The coach with a chip on his shoulder: NM State's Tony Sanchez determined to succeed

Tony Sanchez walked into Sam Boyd Stadium on Nov. 23, 2019, the same way he always had.

It was the same way he walked into stadiums as a wide receiver at New Mexico State, and the same way he walked into stadiums as UNLV’s coach during his entire five-year tenure before that. He carried himself with a certain attitude, suave and moxie, along with an intensity and fire that gradually built before competitive moments.

There was something else too — a massive chip on his shoulder. A burning desire to be successful. A fervent feeling to prove himself. It was with Sanchez in his first football game in seventh grade, and it was still with him in his 23rd year of coaching. He’s never sure where it came from, but knows it’s fueled him throughout his life.

That chip weighed on him throughout the week. His agent, Kyle McCarthy, informed him a few days before that UNLV was firing him at the season’s end. Its then-athletic director, Desireé Reed-Francois, had allegedly forgotten to inform him before McCarthy did in a Starbucks parking lot. (Nate Wiechers, an Interim Director for Strategic Communications at Arizona, where Reed-Francois is now the athletic director, denied this on her behalf in a comment to the Sun-News .)

No matter what happened in the last two games, Sanchez was gone.

For the rest of the week, his intensity grew. The 2-8 Rebels ’ hopes for a bowl game were dashed, but Sanchez couldn’t fathom leaving on a loss. He had to go out on top.

Two emphatic victories followed. That day, UNLV defeated San Jose State 38-35 off a touchdown in the final two minutes and beat rival Nevada 33-30 in overtime the next week. The Rebels were letting him go, but Sanchez got the sendoff he wanted.

“I’m a fireball,” Sanchez said. “I’ve always been very passionate about this sport. I’ve always been really fierce as a competitor. Get me in a competitive environment, and it’s on. It always has been… I’m not sure where that comes from, but I know I’ve always been hungry to be successful.”

Five years later, Sanchez is a head coach again, and it’s at his alma mater with the Aggies . Since playing for NM State from 1994-95, Sanchez has watched the program from afar. He’s watched it mostly be a consistent bottom feeder, having only three winning seasons since 1995.

But now, things might be different. The Aggies are coming off consecutive bowl appearances for the first time since the 1959-60 seasons and were runners-up of Conference USA in their first year as a member under former coach Jerry Kill. Possibly for the first time ever, NM State has winning aspirations in football.

Sanchez hopes to channel his passion for the Aggies into building a perennial winner. He hopes NM State achieves this by building an identity that mirrors the intense, fierce and unwavering mentality he’s always had, the one that guided him that day in Nevada.

“I genuinely care about this place,” Sanchez said. “I'm passionate, I'm gritty and I’m tough, and that’s how we’re going to be. We're gonna do things the right way.”

Expectations have changed since Sanchez played, but the chip on his shoulder remains. He not only wants to prove himself as a coach, but prove the Aggies can finally reach greater heights.

“It’s about creating stability for this program, and we haven’t had stability,” Sanchez said. “We’ve had two good years, but that doesn’t really create stability. We want to be a team that contends for bowl games every year. We want to be a team that you know plays for championships. We want to be a team that rises to the top.

“Good teams play for games that aren’t on their schedule. Bowl games aren’t on your schedule. Championship games aren’t on your schedule. You have 12 scheduled games. We need to get to a 13th every year.”

More: New Mexico State football: WR Kordell David 'hungry' and 'ready to compete' for the Aggies

‘He did whatever it took to keep the intensity up’

Sanchez grew up in California’s Bay Area, mostly around Livermore. Both of his parents pushed him toward other sports like baseball and soccer, but Sanchez was enamored with football. He watched the San Francisco 49ers put together a dynasty in his backyard, winning four Super Bowls in the 1980s, and would later idolize Tim Brown of the then-Los Angeles Raiders.

Sanchez’s efforts at Granada High School from 1989-92 weren’t enough to play Division I football straight away. He was forced into the junior college route, playing at Laney College in nearby Oakland for his first two seasons.

Sanchez felt snubbed, and that’s when a chip found his shoulder.

“I think any guy that went (to a junior college)... all had a chip on their shoulder,” said Sgt. James Jones, Sanchez’s teammate and roommate at NM State. “Tony was one of the best receivers in Livermore, and to see other guys go ahead of you made him feel a certain way.”

Sanchez eventually joined the Aggies. He was friends with Sean Manuel, a tight end for NM State from 1993-96, who told him about the program. Sanchez took a visit, and it instantly “felt like home.” He was an Aggie.

Sanchez had limited opportunities in 1994 and felt the chip on his shoulder grow. He wanted to play more, and he wanted to win more after going 3-8 that season.

Most importantly, Sanchez wanted to prove himself to keep his playing career going. He had one year left, and he wasn’t wasting it.

“He was a very intense player that season,” said Denvis Manns, Sanchez’s teammate in 1995. “When he ran his routes, he ran his routes hard, and he did whatever it took to keep that intensity up, just something that I could like, try to get from him, to try to keep the intensity up and become a better player.”

