ENMU opens on Thursday at Highlands

In 2023, upon returning to Eastern New Mexico University after a two-year hiatus, head coach Kelley Lee wanted to check out the facility he called home for nearly a decade. So, he grabbed a pair of keys that he meant to return when he left but never did. 

"I turned the lock and it still worked," said Lee, ENMU's offensive coordinator and head coach from 2012-19.

Maybe it was fate those keys remained in the glove box in his truck. Whatever the reason, as Lee enters year two of his second stint, he's focused on continuing the upswing he helped catalyze.

"It just felt right, you know what I mean?" Lee said of his return before ENMU's season opener at New Mexico Highlands set for 6 p.m. Thursday.

For ENMU, it gets the coach that brought it to heights it hadn't seen before. Back in 2019, the final year of his first stint, Lee led the Hounds to the program's first Division II bowl win. Prior to leaving for Brownsville Veterans Memorial High School Chargers, Lee compiled a .636 winning percentage. He also helped mastermind the greatest rushing attack the school had ever seen. 

His success helped ENMU athletics push past a difficult period when it was hit with a four-year probation in 2015. The school had to vacate victories and championships in which ineligible players participated from 2008 to 2012.

"The university is getting what it deserves," ENMU President Steven Gamble told The News at the time. "We deserve some punitive measures for violating the NCAA rules on eligibility."

For Lee, meanwhile, this is an opportunity to cement his legacy and finish what he started. Lee, a former graduate assistant and offensive coordinator role from 2012-17, hopes to retire from ENMU several years from now. 

"Hopefully we do ... well enough that they keep us around to be able to do that," he said. 

This, of course, is no guarantee. For any program. But especially one like ENMU where it doesn't have the resources of other Lone Star Conference opponents. 

Just take the scholarship situation. Though Lee said ENMU can grant in-state tuition for Texas kids within a 135 mile radius and offer "the Lottery and Opportunity Scholarship," which could grant a full-ride "if they (players) keep their grades up," ENMU can only offer 26 scholarships. Some opponents, meanwhile, can offer 36 scholarships. 

Furthermore, Lee said ENMU can't capitalize on the transfer portal because it doesn't have the recruiting budget for it.  

"You're gonna fly them in, you gotta feed them," Lee said, "... Then you might not even get them."

Instead, Lee said he's focused on recruiting in-state kids and players from west Texas who're comfortable with being in a rural town and a reflection of Portales' blue-collar ethos.

But the drop in success has left players spurning ENMU for other in-state Division II opportunities, according to Lee. Prior to last year's 5-6 campaign, ENMU went 4-7 in 2021 and 3-8 in 2022 under Lee's replacement, Tye Hiatt. Such a stark contrast when the Hounds went 21-12 under Lee from 2017-19.

"At the end of the day, the kids want to win, right?" Lee said. 

Right. 

But now it's up to him to make up for the ground lost during that hiatus. 

Lee said he began looking for jobs following the canceled 2020 season to get away from New Mexico's strict COVID-19 restrictions. A son of two educators, he said he was worried about how virtual learning and "being holed up" was going to impact his kids. Eventually, he found a gig in Brownsville – a Texas border town 770 miles from Portales – to become the head coach and athletic director for the Veterans Memorial High School Chargers. 

"There wasn't anything here in eastern New Mexico that was driving us away, other than, really the politics of the state," Lee said. 

Over the next two years, he took fishing trips to South Padre Island and guided VMHS to its first appearance in the semifinals of the state championship playoffs. He bought a home and thought it was a long-term plan. Despite dropping to the high school level, he said he was making more money than he was at ENMU.

Then, in fall of 2022, Hiatt resigned to accept a job as the offensive coordinator at Southern Utah. Not long after, Lee connected with former ENMU Athletic Director Paul Weir and returned.

"His resume speaks for itself. He has tremendous passion to come back here and we are incredibly grateful to have him. This is a great day for all of us," Weir said during Lee's introductory press conference.

The program he returned to wasn't how he left it. Lee said there was a "drop" in donations from alums. The program's hard-nosed blue collar culture he built was lacking, he said. 

Through increased fundraising efforts, hiring of strength and conditioning coach Corey Bell and rehiring of offensive coordinator Andrew McCraw, the program is building momentum on and off the field, Lee believes.

According to an ENMU press release, program alum Steve Loy donated $2.5 million to support ENMU student-athletes and ENMU athletics. "The Loy Family gift will endow two athletic scholarships, one for football and one for basketball, and it will also endow an assistant coaches' fund to help attract and retain assistant coaches," the release stated. 

Despite renewed hope from ENMU, the conference isn't showing the same enthusiasm. The Hounds were picked to finish seventh out of 10 teams. 

Lee said he doesn't pay attention. Redshirt junior quarterback Mario Sanchez, meanwhile, is keeping receipts.

"Feel a little disrespected for sure. Especially because ... we've had 80 guys here all summer working out," Sanchez said, later adding "Some guys had to go work a job and some guys had to go work two jobs."

Fellow redshirt junior running back Ja'Calvin Newsom should know. In between morning and night practices he was putting shingles on roofs in the blistering sun. 

"We were getting to it," Newsom said. 

Following a stellar 2023, Sanchez said prospective schools reached out showing interest. He said he never considered entering the transfer portal to test his options because his loyalty lies with Lee who he called "Mr. Portales himself." Beyond that, it was about finishing what was started. 

If anyone understands that it's Lee himself.