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Few coaches can speak to the reality of modern college football quite like Tony Sanchez.
Simply put: If you dont have any chips, the New Mexico State head football coach said Tuesday, its hard to get in the game.
Entering this season, Sanchez believes the Aggies are already dealt in.
Speaking at Conference USA Media Days in Arlington, Texas, NMSUs third-year coach said this is the first year the Aggies have been in the fight in terms of competitive revenue sharing with their players.
Sanchezs comments come weeks after NMSU athletic director Joe Fields revealed that the Aggies were dead last in revenue sharing compared to the rest of CUSA last year.
NMSU is now expected to be in the upper half of the league, part of what Fields claimed was the largest year-to-year jump among CUSAs 10 members.
Coming off a 4-8 season, Sanchez believes that increase will only pay dividends for the Aggies.
A year ago, the conversations were hard, he said, because we just did not have the ability to keep those guys home.
This year, were keeping guys ..
It gave us the ability to go compete and recruit.
NMSU returns nine starters (three offensive, six defensive) this season, a figure firmly in the upper half of all 138 FBS programs entering this season.
Sanchez said all had nine opportunities to leave, but the Aggies were able to return a large chunk of their roster in a way they couldnt before.
The lack of being involved in (competitive revenue sharing) has really hindered us the last couple of years, he added.
Youre going to lose some top-end guys, but when youre losing guys for little amounts to (teams) you have to play or (teams) you have to compete against, theres a problem.
Sanchez indicated that NMSUs revamped revenue sharing efforts are helping the program address some of its biggest weaknesses, too.
The Aggies notably signed four transfer offensive linemen with starting experience, and running backs James Jones (Delaware State) and TJ Washington Jr.
(Iowa) to help revive a rushing attack that ranked dead last (77.25 yards per game) among FBS programs last season.
NMSU also landed Furman transfer quarterback Trey Hedden, who Sanchez said will enter fall camp next week as the Aggies favorite to start.
Hes exactly what youre looking for, he said.
Hes got some other guys in the room that will push him, so hes gotta continue to work ..
I think hes done a really good job in developing (and) were excited about him.
Despite how pleased he was with the increased investment into his program, Sanchez said hes still looking for a light at the end of the tunnel to help alleviate a landscape thats hurt programs like NMSU.
An Aggie wide receiver from 1994-95, he stated he was so glad to have a more traditional student-athlete experience than his players do today.
As for a potential source of relief? Sanchez pointed to congressional intervention.
I do think theres some important legislation that needs to be looked at, at a higher level than Im in charge of, right? he added.
But I think theres gotta be a (salary) cap at some point, theres gotta be some stability at some point.
Its kind of a runaway train right now.
Theres no doubt that the players (should) benefit from all the hard work and what they do in building this game.
But I think when you talk to athletic directors and (university) presidents and coaches throughout the country, everyones feeling the same.
Everyones feeling the pain.
Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal.
You can reach him at [email protected] or via X at @lenaweereider.