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UNM football: Former Lobos lineman Jason Lenzmeier returns as an assistant coach

By Jeremy Fowler
Tuesday, April 17, 2007

The job posting might as well have read like this:

Help wanted - The University of New Mexico is looking for an offensive line coach with minimal coaching experience. Applicant can learn how to recruit on the job. If you've played college football at all, you're game for this high-profile position. Just bring a Coke and a smile.

Send all resumes to:

Rocky Long, head football coach

University of New Mexico

After just one year as a graduate assistant, 26-year-old Jason Lenzmeier enters his first season on Long's staff in learn-by-doing mode.

Lesson Two began Monday with the start of spring practice.

Lesson One was a monthlong recruiting stint in March that kept Lenzmeier in West Texas, his designated recruiting area, bouncing from high schools to homes in a rental car.

Lenzmeier - a former Lobos offensive lineman who refers to his coaching qualifications as "what credentials?" - said he's still discovering whether he's good in a living room.

He has proven he's good with the footwork, the hand techniques, the motivation, the respect and the rest of the teaching stuff, players and coaches say.

And he's personality-plus in an interview, so the recruiting should come naturally.

"All of this has been a blast," Lenzmeier said. "With anything, you learn new experiences every day. Coaching is what I really enjoy doing, and I've always wanted to do it."

No stranger to how good football should be played, Lenzmeier was a former All-Mountain West Conference lineman with the Lobos from 2000-03. After short free-agent stints with the San Diego Chargers and the St. Louis Rams, a 9-to-5 job at an Albuquerque steel company awaited.

Lenzmeier approached Long before the 2006 season about fund-raising for his steel company's auction. He left Long's office with a position as a graduate assistant.

Trading welding for Under Armour sweats proved to be the right move, especially when Bob Stanley left the program after last season.

Stanley bolted for Western Michigan after one season at UNM. Stanley replaced Bob Bostad, now at Wisconsin, who coached Lenzmeier.

Long had no problem Monday explaining why he hired an inexperienced coach.

"He had a lot of enthusiasm for the job, and I thought he showed great knowledge as a (graduate assistant)," Long said. "He relates well with players, understands the position. He's tough on players, but he knows what they're going through.

"I've brought in guys who don't know anything about our players or our program before. Since he showed an aptitude to it and he loves this program, you ought to give him a chance."

Players say Lenzmeier exudes a youthful energy that enlivens the crew and helps him relate to it. Lenzmeier calls this an "advantage" to other seasoned coaches.

Another way to call it is "animated," as Lenzmeier will physically show you a drill by knocking pads and shuffling his feet like MC Hammer to show proper footwork.

"And we know he can still do it, too," senior Anthony Kilby said. "He's a young guy like us. He's a little skinnier than he was when he was playing, though."

Lenzmeier knows his situation is unique and some might think his finger-snap rise to an assistant position is surprising.

But at the end of the day, Lenzmeier doesn't fret over whether or not he can teach football.

Besides, he's been doing it even when he wasn't a coach. Assistants like Bostad noticed Lenzmeier's constant coachlike reminders to anyone around him, Lenzmeier said - move your feet this way, see the field that way, find this gap. So, they'd always hint that coaching could be his destiny.

With the right opportunity, of course.

"My mom always told me that opportunity is a right time in a right place," Lenzmeier said. "That's what this is."