This is the chance to re-invent how San Diego State football operates, how it feels and how it is perceived. This is the doorway to wipe away the dust and rust of the past two seasons and dramatically change the direction of a once-proud program.
The announcement Monday that the Aztecs and Brady Hoke will go their separate ways at the end of the season provides a golden opportunity.
Choose wisely.
If Athletic Director J.D. Wicker absorbed anything from his fan base as this season wilted, they hope he heard this: The only thing worse than being bad is being bad and boring.
The Aztecs sit 113th in scoring offense among 130 major-college programs. They’re tied for 111th in third-down conversion percentage. They’re paying down Snapdragon Stadium while hemorrhaging season ticket holders. They’ll miss a bowl game for the first time since 2009.
They need fresh blood. Bold blood.
Think Kliff Kingsbury, the offensive analyst at USC. Think Ryan Grubb, the offensive coordinator at Washington. Think anyone with a proven track record of piling up points who causes the palms of opposing defensive coordinators to sweat like the poor sap unlocking store doors on Black Friday.
Want to re-engage with fans? Pump excitement into the program from the jump. The sport has changed astronomically in recent years, from athletes chasing NIL money to the blur of the transfer portal.
Look at what hiring Deion Sanders did at Colorado, a moribund program that hijacked the national conversation and, despite recent losses, breathed life back into the Buffaloes. San Diego State does not have Deion-hiring money, but the thought process of a daring jolt needs to be the goal.
The Aztecs struggle mightily to recruit quarterbacks to a program built around a conservative running game and defense. Want to draw new eyes? Kingsbury coached Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech and Johnny Manziel at Texas A&M. His fingerprints are on a USC offense led by Heisman Trophy-contending huddle boss Caleb Williams.
Want recruits to see points ramp up? Grubb is the chief button-pusher for the Huskies, the fifth best scoring offense in the country. He coaches another Heisman-chasing quarterback in Michael Penix Jr. He coached as an assistant at Fresno State, so understands the landscape and grind of the Mountain West.
There are others like them out there, but that’s a good place to start.
San Diego State athletic director John David Wicker watches football coach Brady Hoke speak at an Aug. 29, 2022 news conference.
(Adriana Heldiz/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Wicker has yet not made a big-time hire outside the building. Hoke was on Rocky Long’s staff, working with the defensive line, when he was named SDSU’s head coach for the second time in January 2020. Hoops guru Brian Dutcher already was head-coach-in-waiting under Steve Fisher. Baseball’s Shaun Cole was promoted from pitching coach to replace Mark Martinez. Ditto for softball coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz, who was head-coach-in-waiting under Kathy Van Wyk.
This one is a biggie, and not only because it could resuscitate a front-porch program like football. The combination of the new stadium, hand-wringing fans and — worst of all — disinterested indifference in the community has ripple effects beyond one locker room.
San Diego State saw a chance to jump to the Pac-12 unravel spectacularly when the conference imploded while under siege by the Big Ten and Big 12. That does not mean a Power 5 shot is gone forever.
The Aztecs need to continue positioning themselves to be more attractive to the biggest brokers in football as the gulf between the haves and have-nots widens by the hour. That demands relevance and buzz. Right now, San Diego State possesses neither.
Things can change at lightning speed, though, in college football today. Yesterday’s sleepy outpost can become an overnight sensation with the right coaching hire or some splashy transfer-portal two stepping.
The NIL money on Montezuma Mesa is not going to attract the biggest five-star names. A coaching hire that screams things are changing fast can, however.
Showing that a program can win and win big still matters to recruits, especially the overlooked gems who alter fates. The textbook example is on the same campus: Dutcher and his staff routinely land impact players who value winning more than an NIL payday. That recipe led to a national title game appearances in April.
Fans watch San Diego State play UNLV at Snapdragon Stadium last November.
(Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
It’s a tricky needle to thread, without a doubt. If it was easy, everyone would pull it off. When you don’t have a blue-blood name and pedigree to lean on or donors pouring money in, you have to win in the program margins.
The type of hire that gets the country to go “whoa” can be the catalyst for real and sustainable change at a place like San Diego State. It can galvanize skeptical fans who remain grumpy about price hikes that have outpaced the product on the field.
Though the current state of the program and the middling Mountain West offer challenges, Wicker can sell sunny San Diego and a new stadium. That’s not nothing.
Be creative. Be unpredictable. Be fearless.
Be different.
