By Daniel Libit

As NMFishbowl.com first reported on Twitter Monday night, the University of New Mexico has decided to terminate the contract of Deputy Athletic Director Brad Hutchins just before the end of the year.

After ignoring media inquiries about this matter for almost 24 hours, UNM AD Eddie Nuñez finally told the Albuquerque Journal late Tuesday night that the school and Hutchins had reached a buyout agreement for $175,000. Hutchins’ contract was due to expire on June 30, 2020 and, per the terms of his contract, he could have been owed up to $225,000 for its premature termination. Continue reading “Here’s UNM’s $175K Buyout Deal with Deputy AD” →

By Daniel Libit

Despite initial reports that Lobo football coach Bob Davie would be taking a roughly $70,000 hit for his 30-day suspension, it appears that Davie’s actual docked pay will be significantly less than that.

NMFishbowl.com recently viewed a copy of the suspension letter that Davie received from UNM interim President Chaouki Aballah, which explicitly states that the coach would only lose out on one month of his base salary.

In the letter, Abdallah tabulated that amount to be $32,514.62. Per his current contract, Davie’s total annual compensation is $822,690, not including bonuses or compensatory benefits. This means that Davie’s suspension will ultimately cost him less than four percent of what he is due to earn during this contract year. Continue reading “Davie’s Docked Pay Less Than Reported” →

By Daniel Libit

The University of New Mexico Athletic Department can barely afford to keep the lights on. Actually, it can’t nearly afford to keep the lights on.

According to figures obtained by NMFishbowl.com, half the yearly utility costs for UNM’s athletic facilities are paid for by the school’s Physical Plant Department — an extraordinary defrayment that is not acknowledged in Athletics’ stated budget of $34 million. Continue reading “The Hidden Costs of Powering the Lobos” →

By Daniel Libit

Six weeks after the New Mexico State Auditor began investigating the UNM Athletic Department, it requested a nearly five-fold increase to the budget for its special audit investigation, from $19,000 to $90,000.

The University of New Mexico will be responsible for picking up that tab, according to a Memorandum of Understanding recently obtained by NMFishbowl.com. Continue reading “Expanded Audit to Cost UNM $90K” →

By Daniel Libit

In 2012, then-ESPN.com reporter Andy Katz wrote a story about then-UNM men’s basketball coach Steve Alford and his well-compensated skipper, Craig Neal.

“I pay him too much,” Alford jokingly said of Neal, who made $300,000 at the time as the Lobos’ top assistant.

Said Neal: “(Alford) does pay me too much and it makes it hard for me to leave.”

The funny thing (if heedless public spending is your kind of humor) is that when Alford left to UCLA, and Neal was promoted as his replacement, UNM actually did overpay him. By quite a lot. Continue reading “UNM Keeps Overpaying its Coaches by Accident” →

By Daniel Libit

While UNM continues to scrounge for new sources of athletic department cash, it appears the Lobos are facing an equally daunting challenge in banking past-due revenue from its best seats in the house.

Sources have been murmuring for some time that the university is still owed quite a bit of money from a number of its suite and club-seat occupants at football and men’s basketball games. A dire-sounding email UNM Athletic Director Paul Krebs sent on April 19, which NMFishbowl.com obtained through a public records request, seems to confirm as much. Continue reading “UNM Has a Suite Deadbeat Problem” →

By Daniel Libit

No outside party has any real or verifiable idea about how much money the UNM Athletic Department spends, what it spends that money for, and the true size of the department’s substantial budget deficit.  And that’s an enormous problem when New Mexico taxpayers are annually asked to sign a check to cover the excesses of UNM Athletics.

The financial paper trail reported by UNM’s Athletic Department is so confounding that even State Auditor Tim Keller might find it impossible to sort it all out — even though he’s suggested publicly that he’s keeping tabs. Continue reading “The Unknowns of UNM’s Accounting” →

By Daniel Libit

Throughout the 2014-15 Lobo sports season, UNM Athletic Director Paul Krebs and his top deputy, Tim Cass, were engaged in two parallel conversations: first, how to cut the budget for a bleeding Athletic Department; and second, how to get Cass more money.

In a Feb. 25, 2015 email obtained by NMFishbowl.com, Cass, the Lobos’ Chief Operating Officer, wrote to his boss about Priority Numero Uno: Continue reading “Tim Cass’s Consulting Deal is Sweeter Than You Think” →