Big personality and big things for Jason Eck at New Mexico

WHEN JASON ECK interviewed for the offensive line job at South Dakota State, he understood the assignment.

 Then-SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier coveted coaches who are teachers. Enter Eck, the larger-than-life former Wisconsin lineman who delivered a command performance that foreshadowed his comfort in the spotlight.

With instructions to teach the assembled coaches in the interview as if they were players, Eck executed the entire session as role play. He assigned each coach the role of a different Jackrabbits offensive lineman.

"Eddie, I know you are a young player from Brookings High, and you probably haven't run inside zone," he told then-assistant Dan Jackson, pretending he was SDSU lineman Edward Miller. "But here's how..."

Eck called the coaches up to the front of the room, bent them into varying stances and taught nuanced footwork, working hard enough that sweat splotches began to appear on his suit.

His flair that day in front of a small audience tells the story of how Eck and his current program, New Mexico, has earned a bigger stage.

Eck is the rare head coach with an offensive line background, and his success in Year 2 in Albuquerque comes in part because he's unafraid to wear a bolo tie, cruise Albuquerque in a low rider and act out spoofs of "The Office" on social media to sell tickets. He jokes that he doesn't "have the Sean McVay look" but has thrived thanks to his unique style based on connection. 

Eck lived with Jackson upon arriving in Brookings, South Dakota, and said the coach's magnetism and personality had him telling himself within a week of meeting him, "God, this guy is like my best friend."

"He's a big offensive line coach," Jackson said. "Those guys get a rap for being dumb, but Jason is a highly intelligent guy. He does it in a way that he's not telling you how smart he is. He's a genuine guy's guy, and he makes you feel comfortable around him being yourself."

After flipping New Mexico to a nine-win team last year highlighted by a road win over UCLA, Eck has New Mexico in uncharted territory. After reaching a bowl last year for the first time since 2016 and hosting its first home sellout since 2007, Eck has changed the way college football looks at New Mexico.

Eck met his wife, Kimberly, while he was a graduate assistant at Wisconsin. He bounced at a bar near the stadium -- then known as the Oakcrest Tavern -- better known for hosting beer league softball night. She arrived with a friend to have margaritas and cheese curds, sidled up next to the friendly bouncer and gave him her phone number upon leaving.

More than two decades later, they've lived in 11 different spots -- "I stopped counting after 10 moves," she jokes -- everywhere from Montana State to Hampton to Winona State (Minnesota). And twice at Idaho. Along the way, they had five kids -- now ages 6 to 24 -- and she worked as everything from a nanny to Amazon customer service to help pay the daunting grocery bills.

Jason Eck pondered leaving the profession, even interviewed for a job with a FieldTurf company when looking for work after a one-year stint at Western Illinois. Two years later, he was the offensive coordinator in the Division II title game at Minnesota State.

"That put into perspective that we have to stick with it and believe," Kimberly Eck said. "I always believed in him, but the lifestyle was pretty hard at times."

That meandering path has led to one of the most unlikely uprisings in the sport, as Eck's ability to coach, connect and entertain have turned New Mexico and Eck into sudden factors on the landscape. A school that hasn't won a conference title since 1964 is now considered a favorite for the Mountain West title. 

And the family that crisscrossed the country in battered used Suburbans is now front-and-center, as the Ecks' second-oldest, Jaxton Eck, won co-Mountain West player of the year as a linebacker in 2025 and returned to play with dad again this year. "It helps to have the same last name," Jason Eck jokes of his ability to retain his son as bigger schools came calling.

New Mexico travels to No. 24 Oklahoma on Saturday, another big stage that Eck has the Lobos confident they can deliver another command performance.

AS ECK HOPSCOTCHED around the country, he consistently showed an affinity for and ability to connect. It started in the offensive line room, a spot coaches rarely move up from to become coordinators, never mind head coaches.

A star guard from his time at SDSU, Garret Greenfield, recalled some of Eck's wittiest hits.

If a clear hold on film was followed by a player raising his hands in the air, Eck would say: "Listen guys, 'If you're going to rob a gas station and walk out past the cops with your hands up and say 'I didn't do it,' you're admitting guilt."

