What to know about UNM Athletic Director Fernando Lovo from the one who knows him best — his wife

Beware, Lobo fans.

The new guy — Fernando Lovo, the 36-year-old formally introduced on Wednesday as the vice president and director of athletics at the University of New Mexico — may be an ace at first impressions, building relationships and sharing his vision for the future of the Lobos, but he isn’t always good around water.

“Actually, he spilled an entire glass of water on me,” wife Jordan Lovo said of the blind date she and UNM’s 14th athletic director went on a decade ago in Ohio.

“I got over it pretty quickly,” she said, noting she knew after that first date he was the one.

In his introductory news conference, Fernando Lovo talked about being the one for UNM athletics.

He reshared an anecdote that appeared in the Nov. 25 Journal about how he remembers seeing the family’s crest with the word “L-O-B-O” on it.

“At some point in our family’s history, whether it was accidental or intentional, the spelling of our last name changed to what it is today — L-O-V-O. But whether it was destiny or coincidence, I think it’s safe to say that I was born to be a Lobo.”

UNM President Garnett S. Stokes on Nov. 24 hired Lovo away from the University of Texas, where he was executive senior associate athletics director for operations, to replace Eddie Nuñez, who stepped down Aug. 17 to take the athletics director post at Houston.

While Lovo hasn’t signed a contract with UNM, the memorandum of understanding he and the university agreed to calls for a base contract of $400,000 for five years. There is an option for Stokes to extend his employment up to two years after his first 36 months on the job.

There is a potential for another $100,000 in annual supplemental income for media obligations and promoting the program.

An athletic director for the first time, Lovo told gathered colleagues, athletes, fans and media on Wednesday that he will try to build a culture centered on providing Lobo student-athletes a first-rate collegiate experience on and off the field.

He spoke of learning from mentors and past colleagues such as football coaches Urban Meyer at Ohio State and Tom Herman at the University of Houston and University of Texas, and administrators such as Shawn Eichorst and New Mexico native Chris Del Conte, the highly regarded Texas AD.

Lovo shared stories of his quick rise through the sports administration ranks, a climb that has primarily, though not exclusively, been focused on college football — something he sees great potential in at UNM and one he considers to be a “sleeping giant” of a program.

And while he hit all the right notes Wednesday, what Lobo Nation will soon find out is what kind of person and leader Fernando Lovo is.

Who better to shed light on that than his wife Jordan Lovo, the woman Fernando calls his “rock”?

“It sounds funny, I know,” Jordan Lovo admits now, “but literally after our first date, I was like, ‘Yes. I’m marrying that man.’”

Support system

Jordan grew up in Canton, Ohio, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but she said she wasn’t interested in football in the slightest. She was a former ballet dancer working at a bank when her boss, an Ohio State donor, set up a blind date with Fernando, who was working for the Buckeyes football program at the time.

“Oh, man, (if she told you about that first date) then I’m sure she told you about the second date, too?” Fernando asked with a laugh.

Actually, she had not.

“Well, the first date I was nervous and I guess that’s why I spilled the water on her,” he said. “But then on our second date, I spilled another entire glass of water on her — this time, I guess I was just clumsy or nervous again, I’m not sure what my problem was.”

Little did he know, he had already won things over with Jordan, the non-football fan and clearly very patient banker .

As they dated, she started going to Ohio State football games. And 2014 wasn’t a bad year to be doing so in Columbus, Ohio, as the Buckeyes won the national championship.

“Now, football’s our life,” Jordan Lovo said. “I love football, and it’s funny because I’m actually the one teaching our kids everything about football.”

Jordan Lovo says her husband tells jokes, is easygoing, can be comfortable around all types of people, but can also be serious and driven.

“I’m telling you, that guy will work and work, and that’s his life. He’s got a work ethic, for sure,” she said.

While New Mexico specifically was never on the radar, per se, Jordan Lovo has known for a while — certainly long before the UNM job actually opened — that she and the family were on board with going wherever, and whenever, opportunity rang.

“We’ve moved a lot in our lives, so this isn’t the first time we’ve done this,” said Jordan Lovo, who will head back to Austin with their children later this week to put their house on the market and continue completing the move to Albuquerque.

“We’re always going to be his biggest supporters,” she said.

The small things

While the adjustment the Lovo family is embarking on may be big now, for some the most important change is much smaller.

Layla Lovo, the recently turned 3-year-old who stole the show at Wednesday’s press conference in a small UNM cheerleader uniform, had to be reminded a couple times they aren’t in Austin anymore.

The Longhorns hand gesture, the only one she’s known her whole life — index finger and pinky in the air, thumb pressed flat against the fingernails of the middle two fingers — is awfully close to the new Lobo one she’s now trying to master.

When the room started an “Everyone’s a Lobo, Woof, Woof, Woof!” chant, Layla smiled and flashed her hand in the air, only to be reminded that while the Lobo wolf also includes index finger and pinky in the air, the thumb is now pressed flat against the inside of the two middle fingers, forming the wolf’s face.

“She’s starting to get it. And Liam (their 5-year-old son) loves football and he is already all about the Lobos,” Jordan Lovo said. “He was chanting about the Lobos when he woke up this morning and can’t wait (to watch a Lobo basketball game).

“We’re all excited about this.”