University of New Mexico officials alleged Wednesday that assistant coach J.B. Gerald demanded $500,000 from the university in exchange for remaining silent about the Mike Locksley altercation. Evidence in the case was destroyed, UNM officials told the Journal.

The revelation came during a meeting with Journal reporter and editors before the news conference slated to begin at 11 a.m.

• Watch video of press conference

A timeline distributed by the university states that on Oct. 1, "university receives letter from J.B. Gerald's attorney offering continued media silence in exchange for a $500,000 settlement figure."

During the meeting with the Journal, UNM President David Schmidly and Athletics Vice President Paul Krebs acknowledged that mistakes were made in the handling of the Sept. 20 altercation.  

"It's clear to me that mistakes were made," Schmidly said, noting that under UNM policy, the athletics department shouldn't have been allowed to investigate the altercation.

Gerald alleges that Locksley punched and choked him during a coaches meeting on Sept. 20, the day after the Lobos lost to Air Force. Locksley admits that he shouldn't have put his hands on Gerald, but denies punching or choking him.
Several assistant coaches told an Athletics Department human resources representative that Locksley had indeed choked Gerald and one said Locksley was swinging at Gerald.

For more on this developing story, continue checking ABQjournal.com and pick up a copy of Thursday's Journal. 

ABQjournal will live-stream a video of the conference here beginning at 11 a.m. To read background on this story, go to our Mike Locksley "topic" page here.