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Utah State head coach Nate Dreiling greets his offense after a touchdown against Boise State in the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Boise, Idaho. Boise State won 62-30. (AP Photo/Steve Conner) | Steve Conner
At 33 years old, Nate Dreiling’s coaching odyssey is in its beginnings.
Utah State football’s interim head coach has only been coaching for 10 years, going back to his start as a graduate assistant at the University of Kansas in 2015-16.
During his decade in the sport — including stops at Kansas, Pittsburg State, Oregon, Southeast Missouri State and New Mexico State, Dreiling hasn’t crossed paths much with New Mexico’s Bronco Mendenhall.
Some of that is because Mendenhall was retired for a couple of seasons, following the 2021 campaign.
But mostly, it’s because the two haven’t coached anywhere close to each other.
Until now.
Dreiling and Mendenhall will be on opposite sidelines Saturday afternoon when Utah State hosts New Mexico.
It is a key game for both teams.
Utah State stands at 1-5 overall and has lost five straight games, most recently a 50-34 loss to UNLV last Friday.
New Mexico, meanwhile, is 2-4 overall and is coming off back-to-back wins over Air Force and New Mexico State.
For both teams, a chance at bowl eligibility hangs in the balance Saturday. Maybe not mathematically speaking, but for all intents and purposes. Neither team can afford to lose a winnable game like the one in front of them in Logan.
And though Dreiling doesn’t personally know Mendenhall well at all — the pair first met this summer at Mountain West Conference media days — he has nothing but respect for what Mendenhall is attempting to do at New Mexico, i.e. rebuild a program that hasn’t had a double digit win season since the early 1980s.
“I think that was just a home run hire for…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/utah-state-football-coach-nate-031224185.html
Author : Deseret News
Publish date : 2024-10-15 03:12:24
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