Grammer: As the Lobos track teams put exclamation point on terrific sports year, UNM's reality remains clear

UNM’s first-year Athletic Director Fernando Lovo spent the past week at opposite ends of the country experiencing the vast spectrum of the current college athletics landscape.

Lovo was reminded of the harsh realities facing a program like UNM, but also saw Lobo teams prove they can compete with the best of the best while simultaneously not existing in the same financial universe as their opponents.

Early in the week, Lovo attended the annual National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics conference in Orlando, Florida. There, it was clear the Lobos aren’t able to spend the same way as power conference schools in this post-House settlement world.

Then, Lovo spent several days in Eugene, Oregon — home of college track and field’s pinnacle event, the NCAA Championships. There, the Lobos’ men’s and women’s track and field programs put an exclamation point on a 2024-25 school year that has been one of the more successful overall for UNM Athletics.

UNM won six Mountain West team championships, more than any other program. It boasts dozens of individual conference champions, all-league performers, All-Americans and even a couple of national champions.

In the Learfield Director’s Cup standings, which will get final tabulations for most successful overall college athletics department after next week’s College World Series, the Lobos have easily outpaced the rest of the Mountain West, including those schools leaving next summer to form a new Pac-12 that UNM was not invited to be a part of. The Lobos might even be able to secure the top spot in the Learfield standings of any non-power conference program.

“It definitely was one of our better years, for sure,” said Lovo, who has been on the job since December. “Obviously track (and cross country) carried the baton, no pun intended, but tennis, and (men’s) basketball got championships, too. So overall, that was really, really good. And a lot of great individual performances, too. Just a great performance by so many people.”

But does success outside of football matter at all anymore in college sports?

Friday and Saturday, the Lobos logo was near the top of the men’s and women’s leaderboards in Eugene, along with power conference programs with very different athletic department budgets.

According to the Department of Education’s fiscal year 2024 data, here is a look at that men’s leaderboard with total athletics revenue in parentheses:

t-1. USC ($242 million)

t-1. Texas A&M ($232 million)

3. Arkansas ($171 million)

4. Auburn ($193 million)

5. New Mexico ($54 million)

The difference? A lot of things play at least some part in it all, but nothing more impactful than a successful football program.

“Football is the main driver, and that’s what’s been driving all this conference realignment,” Lovo said.

“And it’s no secret we just, unfortunately, we haven’t had the requisite success needed to to have a football program that can be marketed in a way that it needs to be in this new age of college athletics. But I think it all comes down, always, to the people. Obviously, Bronco (Mendenhall) did a great job last year, and I think Jason (Eck)’s got a great plan and going to field some competitive teams. But it’s investment. If you look at it just historically, we’ve been at the bottom, or near the bottom, when it comes to investment in football.”

At least for the past few days, as turquoise jerseys were atop podiums, things were good for Lovo and Lobo athletics.

“It was really refreshing and encouraging to hear from a lot of, not just administrators, but coaches, even telling Darren (Gauson, UNM’s track and cross country coach), just ‘Wow. It’s an amazing job what you’ve done with with your program,’” Lovo said. “It does come up (with the other ADs). It’s a sense of pride. We operate with a chip on our shoulder. And I think our student athletes carry that as they compete, and our coaches do as well.

“And, yeah, you look at that top five (teams in the men’s standings), and those brands that are up there, those logos, they’re some of the top in the country — and frankly, we had a chance to win the whole thing. It was all just a really, really cool thing.”