Baldwin’s Stock and His Price Rise

While Cal State Northridge football Coach Dave Baldwin has been pursuing Division I-A coaching opportunities, Athletic Director Paul Bubb has been telling Baldwin he’d like to keep him.

For the right price.

Bubb said Tuesday that Northridge can’t afford to get into a bidding war for its coach.

Baldwin, who led the Matadors to a 7-4 record this season, has been interviewed for vacancies at New Mexico State and San Jose State, Division I-A teams with bigger budgets than Northridge.

“I think he knows he’s wanted here,” Bubb said. “We want him back without a doubt, to keep this program going. . . . We have some leeway, but the type of money that most I-A programs talk about is not something that we are able to match.”

Baldwin’s salary at Northridge this year is $66,240. He has not yet signed a contract for next year.

John Ralston, who resigned as coach at San Jose State, was making $80,600. Jim Hess, who was fired at New Mexico State, was making $119,100.

But New Mexico State, which has had only two winning seasons in 30 years, is hungry enough for a change that it is offering its new coach a package that could be worth as much as $175,000, according to a source at the school.

Baldwin is among six candidates at San Jose State and five at New Mexico State.

San Jose State could decide on a coach as soon as Thursday. The front-runners reportedly are Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Coach Andre Patterson and Colorado State defensive coordinator Larry Kerr.

The other candidates are said to be California offensive coordinator Hue Jackson, North Texas Coach Matt Simon and St. Louis Rams’ special teams coach Nick Aliotti.

At New Mexico State, Baldwin is among three coaches who have been interviewed. The others are Utah offensive coordinator Fred Graves and Aggie offensive coordinator Howard Wells. Two other candidates whose seasons have not yet ended will be interviewed.

Officials at New Mexico State hope to hire a coach by Dec. 16, a school spokesman said.

Baldwin is a former assistant at San Jose State, and started the snowball rolling downhill on New Mexico State’s 1-10 season when the Matadors drubbed the Aggies, 33-0, in week three.

Bubb is not surprised that Baldwin has been shopping around.

“My feeling is that successful coaches at this level are going to be recognized and looked upon as viable candidates for major-college jobs,” Bubb said. “I want Dave back here as our head coach next year, but I understand he will have opportunities come his way that will be difficult for him not to explore or at least look at.”