As of Thanksgiving Day in 2016, Wells’ program was about to finish a three-win season with a loss to BYU, while anticipating a no-bowl December that he labels “horrible.” And now the Aggies (6-5) can clinch a winning record Saturday at Air Force, with a bowl game in their future.
Wells lost one offensive coach last winter and dismissed a defensive coach. His response to a poor special-teams performance was reassigning — not firing — Stacy Collins, who now coaches linebackers. Wells essentially filled two positions with veteran coach Mark Tommerdahl, who has done a phenomenal job with special teams and was the state’s only assistant nominated for the Broyles Award.