ESPN Independents and Others Blog

Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson

With the Mountain West in the news so much lately, I think it's appropriate to look at what some of the new coaches walked into and some of the challenges they face in bringing their new programs up to par with some of the others in the conference.

For a couple of these coaches, turning their new jobs into winning programs will not be easy, and in some cases it might take several years. But each of the new Mountain West coaches has a strong background and has been a part of major turnarounds before.

NEW MEXICO

	Chuck Rydlewski/Icon SMI
	Mike Locksley is installing the spread offense at New Mexico.

Coach: Mike Locksley
Previous school and position: Illinois, offensive coordinator
Head coaching experience: None
New Mexico's 2008 record: 4-8, 2-6 MWC
Returning players: Offense 8, defense 3

What he brings: Locksley is an offensive maven that has helped transform offenses at Florida and Illinois. He's already installed much of his spread system at New Mexico, but is still looking for the right players to run it. Unlike the other Mountain West coaching newbies, Locksley inherited a team that was already offensively and defensively sound. Although the Lobos won just four games last year, there is still a strong nucleus of players that had been on bowl teams before.

Challenges he faces: Learning a new system can be tough for any team, but New Mexico already had a spread base and has picked up Locksley's system fairly easily. He does need to find the right quarterback to run the system, though. Donovan Porterie, who has been the team's starter the past couple seasons, would appear to be the frontrunner, but Locksley has declined to name any starter until the week leading up to the season opener. New Mexico has deep roots in its running game, so turning the Lobos into a more balanced offense might take some time.

On defense, the Lobos will break away from their traditional 3-3-5 set and move to multiple fronts. It will still be high pressure, but not the pressure that New Mexico was known for under coach Rocky Long. The Lobos only return three players on the defensive side, which could be good and bad. Good because the players will be open and eager to learning a new system, but bad because there is little game experience.

Likelihood of pulling off a winning season: The Lobos have a tough nonconference schedule, probably tougher than Locksley would have liked in his first season. The Lobos might be able to play with Texas A&M considering no one knows what to expect out of the Aggies, but they're going to have a tough time with the offensive firepower of Tulsa and Texas Tech to end the nonconference slate. The Lobos also have games against Air Force and New Mexico State before they get into conference play full time. The Lobos could easily start the season 2-3 and could nab wins at Wyoming against UNLV and at San Diego State to be 5-3 heading into the meat of the conference schedule. And that's where it will get dicey. Luckily for New Mexico, it gets Utah, BYU and TCU toward the end of the season, which will give the Lobos more time to get their new system down. Still, the only winnable game left in their final stretch might be Colorado State for that elusive sixth win.

My prediction: 6-6, 4-4 MWC

SAN DIEGO STATE

	Stan Liu/US Presswire
	San Diego State coach Brady Hoke should help the Aztecs overcome their recruiting problems.

Coach: Brady Hoke
Previous school and position: Ball State, head coach
Head coaching experience: Ball State, 2003-08
San Diego State's 2008 record: 2-10, 1-7 MWC
Returning players: Offense 9, defense 6

What he brings: Hoke jumped to the top of the list of hot coaching prospects this season after turning Ball State from a no-name program to a BCS contender. The Cardinals finished 12-2, undefeated during Mid-American Conference and were in the thick of the BCS busting hunt until being knocked off by Buffalo in the MAC Championship. Hoke has a knack for making something out of nothing and recruiting unknown gems to build a quality program. He also brings an all-star staff that has the coaching background of some of the major programs in the country.

Challenges he faces: The biggest knock on San Diego State by both local and national media is the lack of commitment to the program by both the athletic department and the school itself. That's a huge hurdle to overcome. San Diego State is a tough school to get in and stay in academically, which is why several high-level area football players look elsewhere for football. There are recruits to be had in the immediate area around the school and Hoke and his all-star coaching staff can nab them if they can find a way to portray the school in a positive light. It's been a challenge several coaches have faced and succumbed to over the years at San Diego State, but if Hoke can recruit to Muncie, Ind., there might be hope for the Aztecs.

Beyond getting recruits, Hoke is going to have to change the culture at San Diego State. The program hasn't had a winning season since 1998 and has had just one .500 season during that span. It's been at or near the bottom of the Mountain West nearly every year and Hoke will have a long way to go toward teaching his players that they can compete in the toughest of all the non-BCS conferences.

