It’s time to close the Davie era at UNM

RE: “HERE’S A No Vote on Davie Returning” in Nov. 23 ABQ Journal:

Excellent article and supporting rationale by sports editor Randy Harrison on why it’s time for coach (Bob) Davie to ride off into the sunset and close yet another unfortunate, mostly forgettable, chapter of Lobo football . ...

The Lobos, under the tepid leadership, and lack thereof, of highly overpaid and overrated Davie have ... racked up a second consecutive sevengame losing streak season, and two of their three wins this season were against “powder puff” teams. And, this season was hyped as having one of the better teams in years going into the season.

I concur with the writer and his noted support that the main reason to remove Davie is that he has estranged the everdwindling fan base from Lobo football. That nails it. A solid bottom line. The reasons listed for the estrangement are all sound, but there are two not listed that are also major contributors.

First is the way that Davie and the administration handled the flag snafu at the (Air Force) Academy game last year. The lack of follow-up contrition or apology by Davie and lack of even minor penalties to offending players was a major turn-off to many fans. It showed a distinct lack of knowledge by Davie about a core group of fan support and the value placed on patriotism in this community.

Second was the foolish move by the administration to continue to support the football program at the expense of deleting two of the university’s most successful programs, men’s soccer and the ski program. Continuing to support a perennial losing program and financial cesspool in football and not rewarding winning programs went against the grain of many sports fans, even those who may not be fans of the noted winning sports.

UNM leadership rewards the school’s worst and most expensive team and punishes and deletes the most successful teams. Go figure! Only in New Mexico. Move on coach Davie, ideally move out.

In spite of the financial rationale listed by Randy Harrison for maintaining Lobo football and the case that the university can not afford to drop it, I respectfully disagree. There comes a time when you have to take your losses, albeit major losses, and move on. Savvy investors know that, and the university should reconcile that reasoning. We often see the definition of insanity as “Doing the same thing over and over the same way and expecting different results.” We have reached that juncture with Lobo football. As the Nike ad once proclaimed: “Just Do It.”