The New Mexico Lobos are the athletic teams that represent the University of New Mexico. The university participates in the NCAA Division I in the Mountain West Conference (MW). The university's athletic program fields teams in 20 varsity sports. The only varsity teams that do not compete in the MW are in sports that the conference does not sponsorâ€"men's soccer, which plays in Conference USA (C-USA); and skiing, which competes in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA).
UNM teams have won three national championships. The women's cross-country won the NCAA championship in 2015 and 2017 and the Division I Skiing championship in 2004. The men's soccer team was National Runner-up in Division I Soccer losing in overtime to the University of Maryland in 2005 as the No. 2 seed, the highest ranking for a UNM soccer team in school history.
History
Lobos vs Northern New Mexico Highlights - Lobo men's basketball romps in its season opener vs. Northern New Mexico with a 147-76 win! Here's the highlights! #GoLobos.
The Lobos name began in 1920. A UNM Weekly student newspaper editor, George S. Bryan, came up with the teams' name, the "Lobos", which is the Spanish word for wolf. Previously the University's teams were referred to as the "University Boys" or "Varsities".
Cherry and Silver
The Cherry and Silver came from students and professors taking picnics in Sandias. It looked like silver ribbon flowing through the valley. Crimson was changed to the cherry color which is the color of the Sandia Sunset. Cherry and Silver became the official colors in 1897. The school also used turquoise as an official color from 1973 to 1979.
The fight song
In 1930, the UNM fight song was created. Dean Lena Clauve, a music education professor, wrote the music. Dr. George St. Clair, an English professor, wrote the lyrics.
Mascot
The University mascots are anthropomorphized wolves or "Lobos" named Louie and Lucy, they appear at every sporting and social event. Lobo Louie was created in the early 1960s and Lobo Lucy was created in the early 1980s.
For a brief period in the 1920s, a live wolf pup appeared at every football game. Jim Young, a government trapper, caught a wolf in the western part of the state. A child teased the wolf at a game and was bitten, which forced officials of the school to get rid of the wolf.
Sports sponsored
The University of New Mexico sponsors teams in nine men's and 11 women's NCAA sanctioned sports, primarily competing in the Mountain West Conference, with men's soccer a member of Conference USA.
Baseball
Current Head Coach: Ray Birmingham
Pitching Coach: Ken Jacome
Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coach: Buddy Gouldsmith
Volunteer Assistant Coach: Tony Cappuccilli
The Lobo baseball program began in 1899. Its current head coach is Ray Birmingham.
In recent years the Lobo Baseball Program has seen much success, the team competed in the 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship tournament. Prior to 2010 the Lobos hadn't made an appearance in the tournament since 1962. In 2012 the Lobos captured both the Mountain West Regular Season and Conference Tournament titles. The Lobos have not made a College World Series appearance in its program's history.
UNM's baseball team plays at Santa Ana Star Field on the university's campus. They averaged 1,294 fans for the 2011 season and ranked 43rd in the NCAA per game.
Men's basketball
Current Head Coach: Paul Weir
Associate Head Coach: Chris Harriman
Assistant Coach: Jerome Robinson
Assistant Coach: Brandon Mason
The Lobo basketball programs were established in 1899, but began its first competitive teams in 1903 and 1906, respectively. In 1920 a head coach would be hired, Roy W. Johnson. The current head coach is Paul Weir (basketball).
Both men's and women's teams play in The Pit, formally known as Dreamstyle Arena, built in 1966. The Pit seats 15,411 spectators and ranks nationally in attendance for both men's and women's programs. Previously the Lobos played in Johnson Gymnasium and Carlisle Gymnasium, which both still exist on the main campus.
The Lobo men's basketball team has appeared in the NCAA tournament 14 times and have reached the second round seven times. UNM's most successful coaches in terms of wins are Dave Bliss, Bob King, Roy Johnson, and Steve Alford.