Sanchez hit the ground running in 1995. He scored against No. 23 Georgia, New Mexico and Iowa early in the season, finding the end zone twice against the Lobos and scoring on future first-round NFL draft pick Tom Knight against the Hawkeyes.

The Aggies lost all three games, but Sanchez made his mark and ended the season as NM State’s third-leader in receiving yards. Sanchez tried for a professional career in workouts with the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers and BC Lions, but to no avail.

He returned to Las Cruces for his final semester at NM State in 1996, not knowing what was next. Then, he got a phone call. The Aggies wanted him as a student assistant for the upcoming season.

Suddenly, Sanchez had new life as a coach.

“I was just sitting around, and then immediately jumped in the car to show up early and coach in the summer,” Sanchez said. “I got to work with the receivers, and I’ve been coaching ever since. The rest is history.”

However, he had to find a new job quickly. Tony Samuel was hired to replace Jim Hess as coach in 1997, and didn’t retain Sanchez. He bounced around various position coach roles at high schools like Oñate (now Organ Mountain) and Irvin in Texas from 1998-2003, but struggled to find a permanent position. He sent letters everywhere, even unsuccessfully applying to be Gadsden High School’s head coach.

Then in 2004, Alcott told him about an open head coach position at California High School in San Ramon, Ca., a team that had never won a playoff game before. Many people, including his then-wife, advised against the move, but Sanchez was intrigued.

He’d spent years looking for a place to prove himself. Coaching in college was his goal, and Sanchez knew Cal High was his best chance to get there.

“It was one hell of a risk… but I knew I had to do that,” Sanchez said. “Everyone thought I was crazy at the time, but I knew I’d do good there.”

Sanchez took the Grizzlies out of the basement. He reached the playoffs in three of the next five seasons, winning Cal High’s first playoff games in 2007 and 2008. Sanchez got the college opportunity he coveted when Southern Utah offered him its defensive coordinator role. He wanted to take it, but he feared he wouldn’t sell his house due to the 2007-08 financial crisis and stayed put.

More: New Mexico State football: Parker Awad named Aggies' starting QB for Week 1 game vs SEMO

A year later, Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas wanted him as its head coach. It wasn’t a college, but Sanchez couldn’t turn down greener pastures twice.

“I knew I was either going to be there forever, or I needed to do something,” Sanchez said. “I couldn’t let that house be the reason I didn’t do anything. I sold it, took the loss on the chin and went to Gorman.

“Once I was there, I figured everything out.”

‘He’s a clear-cut hustler’

Bishop Gorman is now seen as a powerhouse, but it was Sanchez who made it that way.

The Gaels didn’t lack success, having won Nevada’s 4A state championship two years prior to Sanchez joining. But it was their first title in 24 years, and Gorman was coming off a 50-14 playoff loss to Paolo Verde in 2008. Sanchez knew the Gaels had potential and set a goal for the Gaels to be one of the nation’s best high school teams.

He established a “blue-collar” culture at the private school with the grit and intensity he still possessed, resulting in a state title in Sanchez’s first year. Then, he got in touch with ESPN to help Gorman schedule games against nationally-ranked teams like De La Salle in California, Armwood in Florida, Our Lady of Good Counsel in Maryland and Booker T. Washington in Oklahoma in the following four seasons.

Sanchez also tapped into Gorman’s resources and talent. Billionaire brothers and Gorman graduates Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta spearheaded funding for a new $10 million stadium named in their father’s honor, which opened in 2012, and had at least one of 247Sports’ top-5 recruits in Nevada in all of Sanchez’s years.

The Gaels were Vegas personified, and it culminated with their best season in 2014. Gorman played three of MaxPreps’ top-25 teams that year, finishing as its No. 1 team in the country with a 15-0 record and a sixth consecutive championship. Sanchez was Gorman’s coach for as long as he wanted, but he couldn’t ignore his college aspirations. He didn’t have to go far to reach them, as UNLV came calling.

Like Cal High, the Rebels were in rough shape, seeing only two winning seasons and one bowl win since 2000. But also like Cal High, Sanchez wasn’t afraid of the challenge.

“It was a no-brainer,” Sanchez said. “I could’ve retired (at Gorman), but we did all we could do. I was going to grow as a person with a great opportunity and a great challenge. I had to do it.”

Going from Bishop Gorman to UNLV was a big step, but Sanchez had a vision. He pitched a new state-of-the-art facility to then-UNLV athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy during his interview, and began fundraising for the $26 million cost upon being hired. He secured $12 million before Reed-Francois replaced Kunzer-Murphy in 2017.

Reed-Francois allegedly had different ideas for the facility, ones that resulted in the cost increasing to $36 million. Wiechers denied this claim to the Sun-News on Reed-Francois's behalf.

But Sanchez saw the project through, and the Fertitta Football Complex — named after the two brothers who gave the largest contribution at $10 million — opened in October 2019.

