Sick's Pack: New Mexico coaching legends

Jan. 21—Legendary is an adjective that gets tossed around with ridiculous abandon these days.

Have you tasted those fries at Billy Bob's Burger Pub? Legendary!

Or how about that final episode of season 649 of The Bachelor? Yep, legendary!

The same sort of overhype occurs in sports, where fandom and faulty memories transform the mundane into the stuff of legends. For example, I like listening to announcers such as Fran Fraschilla, Rex Ryan or Buck Martinez calling games and sharing insights on their respective sports. But when someone on the broadcast refers to them as legendary coaches, my eyes roll back in my head.

Former coaches would do just fine.

Legendary should be reserved for only the best and two such individuals made headlines for stepping down this month. Say what you will about Nick Saban and Bill Belichick, but they were longtime gold standards as football coaches. Saban returned Alabama to its status as college football's 800-pound gorilla, and Belichick (with some assistance from Tom Brady) transformed the New England Patriots into perennial Super Bowl contenders.

Terminally grumpy curmudgeons? Sure, but Saban and Belichick are legitimate legends.

That leads us into the brewery for another edition of Sick's Pack, this one on legendary New Mexico coaches.

Obviously, there are more than six worthy candidates on the menu — a LOT more — which makes this Sick's Pack very much a matter of individual taste. I'll narrow it down by ruling out current coaches (their times will come) and by requiring honorees to have both coaching success in New Mexico and something extra that made their tenures unforgettable.

You know, legendary.

6 legendary New Mexico coaches

No. 6 — Ray Birmingham: Where do you start with this guy? The Hobbs native coached baseball at Mayfield High School, College of the Southwest, New Mexico Junior College and UNM and won at every level. His 1,200-plus overall victories brought a national title to NMJC in 2005 and delivered seven overall Mountain West titles and four NCAA Regional appearances to UNM — a program that made no NCAA trips from 1962 to 2011.

Birmingham's Lobos never achieved his oft-stated goal of a College World Series run, but he dramatically improved every program he touched. NMJC's ballpark is named after Birmingham and UNM's stadium and clubhouse are light years better than the rundown facilities he inherited. Fittingly, Birmingham rode off into retirement on horseback after his final game in 2021.

No. 5 — Marv Levy: His New Mexico accomplishments may seem modest — four years as a UNM football assistant and two (1958-59) as head coach. Levy's Lobos went 14-6 and earned him Skyline Conference Coach of the Year honors.

But how many coaches with New Mexico ties have won Canadian Football League Grey Cups (Montreal in 1974 and '77) and led an NFL team (Buffalo) to four Super Bowls (1990-93)?

No. 4 — Ralph Tasker: The numbers are mind-boggling. Tasker's boys basketball teams won 1,122 games with a 79.4% winning percentage, 12 New Mexico state titles (one at Lovington, 11 at Hobbs) in a coaching tenure that lasted more than 50 years. He still ranks among the nation's career leaders in wins (he was No. 1 for a time) and the appropriately named Tasker Arena remains one of the great venues to watch a high school game. His running, pressing, high-scoring Eagles were always a pleasure to watch.

Tasker had a prickly relationship with the Albuquerque media but I enjoyed getting to know him late in his career and afterward when he spent time as a volunteer assistant with Hobbs' girls basketball program. I recall him defiantly trudging up the Pit ramp in his late 70s after a state tournament game whenever I find myself wishing the arena had an escalator.

No. 3 — Bob King: This one hits close to home because my dad took me to watch King's Lobos at Johnson Gym and later the Pit as a youngster, sparking a lifelong love of sports. King coached some great Lobos men's basketball teams, got them into the national rankings and largely put the program on the national map. He amassed a 236-113 record between UNM and Indiana State.

Better yet, King's tenure largely created Albuquerque's maniacal love of UNM hoops and led to construction of the Pit, where I've spent countless hours watching the action on Bob King Court.

No. 2 — Lou Henson: I had the pleasure of meeting Henson only once and never had call to interview him. Still, it's impossible not to be floored by what he accomplished as a men's basketball coach after his New Mexico State playing career.

In addition to leading NMSU to the 1969 Final Four, Henson won 779 games between Hardin Simmons, two stints in Las Cruces and a 21-year tenure at Illinois.

He was always known as a gentleman but didn't mind trading barbs with Indiana's Bob Knight. The playing surfaces at NMSU and Illinois are both named in Henson's honor.

No. 1 — Don Flanagan: Could be a bit biased here after covering Flanagan's girls' and women's basketball teams at Eldorado and UNM, but I'd venture to say no New Mexico coach will ever come close to matching his success. Think about his EHS hoops tenure alone: 401-13 record, five win streaks of 50-plus games, 11 state championships. Absurd!

Flanagan also transformed UNM basketball into a consistent winner and fan draw. His Lobos went 340-168 and made eight NCAA Tournament appearances, including the school's only basketball Sweet 16 run in 2003.

I never heard Flanagan curse but he was known to toss a clipboard or deliver a death stare at times. He'd also own up to occasional miscues, like in 2008 when freshman Porche Torrance scored crucial late basket in an MWC tournament championship win over San Diego State.

"I'm glad she was in there," Flanagan said afterward. "I meant to sub her out but I forgot to do it."

Honorable mention: This list could easily be longer than this entire column and I have a few future Sick's Packs in mind to include some folks I couldn't place in this one. Here are just some I've had the pleasure of working with: prep football's Eric Roanhaus (Clovis), Jim Bradley (Roswell/Mayfield), Cooper Henderson (Artesia); prep basketball's Jim Hulsman (Albuquerque High), Mike Brown (Academy), Frank Castillo (Cibola/La Cueva); Miles Watters (Clayton/Clovis); John Lomasney (Gallup); UNM's Laurel Brassey (volleyball) and Joe Franklin (cross country/track). Apologies to everyone who slipped my less-than-legendary mind.