Women's basketball
- Current Head Coach: Mike Bradbury
- Assistant Coach: Valerie King
- Assistant Coach: Erin Grant
- Assistant Coach: Bill Ferrara
The Lobo women's basketball team has appeared in the NCAA tournament 8 times. Former head coach Don Flanagan (1999â€"2011) is the most successful coach in terms of wins.
Men's and women's cross country
Current Head Coach: Joe Franklin
Assistant Coach: James Butler
Assistant Coach: Dr. Richard Ceronie
Assistant Coach: Laura Bowerman
The women's cross-country team at the University of New Mexico, known as the New Mexico Lobos, won the NCAA championship in 2015. In 2015, head coach Joe Franklin was named NCAA women's coach of the year for the NCAA Mountain Region and the NCAA nationally.
In 2017, UNM won the national team title, and Lobo Ednah Kurgat won the individual title.
Men's and women's track and field
Current Head Coach: Joe Franklin
Assistant/sprints Coach: Jade Ellis
Assistant/long distance Coach: Dr. Richard Ceronie
Last season the roster included a football player named Jay Griffin. He competed in the 60 meter and also the 200 meter. Placing 27th in 60 meter, and 22nd in the 200 meter. He had a very short season after going through a hamstring injury during one of his races. In this upcoming season, there will be another football player joining him named Willie Hobdy. Hobdy will be doing the triple jump and long jump while Jay Griffin will continue with his same events from last year.
Joe Franklin is quoted as saying "We have to keep it fun" Coach Franklin was at Purdue from 1986-1991. This upcoming year will be coach Franklin's ninth year as the Track and Field's head coach.
In 2013-2014 coach Franklin lead the both men's and women's team to consecutive titles. During that time the Lobo's had the 2nd longest streak of conferences titles and the fourth longest streak in Division 1 history. The Lobo's also had nine All Americans that year with 57 total All Mountain West honorees.
In 2014-2015 the men's and women's teams won a consecutive mountain west title. The women had won their seventh straight while the men had won their sixth. That year there were four Lobo's who had won All American honors in track and field.
Football
- Current Head Coach: Bob Davie
- Assistant Coaches:
- Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers: TBA
- Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers: Kevin Cosgrove
- Specials Teams Coordinator/QBs: Apollo Wright
- Offensive Line: Saga Tuitele
- Running Backs: Scott Baumgartner
- Tight Ends: Clay Davie
- Defensive Line: Stan Eggen
- Safeties: Jordan Peterson
- Corners: TBA
The Lobo football program began in 1892, but compiled its first competitive team in 1894.
The Lobos were previously coached by Mike Locksley. He was fired in late 2011 after a dismal 2â€"26 coaching record in 2 1/2 years at New Mexico. Locksley took the place of Rocky Long (1998â€"2008) who was the winningest coach in the school's history.
The Lobo football program has appeared in 12 bowl games since 1939. The Lobos have captured four wins in bowl games, including the 1946 Sun Bowl, the 1961 Aviation Bowl, and the 2007 and 2016 New Mexico Bowl.
UNM usually plays two large rivalry games each year with non-conference opponents, the Arizona Wildcats and the New Mexico State Aggies. The Rivalry with the Aggies is referred to as the "Rio Grande Rivalry", the rivalry first began in 1894. The Lobos have led the series since the 1940s; it stands at 66â€"31â€"5 in favor of the Lobos. The Rivalry with the Wildcats is referred to as the "Kit Carson Rifle"; the rivalry began in the early 1920s. The Wildcats of Arizona have led the series. The last meeting with the teams was in 2008. The Lobos defeated the Wildcats 36â€"28.
Coach Davie has been coaching for 26 years. He started out as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh in 1977. Davie has coached at more than five different schools. He took a break for a period of time and went into broadcasting for ESPN. While being at the University of New Mexico coach Davie has broken multiple school records.
