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UNM Football: Long hopes shooting incident doesn't hurt recruiting efforts

By Iliana Limón
Monday, December 18, 2006

The timing was terrible.

It never was going to be easy for the University of New Mexico football program to deal with the fallout from a recruit being shot outside an Albuquerque strip club during an official visit.

But it could be especially troubling with UNM working to secure commitments from junior college recruits before their national signing day Wednesday.

High school players don't sign binding letters of intent until February, giving UNM more time to reassure them and fight off negative tactics used by other schools.

"I hope it doesn't have any affect on our recruiting, but I don't know what will happen," UNM coach Rocky Long said Friday after a news conference when Albuquerque police sought help finding the shooting suspects.

"All we could do is be honest with everyone we're recruiting. I think most people understand young people make mistakes, and their bad decision does not represent the beliefs of our program."

This marks the second time this recruiting season Long has had to reassure recruits and their parents.

He had to make a separate round of phone calls to quarterbacks who already committed to UNM when current offensive coordinator Bob Toledo took the head coaching job at Tulane earlier this month.

Long said no recruits changed their commitments based on Toledo's decision, and no one had wavered because of the shooting as of Friday afternoon.

Long and UNM Athletics Director Paul Krebs said junior reserve tight end Clayton Cardenas, senior reserve linebacker Justin Clayton and junior starting defensive end Michael Tuohy violated several rules while the recruit was visiting during the weekend of Dec. 8-10.

Albuquerque police outlined the following details about the shooting in an incident report:

The players and Palomar College offensive lineman Ervin "Una" Smiley went to the Spearmint Rhino Gentleman's Club, 1645 University Blvd. The athletes got into an argument with two unidentified men, accompanied by two women, around 2 a.m. Dec. 9.

The athletes were getting into Cardenas' SUV, when one of the men fired shots at the vehicle. Cardenas drove south on University Boulevard and stopped at a light at Indian School Road, where police said the man fired more shots at the SUV.

The man fired at least 17 bullets at the SUV.

The players headed to UNM Hospital, where Smiley was treated for gunshot wounds to the legs and Cardenas was treated for an eye bruise caused by flying glass.

An officer interviewing Smiley, who is 20, said the recruit appeared to be intoxicated.

Smiley said in a phone interview with The Tribune on Friday he lost feeling in his right leg because the bullets struck a nerve and two bullets are still lodged in his left leg.

He declined to speak about the night of the shooting.

Smiley expects to see a specialist this week and learn what his chances are of playing football again.

"I'm hoping for a miracle," Smiley said. "All I want is for the doctors to tell me I can be normal again."

Krebs said the current Lobos - Cardenas, Clayton and Tuohy - signed agreements they would not take recruits to strip clubs or anywhere alcohol is served.

Long said he had verbal agreements about the rules they had to follow while hosting recruits when he first took over the football program. Two years ago the NCAA mandated all schools put the rules in writing.

"The players know they broke the rules," Long said. "We make it very clear they aren't allowed to do things like this during their visits."

Krebs said Long has been vigilant about meeting with players to explain rules and didn't see the incident as a sign of a bigger problem within the program.

"This was an isolated incident where players made some very bad choices," he said.

Krebs did say he would consider what changes might need to be made to avoid any similar problems in the future.

"We have a very clear policy about this, but we may need to revisit it to see what else we can do to make our rules clear to athletes and protect recruits in the future," Krebs said.

Cardenas, Clayton and Tuohy have been suspended from the team and won't participate in the New Mexico Bowl Saturday. Long said he will meet with Cardenas and Tuohy, who have another year eligibility, before the start of the spring semester to determine their status with the team.

Long said Friday he was grateful no one was killed during the gunfire and is looking forward to shifting his attention back to football.

"I want to put this behind us and focus on the bowl game," he said.