New Mexico Highlands Head Football Coach Eric Young is entering his fourth season at the helm of the Cowboys and holds a 14-19 record as head coach. His revamp of the Cowboy Football Program is well on its way after posting an 8-3 record and a third place conference finish in 2012, just two years after the team struggled with just one win.
In his first year as head coach (2011), the Cowboys finished with a 4-7 record, but the transformation was already underway. That year, the Cowboy defense led the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in tackles for loss and sacks and they entered the national polls for the first time since 1999. The Cowboys' players benefitted as well, with four conference players of the week, seven All-RMAC players, five Academic All-RMAC players and the programs first All-American since 1999.
The 2012 season saw the next step in Coach Young's Cowboy Football resurrection. The team finished with the best record since 1998 (8-3) and lost a tie-breaker for the runner-up spot in the conference. They were in contention for the NCAA DII playoffs until the very end of the season and broke several team and player records, including total team offense (5384 yds) and total offense by one player (3919 yards - QB Emmanuel Lewis). Again, the player awards were quick to follow such dramatic success and the Cowboys enjoyed six RAMC Player of the week, 10 All-RMAC players, two All-Region players, and two All-Americans (Jordan Campbell & Abdul Kanneh). Both Campbell (Bengals) and Kanneh (Browns) would go on to be picked up by NFL teams.
The 2013 Cowboys football team finished the season 2-9, but lost five of those games by a touchdown or less.
The success and dedication the Coach Young has brought to Highlands isn't restricted to the field either. The Cowboys have been improving their success in the classroom and the community. Offensive Anthony Cognasi was selected as the New Mexico Highlands Male Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2013 and the team has participated in numerous community outreach programs such as: visiting the University of New Mexico Children's Hospital, helping the Humaine Society, participating in the Façade Squad (Las Vegas Clean-up), and taking part in numerous Campus Violence Prevention Program activities.
Coach Young came to NMHU from College of the Siskiyous, a California Junior College located in Weed, Calif. where he was the Head Coach of their football program for six years.
Coach Young began his collegiate football career as a starter at the Western Oregon University where he was an all-conference safety. After two years at Western Oregon, he transferred to the University of Montana to complete his academic career and ended up walking on to the perennial NCAA Division I-AA powerhouse Grizzlies football program. He completed his BS degree in Health and Human Performance from Montana.
Coach Young football coaching career started as a Graduate Assistant at the University of Oregon. While at Oregon, Coach Young earned his Master’s Degree in Exercise and Movement Science. Upon leaving the University of Oregon he coached high school football in Portland, Oregon for two years. He then accepted a position as the Strength and Conditioning coach at the University of Denver, which led to his accepting the same position at the University of California-Berkley.
Coach Young left Cal to accept the Defensive Line Coaching job at College of the Siskiyous in California, which he had for one season before being promoted to his first Head Coaching position for Siskiyous. While at the helm of Siskiyous football program Coach Young the program achieve 48 team and individual school records. He led the Eagles football program to the 2006 Mid-Empire Conference Championship playing in the East County Bowl Game. His performance that season earned him the conference Coach of the Year award.
During his head coaching tenure at the Siskiyous junior college, Coach Young helped over 80 players transfer on scholarship to four year programs. He is no stranger to developing quality football players having coached NFL players such as Nnamdi Asomugha (Cal/Oakland Raiders), and Aaron Rodgers (Cal/Green Bay Packers).
Coach Young has been married to his wife Tiffany for 16 years and they have three children: Madison, Zach and Austin.