For the last two years the Lobo's have lost to the Aggies by less than five points. In the 2015-2016 season the Lobo football team ended with a record of 9-4 while losing only one game at home. The ended up going to the New Mexico Bowl and won their fourth bowl game win. In the 2016-2017 the Lobos record went from 9-4 to 3-9. It was the first time in 2 years that they didn't make a bowl game. After the season ended, they ended up losing two coaches. One was the Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receiver coach and the other was the Corners coach. The Lobos will return a lot of key players from the offense one being Jay Griffin IV. Jay Griffin IV will be a redshirt sophomore for this upcoming season. He is from Huntsville, Texas and went to Huntsville High School. At Huntsville, he played Varsity football for two years and also ran track. He accomplished many things in both football and track. In football, he won 1st team All District honors both years he played Varsity while in track won District twice in the 200 meters. In the 2017 season he had a total of 393 receiving yards on only 29 receptions. He also had five receiving touchdowns. Griffin also had 116 rushing yards on 13 carries. He ended up with one rushing touchdown. Jay Griffin will be returning to the Lobos for his 2nd season in 2018. In 2012 he started the best rebuilding jobs in school history ever in the spot. For the last two seasons the Lobos record is 16-10 which ties an all time school record for most wins in a back to back season.
Men's golf
Current Head Coach: Glen Millican
Assistant Coach: Chris Massoletti
Volunteer Coach: Wright Zimmerly
The men's golf team has won 23 conference championships:
- Border Conference (3): 1948â€"50 (co-champion in 1948)
- Mountain States Conference (6): 1957â€"62
- Western Athletic Conference (8): 1963â€"65, 1967, 1979, 1989, 1993, 1996
- Mountain West Conference (6): 2003â€"06, 2013â€"14
Many Lobo golfers have gone on to play and win on the PGA Tour including: Tommy Armour III (two wins), Charlie Beljan (one), Brad Bryant (one), Curt Byrum (one), Tom Byrum (one), and Tim Herron (four).
Women's golf
Current Head Coach: Jill Trujillo
Associate Head Coach: Britney Choy
Skiing
- Current Head Coach (Both Men's and Women's team): Fredrik Landstedt
- Head Alpine Coach: Joe Downing
- Assistant Alpine Coach: Carl-Johan Oster
- Assistant Nordic Coach: Aljaz Praznik
The New Mexico Lobo skiing team, a fully coeducational team, is one of only two Lobos teams that do not compete in the MW. It competes in the single-sport Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association alongside several Division I and Division II schools in the West. The team carries a rich tradition; it captured the school's first national title in 2004. The team was briefly eliminated in the spring of 2017.
Men's soccer
- Current Head Coach: Jeremy Fishbein
- Associate Head Coach: Mike Graczyk
- Assistant Coach: Kelly Altman
- Assistant Coach: Lucas Champenois
Women's soccer
- Current Head Coach: Heather Dyche
- Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator: Karley Nelson
- Assistant Coach: Paul Maestas
- Goalkeeper Coach: Travis Masterson
Softball
Head Softball Coach: Paula Congleton
Assistant Coach: Tyler Heil
Assistant Coach: Megan Betsa
The Lobos softball team has appeared in two Women's College World Series in 1980 and 1981.
Rivalries
- Kit Carson Rifle (Arizona Wildcats)
- Rio Grande Rivalry (New Mexico State Aggies)
- The Bowl Showdown (Utah Utes)
Championships
NCAA team championships
New Mexico has won 3 NCAA team national championships.
- Women's (2)
- Cross Country (2): 2015, 2017
- Co-ed (1)
- Skiing (1): 2004
- see also:
- Mountain West Conference NCAA team championships
- List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships
National runners-up
- Division I Men's & Women's Skiing (2006)
- Division I Men's Soccer (2005)
- Division I Men's & Women's Skiing (1992)
See also
- List of college athletic programs in New Mexico
References
External links
- Official website
