Report: Jerry Kill to step down as New Mexico State head coach

Jerry Kill will step down as the New Mexico State head football coach, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Saturday. Former UNLV coach Tony Sanchez, who worked under Kill as receivers coach the past two seasons, is expected to take his place.

It is reported that Kill could be on the move to Vanderbilt to serve in an off-field role for the 2024 season. The Commodores finished this past season 2-10 and failed to win an SEC game.

Kill spent the past two seasons coaching the Aggies and led them to a 17-11 record. This year NMSU finished 10-5 and earned a bid to play in the New Mexico Bowl, where it lost to Fresno State by a score of 37-10.

In addition to New Mexico State, Jerry Kill was also a head coach at Northern Illinois (2008-10) and Minnesota (2011-15). He has a 71-58 overall record across 11 seasons coaching at the FCS level. He made head coaching stops at Southern Illinois (2001-07) and Emporia State (1999-2000) early in his coaching career.

Prior to Kill taking over in 2022, the Aggies had gone just 2-10 the year prior. He managed to direct them to a 7-6 record in his inaugural season and led them to a victory in the Quick Lane Bowl. This past season, he earned the Conference USA Coach of the Year.

Kill also has experience at the administrative level as an athletic director at Southern Illinois in 2019. He served as the associate athletic director for one year at Kansas State in 2016. It’s unclear exactly what his position would be if he indeed does go to Vanderbilt, but he brings understanding of multiple different roles.

Tony Sanchez expected to take over as New Mexico State coach

The Aggies will hope for a smooth transition with Sanchez set to step in and fill the vacancy left by Kill’s departure. He spent several years working at national high school powerhouse Bishop Gorman (NV) before making the jump to the college level at UNLV in 2015.

Unfortunately, he never had a winning season in five years with the Rebels. He was fired following the 2019 season with an overall record of 20-40 and later joined the TCU staff in 2021 as an offensive analyst.

Sanchez will hope for better results in his second head coaching opportunity and should have a good starting point with how Kill left things for him.