Davie isn’t talking future beyond Aztecs
insensitive conduct and inappropriate action regarding a sexual assault accusation for one of his players.
Meanwhile, others have noted that the football team has been a financial drain and have made it a scapegoat for budget woes of an athletic department that cut four sports in August.
Season-ticket sales lagged this year, roughly 1,000 fewer than in 2017. The Lobos have averaged announced crowds of 17,908 in their three games, including 16,708 in their loss to Fresno State. UNM offered discounted tickets Tuesday in hopes of drawing more fans to Saturday’s ESPNUtelevised game that starts at 8:15 p.m.
After this season, Davie has three years remaining on his contract, which was extended in 2016 and ends in 2021, at $422,690.04 per year in base pay. Davie is also paid $200,000 a year for various “media agreements,” and $100,000 to promote UNM in the community.
If UNM were to have fired Davie for performance-based reasons through 2018, it would owe him his entire annual salary. The amount then reduces to $350,000 each of the remaining years.
A buyout, some fans have asserted, would bring a heavy price tag, considering more money would be needed for a new hire. That scenario seems unlikely considering the athletic department’s budget struggles.
The football team has had to endure
injuries at key positions this season, including starting quarterback Tevaka Tuioti (shoulder), linebacker Alex Hart (knee) and defensive lineman Trent Sellers (knee). This week, UNM’s redshirt freshman playmaking safety Marcus Hayes will miss the game because of concussive symptoms suffered in the first quarter at Utah State, Davie said.
The Lobos’ offense has gone through growing pains after switching from the triple option to the spread. Injuries to Tuioti and Colin Gerhart challenged the team’s comfort in the new offense, which was supposed to include a decent amount of triple-option plays.
Gerhart has since returned from a sprained foot suffered in the season-opener and is taking over for Sheriron Jones, who entered the season as the team’s third-string quarterback.
Jones showed flashes of his talents during six games as the starter, including a dazzling performance in a 50-14 win at UNLV on Oct. 6. But that was the Lobos’ last win, and Jones has committed too many mistakes in that span, Davie said.
On defense, Davie said deep passes and the Lobos’ failure to contest them have been a liability.
“Defensively, we have not got it done overall,” Davie said, referring to his time at UNM. “We’ve been more conventional to a degree on defense. I need to re-evaluate that in the big picture of what it will take here to consistently win.”