College Football Coach Goes Viral for Recreating ‘The Office’ Scene to Give Free Tickets

The New Mexico Lobos might falter on the gridiron, but when it comes to fan engagement, their new head coach is nailing it. Jason Eck is currently going viral for dropping one of the most awkwardly perfect tribute to The Office. The moment? A parody of that iconic Season 6 episode (Scott’s Tots) where Michael Scott returned to a classroom full of high school seniors to inform them, very painfully, that he would not be paying for their college tuition like he promised a decade earlier.

But instead of laptop batteries, Eck brought… free tickets.

Captioned, “It’s not tuition or laptop batteries… it’s 𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙀 football tickets for kids! #CoachEcksTots #GoLobos,” the tweet on Monday, instantly set College Football Twitter ablaze. And Eck, previously at Idaho where he led the Vandals to their first 10-win season since the Clinton administration, absolutely committed to the bit, too. Even his delivery of the bad news landed perfectly: equal parts dry, uncomfortable, and unintentionally hilarious. “Unfortunately, I have to let you know today, we are not gonna be able to pay for anybody’s tuition,” he told the room full of kids with a straight face and a glance that would make Michael Scott proud.

In true sitcom fashion, the coach then ultimately agreed to a little girl’s gutsy ask for free tickets after she mentioned, “Coach, I just really wanna go to a Lobos football game with my brother.” Notably, this will be part of a fan-friendly initiative as per a team press release, where fans purchasing a single-game general admission ticket in the North End Zone will also receive two free kids’ tickets. Just a disclaimer, though: The offer will be valid for all games in the upcoming season except the Rio Grande Rivalry on September 27, for reasons that were not specified.

Now all we have to see is whether the free admission is going to be worth the kids’ while after the Lobos’ 5-7 season last year. What’s your guess?