Mendenhall left for Mountain West rival Utah State a week ago after going 5-7 overall and 3-4 in conference in his lone season at the school.

Utah State introduced its new football coach at a press conference Monday morning in Logan. Proximity to family was a big reason Mendenhall said chose to leave New Mexico and take the Utah State job.

Utah State believes it has to keep pace with the rest of the country as college football programs prepare for revenue sharing, increased coaching salaries and NIL budgets. And the contract for its new head football coach indicates an increased investment.

New Mexico has agreed to a five-year deal to hire Idaho coach Jason Eck, sources told ESPN on Saturday. Eck has been a successful FCS head coach, as he is 26-13 in three years at Idaho. He reached the FCS playoffs all three years with the Vandals,

New Mexico football believes it has found the man who can lift the program back into relevance, but they had to continue the harsh cycle of college sports in order to secure him. After losing Bronco Mendenhall to Utah State earlier in December,

A day after the Vandals were eliminated by Montana State in a 52-19 quarterfinal loss in Bozeman, Eck agreed to a five-year deal to take over the Lobos, according to the report. In his, Eck went 26-13.