NMSU introduce Tony Sanchez as the new head football coach

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- The New Mexico State Aggies ushered in a new era of football on Wednesday afternoon when they introduced Tony Sanchez as the 36th head coach in the Danny Villanueva Victory Club located on the third floor of the Fulton Athletic Center.

Sanchez will takeover for Jerry Kill who announced he was stepping down from the program because he wanted to spend more time with his family, despite being offered an unprecedented $1.1 million for his remaining four years.

Sanchez is expected to sign a 5-year deal in the next 48 hours worth roughly the same as Jerry Kill's base salary which would have been $650,000 in 2024.

Unlike most coaches in NMSU history, Sanchez won't need to turn the program around but rather build off the most successful seasons in over 60 years - back-to-back bowl games for the first time since 1959-60 (they won the Quick Lane Bowl, he led them to their first ever win over an SEC team in program history and their first 10-win season since 1960.

“Although there may be a couple of little things different the bones are going to be the same," Sanchez said. "Now there’s a new standard here, we don’t want to win anymore we expect to win and that’s going to be our attitude everyday moving forward. It’s not going to be easy it's never going to be easy, it’s not easy anywhere but we are committed to it.” 

“I think he has the enthusiasm and the gas in the tank to keep us relevant in college football and battling for a Conference USA championships," NMSU Athletic Director Mario Moccia said.

"He's got a lot of energy, a lot of juice," Kill said. "He's a guy that is going work his butt off and you know he's capable of doing all the stuff I did. He's got that you know, he's not sixty-three let's put it that way, or sixty-two." 

After playing two seasons at NMSU as a wide receiver in 1994-95, he began his coaching career as a GA with the Aggies in 1996.

"Getting in that car in California and making the 18 hour drive I had no idea that I’d end up right back here doing this," Sanchez said.

Being the head coach of his alma mater is both a full circle moment and a dream come true but it also marks another chance for Sanchez to coach D1 football at the FBS level, something he had hoped would come.

Sanchez was the head coach at UNLV from 2015-2019 where he had a 20-40 overall record.

He told ABC-7 he learned a lot from that experience and even more from coaching with Gary Patterson at TCU in 2021 and Jerry Kill at TCU in 2021 and NMSU from 2022-23.

“When you just watch someone who has been successful in action and see how they do things, you’re going to grab some things from their bag," Sanchez said. "We’re different but we’re both fiery, both passionate and we know what we want and aren’t afraid to kick down a door to get it.”

Sanchez also coached at high schools from 1998-2014, including Organ Mountain, Irvin, California and Bishop Gorman where he won six straight championships.

Jerry Kill may have laid a platform for success but Sanchez has had to deal with a lot of moving parts, that included replacing four major coaches who took jobs with the SEC.

Sanchez told ABC-7 his coaching staff is now locked in:

• Ghaali Muhammad-Lankford is moving from wide receivers coach to offensive coordinator.

• Nate Dreiling will remain as the defensive coordinator but will also become the associate head coach.

• Andrew Mitchell will move up from offensive line coach to run game coordinator and assistant head coach.

• Tyler Wright will move from the tight ends coach to the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.

• Notre Dame's defensive analyst, Ronnie Regula is set to become the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach.

• Sam Houston's defensive coordinator, Joe Morris will become the defensive line coach.

• Nevada's cornerbacks coach, Jalen Ortiz will become the Aggies secondary coach.

Sanchez is also dealing with a plethora of players entering the portal, which inlcudes star quarterback Diego Pavia and cornerback Andre Seldon. Sanchez announced in his press conference on Wednesday that two players who entered the portal decided to return to NMSU, that includes defensive back Dylan Early.