Before a global pandemic led to last year’s Rio Grande Rivalry football game being shelved, the football and men’s basketball versions of the in-state rivalry had been played every year since the end of World War II.
Since the restart of the rivalry in 1946, 33 men – 16 at New Mexico State University and 17 at the University of New Mexico – have coached this state’s two top college football programs.
Only two of them – UNM’s Danny Gonzales and NMSU’s Jim Bradley – were actually born in New Mexico, having the emotion the rivalry ingrained into their DNA as passionate sports fans since birth.