Colorado Board of Regents scheduled to vote on Lovo hire; UNM remains silent

The University of Colorado Board of Regents has announced a "special" meeting for Monday morning with just one item on the agenda: approving the hire of Fernando Lovo as the school's new director of athletics.

The public vote of approval for the contract follows a closed-door session for the board to discuss a "personnel matter," according to the boards agenda legally required to be posted ahead of the meeting.

Lovo, the 37-year-old sitting AD of the University of New Mexico who is a few days shy of completing just his 13th month on the job in Albuquerque, albeit a successful and productive 13 months, has not returned messages left by the Journal and has made no public comments confirming the reports that he has accepted the job in Boulder, Colorado.

As for UNM, the official stance remains the same as it was Saturday night when news first broke of the expected hiring of Lovo at the Big 12 school: The school is aware, but nothing has been finalized and the athletics department "continues to operate as normal."

One member of the UNM athletic department, who declined to be identified, said on Sunday that the expectation was the school would not be making any public announcements about what is next, including who might be at minimum an interim athletic director, until after the Colorado Regents meeting.

Lovo, who was on the sideline with the Lobo football team at Friday's Rate Bowl, did not attend Saturday's New Mexico Bowl as was expected by colleagues of his in UNM athletics.

Colorado is looking to replace Rick George, the long-tenured AD of the Big 12 school who most notably hired Deion Sanders in December 2022. Sanders and the CU football team went 3-9 this season and 1-8 in Big 12 play.

George's current contract pays him just north of $1 million annually. Lovo's pay at UNM includes a $400,000 base salary, $100,000 in media obligations and numerous bonus opportunities up to a $50,000 cap, tied to team and athlete success in the classroom and on the field of play — many of which were accomplished at UNM in his first year on the job.

Lovo's contractual buyout, should he leave UNM, calls for him to pay UNM just under $800,000 remaining on his five-year contract.