UNM skiing needs allies before history can repeat itself

The University of New Mexico skiing program earned a victory last week. The lingering question, though, is: For how long? UNM reversed its course and reinstated the venerated program, one of only two that can claim an NCAA championship, on May 11, thanks in part to the skiing community and the Lobo Club, which will cover the costs of scholarships for next year. The rest of the cost will come from a combination of private funding and the university — but not from a cost-cutting athletic department.

That combination will save UNM’s athletic department, which had a $1.5 million deficit to account for from the 2015-16 fiscal year, between $400,000 and $500,000. Skiing supporters say they are working on a model to keep the program around for the future, which is an encouraging sign. Given the popularity of the sport in New Mexico, which generates hundreds of millions of dollars, it’s a good move to keep a signature program in a ski-rich environment.

Let’s hope that all involved find a way to keep the pro-

gram going, because it’s a shame when programs are cut. New Mexico wrestlers can thank the hard work of New Mexico Highlands head coach Doug Moses for keeping the sport alive in the state for the past decade. Swimming is a live and well at UNM and NMSU, but solely on the women’s side.

Sadly, gymnastics remains a ghost after UNM cut one of its more successful programs in 1999.

Skiing’s success at staving off elimination harkens back to another power broker who saved UNM sports back in 1987 — Jim Stevens. When the university opted to eliminate baseball, wrestling, women’s basketball and women’s swimming in 1987, Stevens led the charge by forming a group called “Save Our Sports.”

It succeeded in saving three of the four sports (women’s basketball returned in 1991). Three of those four still remain.

In fact, baseball transformed into one of the top programs in the Mountain West Conference and in the Southwest.

Wrestling finally fell to the budget ax in 1999, along with men’s swimming and men’s gymnastics.

When Stevens tried once again to keep wrestling that year, his efforts were met with stiff resistance from UNM and those sports met a bitter demise.

Even sadder was that Stevens was a wrestler at UNM and a swimmer — one who was accomplished enough to participate in the Pan American Games in both sports.

UNM skiing’s survival depends greatly on the support of the state’s ski community and a university that is open and willing to find ways to keep a sport afloat. Without either, those young men and women will find themselves facing the a familiar dilemma of trying to save a sport.

They were fortunate to find such great allies and advocates for the sport. It also behooves UNM to keep a program that thrives in the shadows of basketball and football, because … well, you can’t have too many successful programs.

In this case, it was a win-win, for skiers and institution.