UNM's next athletic director could be named in coming days. Here's the latest.

The University of New Mexico could have its new athletic director in the coming days.

The Journal has learned UNM President Garnett S. Stokes spoke with as many as five finalists in Denver on Wednesday — a group that was whittled down by a search committee from an initial submission of 10 names from Parker Executive Search, the Atlanta-based search firm hired in September to guide the search process.

It is unclear if Stokes’ interviews in Denver constituted the final interviews, but the Journal has been told by multiple sources close to the search process that a hire could be made any day.

A list of those finalists isn’t expected to be made public by UNM.

“I expect that the only announcement (moving forward) will be a hire, but I can’t be sure of that,” Stokes told the Journal in an interview earlier this month, before she interviewed finalists. “I do know that I’ve worked closely with Parker (Executive Search) in the past. It’s a challenge to hire an athletics director without the promise of confidentiality.”

The athletic director will replace Eddie Nuñez, who announced on Aug. 17 he would be leaving after seven years to take the same post at the Big 12’s University of Houston.

Stokes said the hire is vital to the university as athletics is one of “two front doors into the university,” along with the UNM Health Sciences Center.

“Athletics is a very important part of the identity of the university,” Stokes said. “It brings in the community. It has an economic impact, locally and in the state. So, to me, it’s very important that we figure out our strategy, and we’re actively looking at what this could look like and what it should look like for the future.”

Only one internal candidate — UNM Interim Athletic Director David Williams — is among the finalists for the position. He is in Wisconsin this weekend with the UNM cross country team as they compete at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

The initial list of 10 names submitted by Parker Executive Search, which was paid $60,000 to run the search, went through Zoom interviews with a committee formed by UNM last month. The committee submitted a list of finalists to Stokes early this past week.

The interviews taking place outside of Albuquerque was viewed as a necessary step in the process, a source told the Journal.

ADs and realignment

Less than a month after Nuñez stepped down, five Mountain West members bolted from the league to a rebuilding Pac-12 Conference. UNM is staying in the Mountain West.

Stokes said the recent conference realignment did not seem to adversely affect the candidate pool.

“There’s been a lot of interest expressed in this position, and a lot of people with a great deal of experience interested,” Stokes said. “So I’m pleased with with it. And you know, we have had a lot of things going on. So I did wonder if the shakeup in the Mountain West, with the Pac-12, might have an influence on this process. But I’m very pleased with what I know about the pool of people that have expressed interest.”

Stokes doesn’t believe UNM not having a permanent AD in place at the time of the realignment bombshell affected the university.

“Honestly, I don’t think it had any impact at all,” Stokes said. “I had a very experienced interim AD, Dave Williams, and he was very, very active during that period. And I can’t even tell you all the things that he was doing at that time. ...

“Would things have turned out differently if Eddie was still here, and it happened while he was here? I have to say, given everything I know ... we wouldn’t be in a different position. It really boiled down to our investments. But I think even more, boiled down to the fact that — well, where we’ve been in football.”

The UNM football program, which hasn’t made a bowl game since 2016, is exceeding expectations in coach Bronco Mendenhall’s first season, beating No. 19 Washington State last week to improve its record to 5-6 with one game remaining.

Stokes said she looks forward to working with the new AD to help progress the growth of all UNM sports, including the traditional bell cow revenue generator of Lobo men’s basketball. But she understands the financial health of all athletic departments in the current landscape stems from the health of its football program.

That, she said, is something she’s particularly optimistic about at UNM as the new leadership takes over.

“I don’t want to leave this conversation without telling you how thrilled I am to have Bronco Mendenhall as our football coach. Thrilled,” Stokes told the Journal. “I have been fearful, actually, that given the turmoil in athletics, that our potential football success was coming a little too late for what could happen. And that’s what I believe is true.”