Tony Sanchez officially introduced as 36th head football coach at New Mexico State

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KTSM) – 11 days after Jerry Kill surprised the college football world and stepped down from his post at New Mexico State, Tony Sanchez was officially introduced as the Aggies’ new head football coach on Wednesday afternoon.

Sanchez was promoted to head coach from wide receivers coach the same day that Kill stepped down and will get a second chance at being a collegiate head coach. He went 20-40 in five seasons at UNLV from 2015-2019.

An alumni of New Mexico State, Sanchez understands the uniqueness of the job at NMSU and how rare the success the program had the last two seasons under Kill is. He’s ready for an opportunity to prove that he can get it done at the college level.

“Now there’s a new standard here. We don’t want to win anymore, we expect to win. That’s going to be our attitude moving forward,” Sanchez said. “It’s not going to be easy, it’s never going to be easy. We’ve got a great coaching staff, a great core group of players and I know we’ll continue to move this thing forward.”

It’s now up to him to carry it forward. Kill told KTSM when he stepped down that he believes Sanchez is the guy to make it happen.

“It means everything. We strive as coaches to be the best we possibly can to create opportunities in our live and that’s what we’ve done,” Sanchez said. “Getting an opportunity to come back here to a place where I’ve been the last two years, I’ve been a part of the building process, saw it firsthand, we’ll be more ready and more prepared.”

For the past two seasons, Sanchez has served as the wide receivers coach and played a pivotal role in helping the Aggies put forth one of the most explosive offenses at the FBS level. New Mexico State went 7-6 in 2022, winning the Quick Lane Bowl, then went 10-5 in 2023 and played for the Conference USA championship.

NMSU athletic director Mario Moccia told reporters on Wednesday that Sanchez’s contract hadn’t yet been signed, but that he expected it would be within the next few days. He said it would be a five-year deal in the ballpark of what Kill was making (Kill made $600,000 in 2023 and would have made $650,000 in 2024).

Under the tutelage of Sanchez, the Aggie wide receivers compiled over 4,000 receiving yards, including hauling in 31 of the Aggies’ 46 receiving touchdowns during the last two seasons. Following its appearance in the Isleta New Mexico Bowl, the Aggie passing attack ranks 20^th in the nation in passing yards per completion (13.64) and is tied for 17^th in the country in passing touchdowns (28).

Prior to his stint as an assistant with the Aggies, Sanchez coached alongside Kill at TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, where he was an offensive analyst for the Horned Frogs where he helped them pick up a victory over No. 12 Baylor during the 2021 season.

Sanchez has already made some headway, hiring three new assistant coaches from outside of Las Cruces within the last few weeks and promoting multiple coaches within the program. He said at his introduction that Andrew Mitchell will move up from the offensive line to run game coordinator and assistant head coach. Ghaali Muhammad-Lankford is moving to WR coach and offensive coordinator.

Nate Dreiling is now associate head coach, in addition to being New Mexico State’s defensive coordinator. Tyler Wright will be NMSU’s quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.

As far as players in the transfer portal, there are plenty, including NMSU’s starting quarterback from the last two years, Diego Pavia. Sanchez is hoping to get a few players to return that entered the portal, and he said a couple already have, including defensive back Dylan Early.

“With the continuity, keeping the six coaches, immediately adding four coaches, having a head coach that all the players are familiar with, I think you give as much chance to retain those players,” Moccia said.

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