It's official: University of Colorado hires athletics director Fernando Lovo

The University of Colorado has hired Fernando Lovo to be the Big 12 school's new athletics director.

The 37-year-old Lovo spent the past 13 months in the same position at the University of New Mexico — overseeing a period of great success on the field and in fundraising.

Lovo's hiring at Colorado was announced Monday at a CU regents special meeting. The regents praised Lovo's work at UNM before unanimously approving a five-year contract that will pay him $1.2 million annually — a base salary of $600,000 per year with another $600,000 in media-related obligations and program promotions.

Lovo became the UNM AD on Dec. 1 2024. At UNM, he was being paid just north of $500,000 — a $400,000 base salary plus bonuses and supplemental income for media obligations.

He had three years, 11 months remaining on his deal with UNM. According to the Boulder Daily Camera, Colorado will pay UNM $800,000 to buy out Lovo's contract.

"I'm honored to join this incredible group of student-athletes, coaches and staff at a tremendous institution that strives for excellence and espouses the right values," Lovo said in a news release from Colorado. "We are in a time of extraordinary change in college athletics and Colorado should lead the way in shaping what comes next. I look forward to helping our student-athletes succeed in every aspect of their lives while bringing championships to Buff Nation."

Lovo replaces Rick George, the Colorado AD since 2013. George announced in November that he was stepping down. He will remain director of athletics emeritus at CU.

Lovo takes over a Colorado athletics department with a football program that reached national prominence under coach Deion Sanders in 2024, but struggled this season. The Buffaloes went 3-9 overall and 1-8 in the Big 12.

UNM President Garnett S. Stokes released a statement regarding Lovo's departure, but the university has not yet outlined its parameters for searching for a new athletics director or who will lead the department in the interim.

"We thank Fernando Lovo for his service to the University of New Mexico and wish him well in his next chapter," Stokes said Monday. "UNM Athletics has built meaningful momentum in recent years, and leadership movement is a normal outcome when programs are successful and gaining national attention. Our focus remains on sustaining that progress and identifying a leader who can build on the strong foundation already in place for our student-athletes, coaches, and programs."

Lovo's tenure at UNM

Lovo is the second UNM athletics director to leave for a Big 12 school. In August 2024, Eddie Nuñez was hired as the Houston AD.

A little over three months later, UNM hired Lovo away from the University of Texas, where he had been a senior associate athletics director, primarily working in fundraising and football operations. Lovo had also worked for Ohio State University, the University of Houston and the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.

UNM Athletics has not only performed extraordinarily well on the playing fields during the Lovo tenure, the department has also raised more money than ever.

In his first week on the job at UNM, Lovo was tasked with hiring a football head coach after Bronco Mendenhall left for Utah State after just one year with the Lobos. 

Lovo brought in Jason Eck from Idaho, and the team outperformed expectations enormously in coach's first year. The Lobos, a preseason pick to finish near the bottom of the Mountain West, tied with three other teams for the conference's best regular-season record. UNM won nine games overall and played in a bowl game, both feats for the first time since 2016.

In March, Lovo was on the hunt for a new men's basketball coach after Richard Pitino left for Xavier. Lovo hired Eric Olen, from UC San Diego, to lead UNM's most prestigious athletics program.

Olen took over a program that lost every player and coach from the previous season and so far has the Lobos playing well — a 10-2 record — to start the season.

Neither the UNM men's basketball team (17-0) nor the football team (6-0) lost a home game in 2025. No other Division I team in the country can make that claim.

Also in Lovo's first year, the UNM men's and women's track and field programs finished in the top 10 nationally, and UNM men's and women's cross-country programs finished in the top five nationally. No other collegiate track and field or cross country program had that level of success among both men's and women's programs. Also, four UNM runners claimed national championships in the calendar year.

Lovo also replaced the UNM women's soccer and volleyball coaches in his one year on the job.

UNM fans donated a record amount to the Athletics Department under Lovo's stewardship. The UNM Lobo Club brought in $11.1 million in fiscal year 2025, a 14% increase over the previous season.

Journal Assistant Managing Editor Lucas Peerman contributed to this story.

Reach Geoff Grammere at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.