43-9. (Fullerton dropped its football program following the 1992 season.) The 1988-90 NMSU team is ranked the 9th worst college football team of all time by ESPN. The Aggies were also featured in the August 31, 1992 issue of Sports Illustrated in a piece that chronicles a tradition of losing games. The longest active losing streak in Division I-A football is a title the Aggies have owned multiple times in recent decades. [2]
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[edit] Volleyball
At the dawn of the new century NMSU volleyball saw great gains, winning its first conference championship in 2003, and making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament that same year. In 2006, the Aggies continued to make school history by becoming nationally ranked for the first time at No. 24 after posting a 14-0 record through that point of the season. Adding to their 2006 success, the Aggies became the first team to snap the University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine's eight-year, 114-match Western Athletic Conference winning streak. Despite the program's success and the 2006 upset, the Wahine have generally been a thorn in the Aggies' side. During the 2007 season NMSU climbed as high as #13 in the polls, but failed to overcome the Hawai'i hurdle in three attempts. The Aggies hosted the 2007 WAC Tournament at the Pan American Canter and advanced to the title match without dropping a single game, but fell to the Wahine in a five-game thriller. Since the Aggies joined the WAC in 2005 every single match between NMSU and Hawai'i in Las Cruces has gone to the full five games, but the Aggies have prevailed just once. They made the 2007 NCAA tournament, falling in five games to LSU in the first round.
[edit] Fight Song
NMSU's "Aggie Fight Song" is based on a popular turn of the century song titled "Oh Didn't He Ramble." The music and lyrics are similar to songs used by several other universities, most notably Cal ("California Drinking Song") and Ohio State ("I Wanna Go Back to Ohio State"). However, only NMSU uses it as the primary school song. The fight song's lyrics have evoked some controversy in recent years due to the reference to drinking, but a vast majority of students and alumni support preserving the traditional lyrics.
Aggies, oh Aggies
the hills send back the cry
we're here to do or die!
Aggies, oh Aggies
we'll win this game or know the reason why!
And when we win this game
we'll buy a keg of booze
and we'll drink it to the Aggies 'til we wobble in our shoes!
A-G-G-I-E-S!
Aggies, Aggies, go Aggies!
Aggies, oh Aggies
the hills send back the cry
we're here to do or die!
Aggies, oh Aggies
we'll win this game or know the reason why!
Additionally, during the time that NMSU's women's teams were known as the Roadrunners, an arrangement of the theme song from the Warner Bros. "Road Runner" cartoons was used as the unofficial women's fight song. However, since the adoption of the Aggies nickname by the women's teams, this practice has fallen from use and the "Road Runner" song is no longer used.
[edit] Facilities
[edit] Notable former Aggie athletes and coaches
Football
- Roy Gerela, former NFL kicker;
- Duriel Harris, former NFL receiver;
- Charley Johnson, former NFL quarterback, only football player in school history to have his uniform number (33) retired, member ofDenver Broncos Ring of Fame;
- Leo Barker former NFL Line Backer member of the Cincinnati Bengals Played in Super Bowl XXIII
- Kenton Keith, current Indianapolis Colts running back;
- Denvis Manns, former NFL Europa running back, third player in NCAA history to ruch for 1,000 years in four consecutive seasons;
- Buck Pierce, current CFL quarterback;
- Troy Sienkiewicz, former NFL offensive lineman;
- Danny Villanueva, former NFL punter and placekicker, later became a prominent television executive and was instrumental in founding Univision;
- Fredd Young, former NFL linebacker;
- Donald Malloy, former NFL,CFL,Arena strong safety
- Sidique Shabazz, former NFL safety
- Tony Wragge, NFL San Fran 49ers
Men's Basketball
- Randy Brown, former NBA guard, won three NBA Championships with Chicago Bulls, current assistant coach of Sacramento Kings;
- Jimmy Collins, former ABA and NBA guard, member of 1970 Final Four team, current head coach at UIC;
- Charlie Criss, former ABA and NBA guard, member of 1970 Final Four team;
- Lou Henson, former player and head coach, currently sixth-winningest coach in NCAA history with 779 career wins;
- Sam Lacey, former NBA All-Star center, member of 1970 Final Four team;
- Reggie Theus, former head men's basketball coach; current NBA Head coach of Sacramento Kings;
- John Whisenant, former NBA guard, former coach of WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs, 2005 WNBA Coach of the Year;
- "Super John" Williamson, former ABA and NBA guard, number retired by New Jersey Nets
Women's Basketball
- Anita Maxwell, former WNBA forward for the Cleveland Rockers, only basketball player (male or female) in school history to have her uniform number (44) retired
External Links
- bleedCrimson.net, Home of The Daily Aggie, Coaching Interviews, Player Blogs, Game Photos
[edit] References
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