AZTEC NOTEBOOK / SCOTT MILLER : Stolz Accepts Early Retirement, Begins Hunt for Football Job

Former San Diego State football Coach Denny Stolz said Friday he has accepted the state’s early retirement program, effective immediately.

Stolz, who led the Aztecs to their only Holiday Bowl appearance but was fired two years later, was making $70,272 and had the use of one automobile in the SDSU courtesy car program.

Stolz, 57, said he hopes to find another football coaching job, either in the college ranks or professionally.

The Aztecs went 16-19 in Stolz’s three years. During that time, they won the 1986 Western Athletic Conference championship and lost to Iowa in the Holiday Bowl that year, 39-38.

Since his dismissal in 1988, he has coached golf and worked in an administrative position at SDSU.

He had completed two years of a five-year contract at the time of his firing and had one more year tacked onto the contract at the time as part of his settlement.

Stolz said he has no job leads yet.

“The first talk (of open jobs) won’t start until mid-November, so we’ll be working our way toward that,” Stolz said.

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Some SDSU football players will head home this weekend. A couple have a fishing trip, of all things, scheduled.

Others are planning to watch Cal-Washington this afternoon and check out Cal’s Russell White, one of Marshall Faulk’s competitors for the Heisman Trophy.

As for the Aztecs’ bye today, it is playing kind of like your basic Clint Eastwood movie. The reviews are mixed.

“I wish we were playing because it gives us more time to work on our mistakes,” offensive lineman Carlson Leomiti said. “We’ve got to work on a lot of things to be better.”

Said quarterback David Lowery: “It’s always nice to get a little time off to rest.”

And Tracey Mao: “Personally, I wish we were playing. I don’t like bye weeks. They take too long. It gets us out of sync--it showed in the UCLA game. We lose our edge.”

The Aztecs have been working on the mental side of their game this week as well as the X’s and O’s, wanting to make sure they come out against Texas El Paso next Saturday stronger than they did against UCLA on Sept. 26, after their last bye. To that extent, Coach Al Luginbill was happy with this week’s practices.

“We were much more focused this week than the bye week of the UCLA game,” Luginbill said. “That experience has alerted us to what can happen when we’re thinking we’re pretty good rather than proving we’re pretty good. We’ve got to prove how good we are every week, from this week on.”

Said Mao: “We just need to be more intense and keep it intense.”

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Center Mike Alexander, who suffered a severely sprained ankle against UCLA, said it feels much better. He hopes to resume his place in the starting lineup against UTEP.

Alexander said it has been torture sitting out--although some Saturdays have been better than others. Alexander could stomach the Aztecs’ pounding New Mexico last weekend. But the week before, when SDSU couldn’t even snap the ball against UCLA, that’s when Alexander just sat helplessly in anguish.

“It was depressing and frustrating,” he said. “It was real tough watching from the sideline.”

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Word is that ABC will pick up the Oct. 24 Air Force-SDSU game, although no official announcement is expected until next week. . . . UTEP, which has lost six consecutive games dating back to last season, is at Colorado State today. UTEP punter Ed Bunn leads the nation with an average of 51 yards per kick.