If a confused freshman spit out four or five answers identifying a pass pro, Eck would retort: "You sound like a slot machine, pulling the lever and spitting whatever comes out."

When identifying who'd bring pressure on an exotic blitz, he'd relate it his kids' TV shows. "Which of these does not belong?" he'd ask. "There's an apple, orange and a dump truck."

Years after he played for Eck and a stint in the NFL, Greenfield still laughs at the memory of him sneaking a fry from the players' takeout trays in Monday film sessions.

He also makes clear there's substance to match the engaging style, as Eck knew all his players' class schedules, families and girlfriends.

In 2020, Greenfield's father died in a car crash. He called Eck at 11 p.m. to let him know he would be away from the team for a while. Within five minutes, Eck knocked on the door of Greenfield's house.

"He sat with me for a while and consoled me," Greenfield said. "He didn't say much, but having him there in that moment, within 30 minutes of me getting a phone call that changed my life, that's the kind of person he is. He dropped everything and came."

Eck has an undergraduate degree in psychology from Wisconsin and an MBA in business, which he earned as a Badgers graduate assistant. He also studied Nick Saban, as Greenfield said the harshest assessments of players came after lopsided wins and notes that Eck views "complacency as a disease."

Ecks says he learned that motivating offensive linemen is different, as most football players are identified as stars by their speed or arm strength by age 10. Linemen often don't blossom until late high school, so they need someone to "build belief and confidence and develop those guys."

Greenfield described Eck's genius as creating an identity that everyone can get behind. At SDSU, it was the 605 Hogs -- a nod to the area code in Brookings. He created a concise vision everyone got behind -- 60 minutes of physical play, zero excuses and five playing as one.

"He demanded the best out of you; he coached you hard," Greenfield said. "He also cared about you a lot. It was coming from a place of love. He saw more out of each player than the player saw in themselves. He helped extract that out of everyone."

And he's helped extract the most out of New Mexico, with a similar philosophy. Eck said he mentioned in 90% of the meetings at New Mexico upon taking over -- "We're going to a bowl game this year."

He learned from Barry Alvarez that body language matters, as he recalled Alvarez carrying the confidence of being a two-touchdown favorite as underdogs to Michigan or Ohio State.

Before New Mexico's upset of UCLA in the Rose Bowl as a more than two-touchdown underdog, Eck pointed out an homage to all the great Rose Bowl performances -- World Cups, Super Bowls and concerts like U2. He told the team that their performance the next day would join the pantheon.

"We beat them by 20 and were twice inside the 5 and didn't get points," he said. "I thought our team last year was the toughest team I've been around as far as handling adversity and bouncing back. A lot of things that go into that, and it's one of the things that I do best."

JAXTON ECK DOESN'T cut the profile of a recruit who'd end up as Mountain West co-defensive player of the year. He barely ended up getting recruited by his own father, then the coach at Idaho.

When Jason Eck took the head job at Idaho prior to the 2022 season, Kimberly and the four kids stayed back in South Dakota for Jaxton to finish his senior year of high school. After an itinerant life of relentless moves until that point, they felt they owed him a final year.

Jaxton Eck wanted to play for his dad, but it wasn't that easy. Both were wary of nepotism criticisms, especially after the prior Idaho coach, Paul Petrino, was criticized for playing his son at quarterback.

"I didn't want anyone to think it was handed to me," Jaxton Eck told ESPN.

Jaxton Eck got an offer from Incarnate Word, a prominent FCS program, his senior year. Before that, he'd mostly had Division II offers. The combination of lack of exposure from COVID and limitations from injuries left him under-recruited.

"This kid wasn't born on third base," New Mexico defensive coordinator Spence Nowinsky said. "This kid was born out in right field with the beer cans and shells and cigarette butts. He had a humble background and built himself to a hell of a deal."

Jaxton Eck's trajectory was so uncertain that Jason admits he considered becoming a lower-division head coach while Jaxton was in high school in order to coach him. (He'd pay off video coordinators and GAs at different stops to video his son's games. They'd break down the film later, as he often missed games.)

