Putting Lobos athletics to rights
You have to feel for University of New Mexico Athletics Director Eddie Nuñez, which is not to say you have to feel for The University of New Mexico athletics department. For too long, misguided arrogance and barely disguised incompetence ruled the department, and those chickens are coming home to roost in a way that threatens both the shortand long-term viability of Lobos sports. UNM athletics has a $34.2 million budget, but a whopping $4.7 million debt that seems likely to grow this year as its cash producers — football and men’s basketball — struggle.
For years, decades really, UNM has told its fans and supporters that all is well — or would be well. Football would grow under Coach Bob Davie. A haphazard men’s basketball program under the barely discernible guidance of former Coach Craig Neal, would prosper. And the crushing weight of 22 sports — many of them competitive, but only a few of them financially viable — would somehow be worth the money.
Now, we know the truth. Football didn’t grow. Now, the tenure of Coach Davie is hanging by a thread as he begins a 30-day suspension, the result of allegations about abusive treatment of players, the use of racially charged language and interfering with potential legal matters involving his players. With that as backdrop, football and Davie seem unlikely to gain the traction they need to be competitive again in the Mountain West Conference.
Men’s basketball shows the buds of promise under new Coach Paul Weir, but it may be years from being able to energize a once-feared fan base that now is the understandable definition of blasé. The Lobos — the Lobos! — may draw fewer fans to The Pit this season than at any time since the famed arena opened in 1966. Welcome to New Mexico, Mr. Nuñez. Here’s hoping Nuñez can turn things around. And here are a few suggestions on how to do so:
Get serious about monitoring your coaches. It’s too early to know if the Davie investigation will result in his dismissal, but it is plain that UNM fell into the trap that lands so many athletic programs in hot water: High-dollar coaches are too often allowed to work for themselves, not the university that issues their paychecks.
Get real on the budget. Fanciful revenue projections, a staple of former Athletics Director Paul Krebs, serve only to raise hopes and diminish performance.
Get smart on the number of sports being offered. The truth is, UNM can’t afford 22 sports. No one knows that more than the university itself, because Krebs and ADs before him have tried to trim programs. But boards of regents, politicians and power brokers in New Mexico keep finding ways to keep them alive, with the cherry-red ink flowing as a result.
A former football coach at UNM, Dennis Franchione, had an interesting way of looking at sports at a large university. He likened the athletics department to the front porch of a house. It’s not the most important part of the dwelling, he’d say, but everyone’s first impression about what lies inside is based on how the porch looks.
He’s right. And it’s time UNM gets its porch in order.