Lobos tap LSU staffer to lead athletic program
Krebs successor Nuñez will receive five-year contract with base salary of $300K
The University of New Mexico found its new athletic director Thursday.
The school announced the hiring of Eddie Nuñez, the deputy director of athletics at Louisiana State University, to run its athletic department, which has been rocked by scandals over the past year. Nuñez replaces Paul Krebs after he resigned in June amid a firestorm over a golf junket with administrators, coaches and boosters to Scotland in 2015 that sparked investigations by the state auditor and the attorney general.
The university also dealt with the discovery of $432,000 in unpaid suite sales in The Pit since the 2010-11 season, an athletic department budget deficit that reached $4.3 million after the 2015-16 school year, dwindling attendance for the men’s basketball and football programs and misuse of a purchase card by the men’s basketball program’s director of operations during the 2015-16 season.
Nuñez spent the past 14 years in a number of roles in the LSU athletic department, ultimately leading to his current post. Among his duties as deputy director, he oversaw the men’s basketball and tennis programs at the school, served as the department’s liaison to LSU Sports Properties, the Tiger Athletic Foundation and university licensing and brand management.
“My number one priority at UNM is always going to be the
student-athlete,” Nuñez said in a university news release, “and making sure their experience offers the support and resources they need to achieve great things on and off the field of play. We are going to bring passion, transparency and energy to everything we do here.”
Attempts to reach Nuñez for further comment were unsuccessful.
UNM Interim President Chaouki Abdallah said Nuñez fit the qualities that the university sought for its next athletic director.
“We had a good search process that yielded three qualified and personable candidates,” Abdallah said. “We were looking for a leader who is dedicated to academic excellence, strong ethics, careful financial management and community engagement. The committee and I agreed that Eddie is the right person for this key position at UNM.”
Frank Mercogliano, the assistant athletic director for communications, said Nuñez’s contract is a five-year deal with a base salary of $300,000 and an option to extend it for two years.