After a massively successful first season in Las Cruces, New Mexico State head football coach Jerry Kill will carry a permanent reminder of his 2022 team.
The first-year coach apparently promised his team prior to its appearance in the Quick Lane Bowl that if it won, he would get a tattoo to commemorate the win. The Aggies held up their end of the bargain, beating Bowling Green 24-19 to win just their second bowl game since 1960 and finish the season at 7-6.
Kill kept his word, and on Sunday, he received a tattoo — his first — on his upper right arm to commemorate NMSU’s victory in Detroit.
.@coachkill_fb is a man of his word! Thanks to a @quicklanebowl win, our head ball coach is getting his first tattoo today!🤠#AggieUp pic.twitter.com/vNu3DQJK27
— New Mexico State Football (@NMStateFootball) February 19, 2023
First tattoo: ✅ I told y’all I’d never forget the 2022 Aggies! #HardHatLunchPail #AggieUp pic.twitter.com/fuHtrp8xgg
— Coach Kill (@coachkill_fb) February 19, 2023
Bowl games may be seeing diminishing interest across the country, but it’s all a matter of perspective. New Mexico State’s Quick Lane Bowl appearance was just its second time making the postseason in the last 62 years.
The Aggies ended their lengthy bowl appearance drought in 2017 with a win over Utah State in the Arizona Bowl, but aside from that, they’ve spent most of the last decade in purgatory. A leftover from the former WAC, NMSU is now an independent in football after spending four seasons in the Sun Belt, which cast it into the wilderness after 2017.
The Aggies hired Kill this past offseason after his stint as the interim coach at TCU. The 61-year-old was formerly the head coach at Minnesota from 2011-15, where he achieved moderate success but ultimately stepped down for health reasons.
Now, with NMSU set to join the new-look Conference USA in 2023, things are looking up for the newly inked Kill and this program.
