While it has been in the works for a while, we are finally getting most of the details for the new Mountain West TV Deal that will be going into effect this next season, after the five universities leave for the Conference formally known as the Conference of Champions (RIP Bill Walton). We have known for about eight months that CBS would be continuing their coverage of the Conference, but there had been questions about what the other parts of the deal would be, FOX has been part of the media rights deal pretty much since the Conference left their ESPN deal, the Conference had also seen coverage in recent years on Turner Sports, ROOT Sports, and the Mountain West Network (TV edition) which was well before its time. We now know who’s going to be part of the deal, and what the coverage will look like.
Category: Lobo Athletics
Glass Full of Emotions and Investment
What a wild ride it has been for New Mexico Vice President of Athletics Fern Lovo in his first year as the AD at UNM, losing Bronco Mendenhall his first week on the job, having to make a Football Hire right off the bat, and needing to find someone who would embrace UNM, the city of Albuquerque, and the state of New Mexico. That led to a certain Head Coach at the University of Idaho, by the name of Jason Eck. How would someone with only FCS Head Coaching experience adjust to the FBS level at a very unique job, having to build a completely new roster and balancing a staff of FCS assistants and FBS assistants, all hires and portal adds would be imperative for the Lobos to be good in year one. Before everything even settled Eck would lose his DC as he would be named the new Head Coach at South Dakota State, so Eck has to go with plan B, leading to Spence Nowinsky, I would say that has worked out well. Everything that could go right went right in year one, that leads to what the month of November has meant for the Football Program, UNM Athletic Department, and the Lobo fan base.
Why was GCU added for 2025-2026 Athletics Year?
If you were sleeping under a rock or something like that over the last 10 months, you would be aware of the situation brewing between the PAC and the Mountain West. While the sides are involved in lawsuits and other happenings, something happened this week, in an expected move after the five universities leaving the Mountain West (Boise State, CSU, Fresno State, SDSU, and USU) gave their official notice to the conference, that Grand Canyon would be joining the conference for every sport (except football) for the final year of this makeup of the conference. People can have their opinions about GCU and the gray area of their for-profit or not status, and other things, but this situation doesn’t matter in this case, GCU was and is going to be a member of the conference, so why was GCU added for this Athletics Year, is the question we will be looking at in this post.
Reality Check
With this week’s addition of Hawaii as a full member, the MW looks as though it has stabilized and will live to see another round of realignment. It was a wild few weeks with surprises (Utah State jumping to the PacX at the last second!), intrigue (will the AAC schools stay or leave?), and an incredible amount of anxiety that certain schools will be left in an awful situation. Thankfully, the Lobos don’t have to wonder about where their future lies anymore, but there were nights where there was legitimate concern.
As much pride we take in the Lobos and the University, I can’t help but think that this round of realignment was a massive reality check as to where we actually stand in the overall pecking order.
Thank you, Eddie!
This past weekend after spending almost 7 years at UNM, Vice President of Athletics and Athletic Director Eddie Nunez accepted the Athletic Director’s position at Big 12 member the University of Houston. Unsurprisingly, he would make the move considering he’s moving up in conference, budget, and salary. This isn’t a knock on where the UNM Athletic Department is at the present day, it shows the strength and growth that happened during the 7 years that Nunez was in charge of the Department. While there will always be things that people will have issues with during any person’s time in charge, it’s clear that the UNM Athletics Department is in a way better place than it was in 2017. It was a great run for Nunez at UNM, and I believe that Houston will be better because of him, just like UNM is better because of his leadership.
Before Nunez:
It’s crazy to think how much has changed in the last 7-plus years at UNM, and something that we can’t lose sight of is how bad of shape the Athletics Department and UNM, in general, was before Nunez was hired and President Stokes was in charge of the University. The Athletics Department was coming off of the news of the Paul Krebs scandal, and the University didn’t have a President in place. Trying to shape something with growth was going to be difficult for whoever the new Athletic Director was going to be. The Board of Regents and other decision-makers made a great call in making Eddie Nunez the call.
Stepping Into The Unknown:
One thing that I think is clear, Nunez was stepping into something unknown of what could happen with him in charge. I believe that Nunez was taking a bigger risk than UNM at the time, and it paid off for both parties. Being hired for your first time as an Athletics Director in a situation that didn’t have a President, had a new Men’s Basketball Coach that you didn’t hire, a possible need to make a change at the head of the Football Program, and the need to find more money for the Athletics Department. If we recall at the end of the Mountain West Tournament in March, Krebs announced that Neal would be back for the 2017-2018 season, and that didn’t change until basically, the entire roster announced that they would be transferring and that a decent number of fans wouldn’t buy tickets for the 2017-2018 season. These things forced Krebs and UNM to pay the $1,000,000 buyout to Craig Neal and find a new coach. Nunez brought leadership and a vision for what the Department could become.
