DELAYED DECISION
After hearing of beating, UNM coach waited two days to suspend star player
New Mexico football coach Bob Davie said he learned Sunday night that two of his players were involved in an altercation Saturday night, leaving one in the hospital, but he waited until Tuesday to suspend linebacker Evahelotu Tohi.
Tohi, the Lobos’ leading tackler, practiced with the Lobos on Monday and Tuesday mornings. News of the suspension came late Tuesday night in a statement from Davie.
“It takes time to just kind of figure out the severity of it, to find out enough details that warrant a suspension,” Davie said after Wednesday’s practice.
Neither Davie nor UNM would name the Lobo player who remains in the hospital because Tohi beat him up that badly, KOB TV reported late Tuesday. A UNM spokesperson said in an email to the Journal that since the player “was not injured during practice or a team activity,” the injured player or his family first would need to give permission to release his name.
“It was an ongoing process where you’re just gathering facts,” Davie said in response to why Tohi was able to practice on Monday and Tuesday. “When I first heard about it Sunday, I look at the situation that are two friends, that are teammates, play the same position, you don’t know the severity of it. I immediately gave the information to Eddie Nuñez, our athletic director, who immediately gave the information to (the UNM Office of Equal Opportunity).
“I don’t know that the critical time of when it happened is the most important thing,” he added. “I think the most important thing is to have enough information to make a decision because I know the magnitude of this decision.”
Davie estimated that, “in the next day or so, the young man will be released,” from the hospital.
Davie said he discovered that player was in the hospital on early Sunday, and later in the day Davie became aware that Tohi was the other player involved.
“I still don’t know all the facts,” Davie said. “I have not talked to either of the two young men specifically about the details yet, of how it started, who was right, who was wrong, but I did over the last couple of days
along with Eddie Nuñez, (decided) there’s enough there that warrants suspension.”
Davie would not say if the injured player also will be suspended.
“But I will say that it was two players that both were in a situation that we don’t condone,” said Davie. “It was two players that put themselves in a reckless position that eventually hurts them and hurts us. There were two guys involved in this and not one. I just think it’s inappropriate to say anything about someone that’s in the hospital right now.”
Davie said he did not know if alcohol was involved. He and Nuñez have visited the player.
“My No. 1 priority is in the health and the well-being of all our student athletes,” Nuñez said, reading a statement. “We are aware of the incident that occurred between the two student-athletes on the football team. At this time we do not have all the complete information on what occurred. We will continue to work with those involved to continue to gather information. But as I’ve stated in the past, we don’t condone or accept this kind of attitude or representation from any of our student-athletes.”
Tohi leads UNM with 57 tackles. He recovered a fumble for a touchdown in the Lobos’ 61-19 loss on Saturday.
The Lobos, on a three-game losing streak, have since made a switch at quarterback and their coach has had to deal with questions about his future with the program that Davie wouldn’t address on Tuesday during his press conference. “Now’s not the time really for that conversation,” he said.
Aaron Jenkins, the Lobos’ senior team captain and right guard, said he did not feel comfortable talking about Tohi and the most recent controversy that has resulted in added adversity for UNM (3-5, 1-3 Mountain West Conference), which hosts San Diego State (6-2, 3-1) Saturday night.
“We’re just focusing on the next game at hand,” Jenkins said. “We’re just trying to go out and win games. I’m just trying to lead this team to go beat San Diego State Saturday night.”
Kevin Cosgrove, the Lobos’ defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, also declined to comment, but said he isn’t aware of any other incidents of fighting between players.
“It’s a pretty tight group,” he said. “I don’t know what happened in that situation.”
Tohi spoke with the Journal after Tuesday’s practice and talked about all the negativity that surfaced on social media after the Lobos’ loss in a rout at Utah State, which led 52-5 at halftime.
“We can’t let anything from the outside get to us,” said Tohi, who transferred in from Glendale Community College in Arizona. “I feel like we have to stay focused on our plan and our plan is to win.”