Get to know Fernando Lovo, New Mexico's new athletic director

Fernando Lovo remembers seeing the family crest sitting above the desk in his paternal grandfather’s office.

“It said Lobo, L-O-B-O,” Lovo told the Journal on Sunday, adding his father is from Nicaragua and met his mother here in the United States. “And at some point in time, I don’t know when, but the family name got misrepresented or was misspelled or whatever, so it became what it is now.

“But it’s funny; growing up I had emails with ‘wolf’ in it or whatever because that’s what we were.”

And that’s what he is now.

Lovo, a 36-year-old senior associate athletics director at the University of Texas with an extensive background in football operations and more recently in overseeing more than a half-billion dollars of capital projects for Longhorn athletics, has accepted an offer to become the next vice president for athletics at the University of New Mexico.

UNM announced Lovo’s hire as athletic director on Sunday afternoon. A formal introductory press conference has not yet been set.

A husband and father of two, Lovo has much to tend to in Austin before the family makes the move west. His tentative start date is Dec. 1.

Lovo replaces Eddie Nuñez, a seven-year UNM athletic director who left on Aug. 17 for the same job at the Big 12’s University of Houston.

The Journal has learned that while a contract has not yet been signed, a memorandum of understanding indicates Lovo will have a five-year contract with an option for UNM President Garnett S. Stokes to extend his employment up to two years after 36 months on the job.

His base salary will be $400,000, and there is the potential for another $100,000 in supplemental income for media obligations and promoting the program.

“We are excited to welcome Fernando Lovo to the University of New Mexico,” Stokes said in a statement. “His extensive experience and dynamic leadership style make him an exceptional choice for this pivotal role.”

Lovo worked closely with football coaches Urban Meyer at both Ohio State University and with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Tom Herman at the University of Houston, helping that program set itself up for eventual transition into the Big 12. Most recently at Texas, Lovo began working closely with AD Chris Del Conte, a native New Mexican whom Lovo considers an “incredible” mentor and friend.

“I mean, I can’t thank him enough for all the leadership and mentorship he’s provided,” Lovo said of Del Conte. “(Long before the UNM job ever opened), I heard a lot of stories about his past and how important New Mexico was to him and still is today to his family. So when this process started, obviously I went to him as my mentor for guidance and input. But even before the guidance and input started, he was just raving about the institution, the state, and everything that it has to offer.”

Del Conte oversees the second largest athletics budget in the NCAA with more than $230 million annual operating expenses in 2023 (UNM’s was $47.8 million using the same criteria), according to Sportico. He sees in Lovo and the Lobos a fit that should elevate the university’s athletic department at a time in college athletics when change seems to be the only constant.

“As a New Mexican, I am so happy to see Fernando in this role at UNM,” said Del Conte in a statement provided to UNM. “He is a great leader, innovator and human being, whose integrity and values are second to none. He is a true advocate for student-athletes and a consensus builder who will do what’s right for UNM. I see a bright future for the Lobos.”

UNM athletics has challenges, of course. Along with being in one of the poorer states in the country, it also has one of the poorest track records of football success in recent years.

Less than a month after Nuñez left his post for Houston, five Mountain West members bolted from the league to a rebuilding Pac-12 Conference. UNM, which is staying in the Mountain West, wasn’t considered a good fit for the Pac-12 over doubts about the school’s investment in athletics and sustained football success.

That’s where Lovo says he sees tremendous potential. He said he may not have considered the job had UNM not been in such a good position to, finally, get football right in Albuquerque.

“The first thing that you always start with, in my opinion, is, do you have the right leader?” Lovo said. “And obviously the answer is unequivocally yes, with coach (Bronco) Mendenhall, a proven track record of success ... more than that, an incredible person and someone that can create a vision, deliver on that vision and create a sense of hope. And clearly, this year, he’s done that.”

The UNM football program is exceeding expectations in Mendenhall’s first season, beating then-No. 19 Washington State in its last game on Nov. 16 to improve to 5-6 with one game remaining. A win Saturday at Hawaii would qualify the Lobos for their first bowl game since 2016.

Lovo also understands that UNM and New Mexico in general have been passionate about Lobo basketball for more than a half century, and he has no plans to turn a blind eye to that.

“The passion and the love for Lobo basketball in the community, frankly, is second to none,” Lovo said. “I mean, you just look at the attendance and you know the prestige of the Pit, and you look at the history of coaches and players that have been through New Mexico. ...

“There’s a saying that, you know, (a) rising tide raises all ships. And I believe that with the success in football, with the success in men’s basketball, you know that tide will rise, and us as a department, collectively, everybody else will feel that.”

Lovo, born in New Orleans and raised in Miami, said he looks forward to learning about the New Mexico that Del Conte and others have told him about.

He said he looks forward to meeting his new colleagues and said he has the utmost respect not only for the job they all did along with Nuñez the past seven years, but specifically the job Deputy AD Dave Williams has done serving as interim AD since Nuñez left.

Williams was among the five finalists interviewed for the permanent AD job last week in Denver.