New Mexico State spending Auburn game check toward keeping their coach

New Mexico State is spending the money made for playing Auburn football on November 18 — in, of course, one of the biggest upsets college football has seen all season and easily the biggest upset loss AU has suffered in the modern era — to keep their head coach, Jerry Kill, according to NMSU Aggies AD Mario Moccia.

“I’ve tried to launch the ‘Keep Jerry Kill Campaign,’ in case another suitor comes calling” Moccia said in a phone call with AL.com. “That’s what you do when you’re at New Mexico State. You don’t get to watch Netflix. You get back to work, even after a historic win.”

As AL.com’s Matt Cohen explains, one of the first expenses New Mexico State will be addressing is to add athletic facilities Kill has specifically asked for.

“Ultimately, the $1.85 million will buoy the school’s general athletics fund and be used as cash to fund various facets of the athletic program,” Cohen prefaced before saying, “One of those purposes, Moccia said, is upgrades to the football program and facilities requested by head coach Jerry Kill.”

Auburn football cannot let New Mexico State loss define the program

Great programs learn from the type of upset loss New Mexico State was able to dominate AU to earn. Exhibit A: Florida State losing to Jacksonville State in 2021 but now being two wins away from a College Football Playoff berth ahead of Week 13 in 2023.

If the Tigers don’t learn from this, and continue to hang their heads as they walk into the Iron Bowl as massive underdogs, Hugh Freeze’s first season on the Plains will be more remembered for the late-season collapse than the pre-Week 12 progress the Tigers’ three-game winning streak over Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas built.

The 2023 season ultimately being defined in that way would be damning for the program’s momentum moving forward as the SEC adds Texas and Oklahoma in 2024.