Likelihood of pulling off a winning season: Hoke faces the toughest turnaround in the conference. His defense, which allowed 460.75 yards and 37.17 points per game last season, is learning defensive coordinator Rocky Long's new high-pressure system and that is going to take some time to perfect. Quarterback Ryan Lindley was essentially all of the Aztecs offense last year. The running game was one of the worst in the country and was often non-existent. Offensive coordinator Al Borges said he wanted to balance the offense, which again, is going to take some time to find the right players to run and compete with some of the best defenses in the country.

I will say this, San Diego State will be competitive. That's one trait that Hoke brings to his team. It might not have the talent to win consistently in the Mountain West right away, but it will play hard and give some teams a run for their money. That might even translate into some upset wins over some teams that are taking the Aztecs lightly.

San Diego State does have a favorable schedule with games against Southern Utah, Idaho and New Mexico State before getting into the heart of conference play. If the team progresses during fall camp, it could start the season 3-2. But then things get tough. The Aztecs will have trouble in their next four against BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico and TCU, though I'm not sure what to expect out of CSU considering they don't have a steady quarterback yet. Wyoming at home is a maybe, though not likely, and the Aztecs could split their final two games against Utah and UNLV, though that UNLV game is in Las Vegas.

My prediction: 4-8, 1-7 MWC

WYOMING

	AP Photo/Laramie Boomerang, Andy Carpenean
	Wyoming football coach Dave Christensen has been known to turn teams around.

Coach: Dave Christensen
Previous school and position: Missouri, offensive coordinator
Head coaching experience: None
Wyoming's 2008 record: 4-8, 1-7 MWC
Returning players: Offense 7, defense 8

What he brings: Christensen has been a hot coaching commodity the last couple years because of his spread offense. In his final two seasons at Missouri, the Tigers were among the top offenses in the country in both yardage and scoring. The Tigers' red zone numbers were among the best in the country. Similar to the other new coaches in the Mountain West, Christensen helped turn programs around at Toledo and Missouri. Both ended up being ranked contenders by the time of his departure.

Challenges he faces: Wyoming is a team that traditionally has been known as one of the tougher teams in the country and during the past two seasons that was lost. Former coach Joe Glenn did a nice job with the program early and made some major contributions toward state of the art facilities, which will help recruiting, but during his final two seasons he lost the players and they struggled to win games.

Christensen already has encountered huge hurdles in trying to make his team tough enough to compete in the Mountain West. He had so many players out because of injury this spring that he had to use alumni in the spring game.

The one thing Glenn did leave was a bevy of talent and some untapped potential. Many of the players that defeated Tennessee in Knoxville last season are still around and the defense, which has carried the Cowboys the past couple years, is mostly intact.

The biggest challenge for Wyoming is learning Christensen's complex offensive system that forces a quarterback to go through his progressions quicker than the Cowboys quarterbacks have ever had to before. The Wyoming receivers also will have to refine their route running and catching ability to keep up with this offense.

Christensen also will have to teach his players to stick together through tough times. Last season, the offense and the defense blamed each other for losses, which created a tough atmosphere for winning games.

Likelihood of pulling off a winning season: Christensen's hard-nosed style wasn't received well by a few of last year players and he's faced some defections. He finished camp with about 53 healthy players, so he'll have to find bodies just to give his first-teamers a breather in the fall. He brings in one of the best recruiting classes in Wyoming history, which might create a little bit of as rift between the players that are already there since the recruits were hand-picked to play in Christensen's system. Wyoming also has to settle on a quarterback. Senior Karsten Sween is the guy heading into fall camp, but recruits Austyn Carta-Samuels and Robert Benjamin are definitely going to be in the mix come fall.

Wyoming's nonconference schedule is a lot tougher than Christensen probably would have liked it to be in his first season, especially with a team that's more or less starting from scratch. Weber State should be a win to open the year, but then back-to-back Big 12 games against Texas and Colorado are going to be tough. The Cowboys have a conference game against UNLV, which is winnable, before traveling to play a tough Florida Atlantic squad. This could easily be a 2-3 start.

The Cowboys then play New Mexico, which will be interesting since Locksley and Christensen are familiar with each other from their days at rivals Illinois and Missouri and those games were offensive shootouts. The Cowboys have back-to-back road games at Air Force and Utah before hosting BYU. That's a really tough three-game stretch. The Cowboys can win at San Diego State before hosting TCU, which always an interesting game in Laramie, Wyo., and then the rivalry game against Colorado State to end the season.

Depending on how quickly Wyoming can learn its new system and how healthy the team can get, especially on defense, will determine whether the Cowboys are a bowl team because the potential to be one is there.

My prediction: 5-7, 4-4 MWC