At last, the Rivalry has gone south Sports Editor
Aggies have topped Lobos in all-sports competition
One of the last times my opinions occupied this space, this was the very topic. I promise I’m not beating a dead horse. But I could be accused of pouring salt on a wounded Lobo.
The head-to-head all-sports competition between New Mexico and New Mexico State is winding down, and for the first time since the inception of the Rio Grande Rivalry, the Aggies have clinched it.
By the Journal’s count, New Mexico State has 14 points, UNM 11 points, and only 2 points are still up for grabs after Tuesday’s softball game in Las Cruces. The Lobos could win out and only get to 13.
That’s using the same scoring system as UNM did for the first 10 years of the RGR, but took down the scoreboard this year. So, “by the Journal’s count” is an operative and important phrase.
In November, UNM said it has quit tracking it since the sponsorship that was part of this all went away long ago. I assure you the Aggie Nation knows the rough tally without the help of UNM’s athletics website. So do at least a few observant and concerned Lobo supporters.
“We know that UNM has a formidable comprehensive athletic program, and I know our coaches have put forth extra effort this year (vs. the Lobos),” NMSU athletic director Mario Moccia said Tuesday — from Las Cruces, while watching the Lobo softball team rout the Aggies 13-4.
The accompanying chart lists the competitions chronologically, and not by sport, in part to show that it’s been a wire-to-wire win for the Pistol Pete posse since that women’s soccer victory back in August.
This all happens as the relationship between the two longtime rivals and squabbling siblings continues to evolve and outside of the athletic venues in fascinating ways.
On next Tuesday, the Finance and Facilities Committee of the UNM Board of Regents meets, and under threat of funds being withheld from the Higher Education Department, the university is supposed to come up with a plan to reduce an athletics
budget deficit expected to reach $6.7 million by June 30. But as recently as late last month, one scenario was for UNM athletic director Eddie Nuñez to seek forgiveness of all but $1.1 million of that figure.
We all should benefit from such forgiveness when we mess up royally. But that heretofore has never been a viable option at New Mexico State in terms of its athletic debt — $4.1 million, the Las Cruces SunNews reported as of last month — and Aggies are watching what unfolds at UNM with great interest.
While the temptation may be to wish the same hardship upon UNM that NMSU is enduring, maybe the Aggies should root for Nuñez and company to get what they want. If UNM can have a “magic money tree,” as a Journal editorial put it recently, maybe NMSU somehow could get the seeds to grow its own. They know agriculture down there.
Meanwhile, Paul Weir — the longtime New Mexico State employee, then one-year head coach who just competed his subsequent first year as Lobos coach — still owes his former school money as part of his contractual buyout to come north. Just how much remains a point of contention, but that NMSU even feels compelled to fight for it indicates how every dollar is important.
To that final point, this wraps up much as did the previous discussion. It would behoove both schools to get businesses behind them and revive the original Rio Grande Rivalry concept of creative revenue generation.
One wonders how many businesses would climb on, now that this is a legitimate contest?