Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Football Beat Reporter
Spartans’ first-year cornerback’s coach Chip Viney heading to New Mexico State serves as a mini-reunion. Although Viney doesn’t really see it that way.
“It’s literally just a trip back to Las Cruces, N.M. for me,” said Viney. “I have no current ties there, no former ties there.”
Viney’s “ties” are nonexistent because he spent one season and one semester as a grad student in 2011.
His graduate season at NMSU was the cherry on top of gritty four years spent at UCLA.
One cup of coffee in Las Cruces is still enough of an excuse to pick Viney’s brain.
The last in-depth interview I did with Viney was last March after the Spring Game and centered around change.
You could say a lot has changed since then.
San Jose State’s defense has allowed an astoundingly-low 14.50 points per game–best in the Mountain West and ninth-best nationwide.
Viney’s cornerback room, led by Nehemiah Shelton, Kenyon Reed and Tre Jenkins, has certainly contributed to that feat.
The Spartans have allowed the second-lowest passing yards (1,016), passing touchdowns (6) and third-lowest passing yards per game (169.3) in the Mountain West.
This is a direct flip from a year ago when the Spartans allowed the fourth most passing yards per game (236.1) and passing touchdowns (23).
The turnaround aligns directly with a quote he shared with me during our first conversation:
“The only thing promised in life is change.”
The beauty of the quote is its relevance.
“Just like I shared that quote with you, it’s about getting the players to believe that and understand that,” said Viney. “Those changes in that ebb and flow is just a part of it.”
And it’s relevant now more than ever for San Jose State.
The Spartans marched into Fresno State last Saturday, riding a three-game win streak, outscoring opponents 107-29 in that span.
All that momentum came to a screeching halt in a defense-oriented slugfest, the Bulldogs came out on top 17-10.
It was a direct shift in momentum.
But change is simply par for the course. The same way events can change for the better, as it did when the Spartans were 4-1, could also swing the opposite way.
“How you weather those ebbs and flows as a team, unit and family ultimately is how you get through it,” said Viney.
Viney will paddle through the storm by focusing and preparing his henchman. Nothing more, nothing less.
“This is not about me at all,” said Viney. “This is about my guys and the team getting an opportunity to go out and compete.”
So often fans, myself included, like to think coaches returning to a school they played or coached at will be a matchup they circle when they see the season schedule.
But ironically, nothing changes for Chip Viney.
“I’ll just be another seat on that plane come this Friday when we head to New Mexico.”