HENDERSON, Nev. — It would be interesting to see where New Mexico football would be if it could keep an offensive coordinator around for five or six years and enjoy some stability on that side of the ball.

This past year, the Lobos finished fourth in the conference behind BYU, TCU and Utah/Wyoming, but injuries forced the use of five quarterbacks. Offensive coordinator Bob Toledo took off at the end of the season for the head job at Tulane.

Head coach Rocky Long is now on his fifth offensive coordinator in 10 years in Albuquerque. The new face is Dave Baldwin, a 52-year-old veteran coach who left Michigan State when John L. Smith resigned.

Baldwin has coached at San Jose State and Stanford and started his head coaching career at Santa Barbara City College. He then took the helm at Santa Rose College before returning to coach his alma mater at Cal Northridge. He was the head coach at San Jose State in 1997 through 2000 before taking the offensive coordinator jobs at Cincinnati, Baylor and the Spartans of the Big Ten.

"You hire people who want to put up the passing numbers so they can move on and get a head coaching job," said Long of his travail at keeping an offensive coordinator. "Sometimes that doesn't make for an offense that is sound, doing what you need to help the defense and stay balanced."

Regardless of Baldwin's entry to Albuquerque, Long will have an experienced offense to learn his tricks and wrinkles with eight of 11 starters returning, including quarterback Donovan Porterie and running back Rodney Ferguson.

With both tackles, the center, three key receivers and fullback Matt Quillen returning to team with Ferguson, the Lobos will have their best foundation on that side of the ball in many years — if Baldwin doesn't shake the boat with too many changes and new terminology.

Ferguson makes a great case for being the best running back in the conference. He is big, fast and strong. A year ago, Ferguson, who is 6-foot, 230 pounds, rushed for 1,200 yards and seven touchdowns. He had a 4.9-yards-per-carry average. Against BYU, Ferguson gained 138 yards on 20 carries, the most of any back against the Cougars in 2006.

Long's program appeared to have taken a backseat to basketball when New Mexico hired basketball coach Steve Alford this past spring and gave the hoops coach a million bucks. Many thought it was a slap in the face to Long.

But the well-respected, hard-working Lobo coach remains undaunted. He believes his program is where it needs to be and would have produced more than four conference wins if he hadn't gone through five quarterbacks.

"We've had the highest attendance in New Mexico history the past year and basketball didn't have anything to do with that," Long said.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com