The Vision:
To me, it’s pretty clear, that Nunez wanted a Department that valued everyone in the Department, and it showed with the support for sports that don’t get much attention. He made it where it was clear that there would be leadership and support for everyone under his leadership. The results showed National Championships (both team and individual), Conference Championships, and a rise in support for the Department. Nunez made a point to show that he was part of the Lobo Community and would talk to anyone who would have questions. I remember in the Fall of 2018 covering the Football Game in Fort Collins with Cameron Goeldner (with the Daily Lobo at the time), and how glad he was to see us both at that game. He would always make a point to say hi to us every time he saw us after that game. He also shared a joke with the two of us before a basketball game that will remain an inside joke for the three of us. I believe that Nunez did achieve what he wanted to as the head of the Athletics Department. As someone attached to UNM Men’s Soccer (RIP), I don’t think that it is correct to blame him entirely for the end of the program, along with the Ski, and Beach Volleyball programs. It will always be something that will be attached to his era at UNM, and I do hope that a some point we can see a return of at least the soccer program.
What’s Next:
With Nunez taking a huge pay raise at Houston it sets up UNM for a very interesting choice. There is a buyout that will be paid to UNM for $125,000 while it isn’t life-changing for the Department it does help with the bottom line. We will find out in the not-too-distant future if there are plans to make an in-house hire or hire from outside the department. The logical choice in the Department is Dave Williams who has been the number 2 for Nunez and has experience as an Athletics Director. Someone that I think would be a great choice at some point is Ryan Berryman, but I don’t know if they would make that choice, and the logistics of him coming back from the University of Washington. One thing I do know is that there are a good amount of people in the room where decisions happen that are huge fans of Berryman. In my opinion, those are the two names that are as in-house as you can get, if it isn’t one of those two, I would expect someone from a similar background as Nunez. I also expect that the decision-makers will seek some input from Nunez. As for the coaches that could be impacted by this, the buyout for Pitino does get cut in half this next cycle, while the change doesn’t impact the possibility of him leaving (that difference wouldn’t keep a Power Conference Program from hiring him), it does impact the bottom line if he is hired by a different program this year. Something else that could happen is the impact of other people of leadership in the Department following him to Houston. We can all speculate on what’s going to happen now, but one thing that we can’t lose sight of is that UNM is in a way better spot than they were before he came to Albuquerque.
We want to thank Eddie for everything he did for UNM and wish him and his family nothing but success in Houston (a city that has Lobo Lane History).
Lobo Lane Update for the 2024-2025 Season
It has been a little while since we have posted here, and I (Zach) want to update you on what the 2024-2025 season and likely the following years will look like with Lobo Lane. The last few years have been a challenge for me to put a ton of focus on writing here, and I am someone who wants to put good stuff out instead of just putting stuff out there. For the first time really since 2020, I have the energy and focus to finally put out good stuff regularly, and I am beyond excited to be able to do that. This will be our 10th year of covering UNM Lobo Athletics, which is insane that it has already been that long. Here’s the update on what things will look like moving forward.
Lobo Lane Update
Hello,
It has been a while since we/I (Zach) have written an article on here, and I thought that it was a great time to change that and give an update on what is going on. First off we (both Jono and Zach) are doing well. Second a lot has happened the last few years both in the world and in our lives, and it has led to a very difficult time to put words into articles. At the end of last summer one of our grandparents fell ill and was up and down for the better part of 4+ months before passing away, this filled with other problems made it difficult to giving you my best work, leading to mostly Twitter coverage. I can say that I am ready for the 2022-2023 sports year, and excited for the stories that will come out of this year. Here are some updates on what we/I hope the 2022-2023 year will look like for Lobo Lane.
The Three Lobo Games Live Chat/Blog 11/13
We have you covered for all three Lobo sporting events tonight. I (Zach) will have the chat going during the games tonight.
Lobo Football at SDSU: Running Blog/Chat
We are back with our live Blog and Chat of the Lobo Football game at SDSU. The Main house rule is “No Jerks Allowed”, so please don’t act like one. Go Lobos!
Lobos vs. AFA: Football Running Blog
We are back with our coverage for the Lobos (2-2) Mountain West Opener against AFA (3-1). The Lobos are looking to end their two-game losing streak and get their offense rolling again after a couple of rough outings the last few weeks. Looking back at last season’s meeting, AFA won 28-0, in the game the Lobos were able to force four AFA fumbles (recovering three) but were unable to cash in (missed four Field Goals). The Lobos haven’t beat AFA since 2017, in the game, Richard McQuarley rushed 11 times for 179 yards and five Touchdowns.