A rumor that was apparently fueled by Facebook has the college football world buzzing this week.
A former executive producer of New Mexico Lobo TV sports programming and long-time news producer for KRQE-TV in Albuquerque reported yesterday via his Facebook page that the Lobos will fire head coach Mike Loksley in the next couple of weeks and replace him with former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach.
SPORTSbyBROOKS has the details:
New Mexico’s football radio broadcast flagship KOB-AM reportedly then picked up the Facebook entry from Gerges Scott, who is now a crisis communications consultant. KOB-FM subsequently mentioned its sister station’s report about the Locksley’s firing on its Twitter page:
“Rumors coming from our sister station 770 KKOB that UNM Lobos football coach Mike Locksley will be fired after the game at NMSU on October 9th, and replaced with ANOTHER controversial coach!”
The ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL reports that Scott said he was told the news by “unnamed sources.“
As SPORTSbyBROOKS points out, Locksley has gone 1-14 to start his New Mexico coaching career and was suspended for a game after admitting to a physical altercation with one of his assistant head coaches. He’s also been accused of sexual harassment by a New Mexico employee and “aggressively confronting” a student reporter with a “profane outburst.”
Sounds like a winner.
In wake of the rumor going public, New Mexico athletic director Paul Krebs had this to say:
“Mike Locksley’s our football coach. Period,” Krebs said when asked if Leach would replace Locksley this season.
“As I said (to the Journal) on Saturday, we will make an evaluation at the end of the season. We’ll sit down with coach at the end of the season, but he’s our coach.”
We’ll see, Paul.
If Leach showed interest in the job, I don’t see why New Mexico would tell him to shove off. Leach would make the Lobos relevant again for the first time in…well let’s just say they’ll be relevant again and leave it at that.
Mike Vick has another favorable matchup this week against the Jags, who rank 29th in the league against the pass…Carson Palmer has numerous weapons to throw to, and he’ll have a chance to utilize all of them this week against the Panthers, who have yielded 218 yards and 2.5 TDs per game through the first two weeks…Brett Favre hasn’t looked very good this season, and he may be without Percy Harvin, who is battling a hip injury and migraines. But he faces the Lions (305 yards, 2.0 TD per game), so if he can’t post good numbers this week, things are very bad in Minnesota…Need a deep sleeper? Ryan Fitzpatrick takes over as the Bills starter, and he’ll likely have to throw a ton too keep up with the Pats, who have showed quite a bit of vulnerability against the pass…I think David Garrard will have a bounce-back game against the Eagles (at home, where he plays well). Philly figures to score well, so Garrard will have to pass to keep up.
