Last Straw for Locksley

[Agent Orange]

Lost to Sam Houston State in Overtime.

This is being reported by KOB on twitter
JoeVigil
We just got paperwork about allegations of a teen pulled over for DWI while in Lobo Football Coach Mike Locksley's SUV. #KOB at
twitter.com/#!/search/kob?q=kob

Red Menace says the drunk driver was a recruit.
mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=203&f=2466&t=7990013

If this is true he needs to go now.

[nmsooner80]

He should have been canned as soon as that SHSU running back (via Midwest City, Okla.) crossed the goal line for the win in overtime.

I only went to the first half, because I can't stand to be in that stadium during an OU game. It's too stressful. But, I also know that Dallas Bollema was out due to injury.

It's sad for kids like him and the other good in-state kids that they're stuck in this mess. This is all on UNM's A.D. and the other assorted idiots who eased out Rocky Long because he was too boring, not a good enough recruiter to get UNM to "the next level," etc.

That stupid phrase "the next level" has been the bane of UNM athletics since I've lived here. It also set the men's basketball team back almost 10 years.

[GoDogs]

When you think he would be trying to fly under the radar, he is apparently letting a recruit drive his SUV. Give me a break! Is that a recruiting violation on top of everything else?

[crispysdad]

Yeah, this story is really starting to take off. Like one of the posters at the LoboLair message board said......the crap pile will by multiplied 10 fold by morning. Lot's of different variations about what happened as well. Some are saying that the vehicle was registered to Mike Locksley himself, while others say it was registered to his son. Some say the kid was a recruit, others say he was just a friend of Lockley's son who was in town for the game. It will be interesting when the truth finally does come out. How ironic it would be if this incident brought the NCAA down hard on UNM and resulted in more sanctions against the program just as Lockley is on his way out. Loss of more scholies and additional probation on top of what they already have. Wow!

Also, the first link from CBS Sports says something about the Tempe police, even though the incident happened at University Stadium. Not sure what that's all about.

www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/32230398
www.dailylobo.com/index.php/article/2011/09/underage_driver_arrested_for_drunk_driving_in_car_registered_to_locksley
www.koat.com/news/29293680/detail.html

Regardless of how this all shakes out, the bottom line is that this is just more bad publicity for UNM. Also, make sure to watch the video in the KOAT link.



.

[nmsooner80]

Per KOAT-TV (this morning), the kid driving that car wasn't a recruit. But, that doesn't erase yesterday's embarrassment at University Stadium, either.

The hiring of Locksley is yet another epic blunder by administrators at UNM. It goes back to five years before I was even born, when the 1952 Lobo team was excellent and had bowl aspirations. But, the then-school prez, Tom Popejoy, ordered the team to decline all bowl invitations because of a "de-emphasis" policy to give the appearance that the school was more academically inclined. That absurdity cost the Lobos a top-flight local prospect named Tommy McDonald. He's only in both the college and pro football Hall of Fames.

The school also refused to fund two-platoon football when it made a return in 1964. They were horrible for several years, due to low scholarship numbers that were the school's fault.

Someone also apparently made the boneheaded decision to sink all the financial resources into basketball, and I've been told that some folks in the administration since then have acted like they wished they could just drop football (which would mean they'd be out of the conference they were in at the time). Then, when football under-performed, they had to play extra home basketball games to make up the lost revenue.

And, I also remember when the late John Bridgers, the A.D. who hired Joe Morrison as football coach, started raising money on his own to expand the stadium. He was ordered by then-Prez Gerald May to return the money.

Also, the school always seemed to me like they had no interest in marketing its sports to the entire state. They seemed to think their only drawing area was the "Rio Grande Corridor" (Albuquerque to Espanola), with Grants/Gallup and Farmington/Bloomfield/Aztec included). That flies in the face of logic to me, having come from a place where you can find Sooner fans in every corner of the state - even the far-reaches of the Oklahoma Panhandle near Clayton, N.M.

It doesn't help that the faculty hate all athletics and brainwash kids into believing that dropping ALL sports would magically fund academics (it doesn't work that way).

And a print media that goes way too far to prove it's "not a Lobo homer" newspaper (and it was worse when there were two newspapers) has really done a job of convincing many even in the so-called drawing area that they should just blow off even decent Lobo teams in favor of fantasy football and then waiting for Lobo hoops to start.

In many ways, "Albuquerque" is getting exactly what it deserves with this program. When they were competitive, and had lots of local and in-state kids in key roles, they still ignored the program. I just feel bad for the in-state kids and the several good folks who are trying to make Lobo football better. There's just so much resistance that it's amazing.

[Football4Life]

Does anyone know the extent of Bollema's injury?

[GoDogs]

Link: www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/mwest/nmexico.htm

LB Dallas Bollema missed the game against Sam Houston State because of a neck stinger he suffered during practice last week.