From fundraising to designing, Sanchez was tenacious in leading every effort in its conception.

“I was relentless with it,” Sanchez said. “You have no idea how many times I'd put on a suit and I'd go eat lunch with somebody. It was not uncommon to have two or three breakfasts, lunches and dinners a week while I was raising this money. I did everything for it, and… I’m really proud of it.”

Today, the facility is seen by many as a testament to his work.

“He built that facility,” said Javin White, a linebacker at UNLV from 2015-19. “If you go to UNLV today, you see that beautiful facility, and that was all Tony Sanchez. He’s a clear-cut hustler.”

Sanchez built it, but didn’t coach in it for long. Whether it was injuries at quarterback or a poor foundation after many losing seasons, the Rebels failed to finish with a winning record during his tenure.

There were some highlights. The Rebels defeated rival Nevada three times in five years after going 1-10 against it in the last 11 seasons, beat SEC foe Vanderbilt on the road in 2019 and won more games than Sanchez’s two predecessors.

Those accomplishments make some believe Sanchez should’ve been given more time.

“We were close to having something special,” said Garrin Justice, UNLV’s offensive coordinator in 2019 and SMU’s current offensive line coach. “Things were trending in the right direction. There’s no reason we couldn’t have made it one of the premier programs in the Mountain West Conference.”

Sanchez hasn't pondered that, and doesn't have any regrets.

“I feel great about my time there. It is what it is,” Sanchez said. “There's a lot of coaches there that didn't come close to doing what I did. I'm sure there's a couple things that I wish I would’ve done, but you can't control the way the ball bounces sometimes. We made them competitive.”

‘There's only one true love, and it's the place you played for’

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 toughened Sanchez’s ability to find a new job, but things picked up in 2021 when TCU coach Gary Patterson hired him as an offensive analyst. When Kill, one of Patterson’s assistants, became NM State’s head coach in 2022, he made Sanchez his wide receivers coach.

His experience and Aggie alumni status made it a no-brainer for Kill.

“He's had a tremendous background,” Kill said. Bishop Gorman was the house he built, and he'd been a head coach for four years at the college level. We needed that experience. Certainly, a situation where he’s coaching at the place where he went to school helps.”

Sanchez found out Kill would step down after the 2023 season on the day of the New Mexico Bowl, where the Aggies lost to Fresno State. NM State athletic director Mario Moccia interviewed him a few days later on Christmas Eve and within a week of the bowl game, he was named Kill’s successor.

Sanchez's head coaching experience gave him preference over other contenders like then-defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling, now the interim head coach at Utah State.

"It gave me comfort knowing that we had someone that's done this before," Moccia said. "Being with Jerry not just here, but at TCU, was also a big factor. It just made sense to me."

Moccia also believed Sanchez's attitude was a perfect fit for the Aggies.

"Any coach in New Mexico State that doesn't have a chip on his shoulder will not win here," Moccia said. "I know sometimes that can maybe get seen as a negative, but I don't. I see it as this huge positive because we have less (resources than other schools)."

Sanchez was joyful, but quickly realized he had to keep the Aggies from falling apart. Dozens of players followed Kill out the door, including 37 transfers, and only two players signed to NM State before 2023’s early signing day. Sanchez spent the next several months building a roster and staff, recruiting players all the way into June 2024.

He brought in a transfer class including running backs Mike Washington and Seth McGowan and defensive backs Da’Marcus Crosby and Dakerric Hobbs. Sanchez was even able to snag defensive tackle Naki Fahina, who played under him at UNLV in 2019.

Similarily to UNLV, he’s also overseeing facility upgrades. The Aggies are undergoing a $15 million renovation including a new, already installed video board at Aggie Memorial Stadium this year and a two-story addition to their locker room with a training and nutrition area, more office space for staff, a student athlete lounge area, more space for equipment and a video room.

Sanchez wants a “no nonsense” mentality from NM State this season and has several goals for the Aggies. Off the field, he wants NM State to have a team GPA of 3.0, which Sanchez says it accomplished in the spring. On the field, he wants to beat rivals New Mexico and UTEP, reach the CUSA Championship Game again and reach a third consecutive bowl game for the first time in school history.

As always, his intense, burning desire to win is resonating with those around him.

“I don’t doubt anything that he does,” said senior linebacker Buddha Peleti. “I feel like a lot of the guys, we’ve all just bought in. There’s no question about that.”

When Sanchez was fired from UNLV at a Starbucks, it set him on a path back to the places he loves most. Now tasked with building the Aggies up as he did for Cal High and Gorman, Sanchez hopes to make the most of his second chance.

If he can, that day in Las Vegas may become his favorite coffee trip in retrospect.

“Not many people get to be the head coach of the place where they played,” Sanchez said. “There's only one true love, and it's the place you played for. This is my true love. It's New Mexico State.”

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: The coach with a chip on his shoulder: NM State's Tony Sanchez determined to succeed