Early in his career, Jason Eck figured he'd be a career offensive line coach. But he turned down more money to be Houston offensive line coach under Dana Holgorson because he got promoted to playcaller at SDSU. He figured he'd found a path, "This is my chance to coach my son."

Eck appreciated that his son grew up doing pushups in the garage. He jokes that his 15-year-old son, an aspiring quarterback named Palmer, has a more plush home gym now. Even Jason Eck didn't know where that grit would take Jaxton, but Jaxton knew he wanted to be with his dad at Idaho. (He'd been born there during his dad's earlier stop back in 2004.)

"It was a dream come true to play there," he said.

Even the most optimistic dad couldn't have projected what came next. Against Oregon in 2024, the Vandals trailed just 17-14 in the fourth quarter before falling 24-14. Jaxton saw star Ducks receiver Tez Johnson motion to the boundary twice and then return to the field. He knew it'd be a jet touch pass from watching film, and he stuffed Johnson twice after reading the play.

"I'll get emotional talking about Jaxton Eck," warns Dan Jackson, the former Idaho defensive coordinator, now head coach at South Dakota State. "There's no one that puts more into it. Any ounce of talent that he has in his body and every brain cell he's been given, he's used to be the best player he can be."

He finished that day in Eugene with 14 tackles, and in consecutive offseasons, he drew enough attention where he easily could have made more than $500,000 at places like Michigan State, Stanford, Wake Forest and NC State. "That's a pretty mind-blowing number," Jason Eck said. "More money than I made until I got the job here [at New Mexico]."

Jaxton Eck followed his dad to New Mexico and then stuck around for his fourth year. He'll have a fifth year if he chooses to use it under new NCAA eligibility rules.

Keeping an all-league player at school New Mexico's level and budget is rare. But it didn't take much convincing for Jaxton Eck to stick around, as he's surrounded by family and hopes to someday enter the family business.

"I've got closer to him and spent more time with him as I've gotten to play for him," said Jaxton Eck, acknowledging the hours and recruiting travel that kept his dad away from home growing up. "I definitely want to be a coach when I'm done playing. I love football."

AS NEW MEXICO began to build momentum last season, Eck formulated a plan to peddle tickets. Former New Mexico athletics director Fernando Lovo got a call from Eck on a Monday with a simple request: "Can you get me a low rider?"

Lovo marveled at Eck's ability to connect with everyone from New Mexico's governor to the man who would sold Chicano-style hot dogs from a nearby trailer. Current New Mexico AD Ryan Berryman jokes that Eck even appeared at the campus recycling expo. He had no problem driving through town in a bolo tie and personally pitching tickets.

"He sees opportunity where other folks may see challenges," Berryman said. 

Berryman grew up in the state, graduated from the school and worked most of his career there. He cannot recall a time when both of New Mexico's football and men's basketball program were picked atop their conference. 

The ripple of winning in football has led to an attendance boom, which Berryman admits also led realizations about how antiquated New Mexico's football stadium is.

Thanks in part to Eck's charm and the momentum from winning, New Mexico was allocated $28 million in upgrades for University Stadium. And season-ticket sales have spiked by 39% from 2025 to this season.

"Obtaining funding to help address that, I think that really was fueled by added eyes and people in the venue," Berryman said, adding he'd argue that it wouldn't have happened without Eck's personal touch.

New Mexico extended Eck in November and also extended basketball coach Eric Olen in May after he led New Mexico to the NIT semifinals in his first season.

New Mexico is 2-0 this season with a pair of blowouts. With preseason Mountain West favorite UNLV just 1-2, it's not unreasonable to consider New Mexico the league favorite. The Lobos have lost star quarterback Jack Layne for the year with an elbow injury, which could lower their ceiling. But there's both continuity thanks to Eck's magnetism, leadership from Jaxton Eck and belief from those who've stayed.

As the stage gets bigger, Eck is more comfortable delivering command performances in the role.

"He has an ability to inspire belief," Berryman said. "Belief in the locker room, belief in the community and the university setting that all things are possible. Folks can be quick to put limits on what you can accomplish. He can inspire belief. His ability to do that is unlike anyone I've seen."