Site Map | Archives

Home › Sports › LoboZone

UNM men's basketball: Great expectations

Lobos fans have high hopes for their team, but losses have fueled their frustrations

By Jeremy Fowler
Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Smart Box

Men's preview

Leslie Blea-Molina lets go of what little hope she had that the Lobos could come back in the final seconds to beat No. 15 Air Force. Blea-Molina, who watched the Lobos lose Saturday, has been coming to The Pit since she was 6 years old - 30 years - and is a die-hard Lobos fan. She's a Ritchie McKay fan and appreciates the emphasis on morals and character in his program. But, she said, "you've got to have wins."

Photo by Mark HolmTribune

Tribune

Leslie Blea-Molina lets go of what little hope she had that the Lobos could come back in the final seconds to beat No. 15 Air Force. Blea-Molina, who watched the Lobos lose Saturday, has been coming to The Pit since she was 6 years old - 30 years - and is a die-hard Lobos fan. She's a Ritchie McKay fan and appreciates the emphasis on morals and character in his program. But, she said, "you've got to have wins."

Lobos fans sit impassively during a lull in a game against Air Force at The Pit. The Lobos seemed at times like they could have taken the 15th-ranked Falcons on Saturday, but in the end it was another loss, dropping New Mexico to 3-7 in the Mountain West Conference.

Photo by Mark HolmTribune

Tribune

Lobos fans sit impassively during a lull in a game against Air Force at The Pit. The Lobos seemed at times like they could have taken the 15th-ranked Falcons on Saturday, but in the end it was another loss, dropping New Mexico to 3-7 in the Mountain West Conference.

Pick a loss, any loss.

You'll probably find a variation of how Ritchie McKay needs to "please quit" and "you are a horrible coach" in the comments section of an ABQTrib.com story after almost any of the University of New Mexico's losses.

These two comments were posted underneath The Trib's online story from the Jan. 9 game against No. 17 Air Force. A loss put the Lobos at 11-7 on the year.

Not 7-11.

Yet you'd think the Lobos had pulled a Bill Buckner and perpetuated some sort of sports curse. Instead they lost to the nationally ranked Falcons. Numerous negatives comments from that game are no longer on the site.

"The people of Albuquerque can be harsh if the team doesn't produce the wins they want," said Jamie Koch, president of UNM's Board of Regents and a Lobos fan for 48 years.

Not that 11-7 is good for a team that has The Pit to play in and plenty of resources for success. Neither is 14-11 and 3-7 in the Mountain West Conference, the record the Lobos sport entering today's game at Brigham Young (19-6, 9-2 in MWC).

But this fast-food basketball community makes it clear it wants its wins now, in drive-through form. That's why frustrations with the team - especially with McKay, the head coach - have reached an all-time high, many longtime fans say.

The quest for glory can become a ferocious and insatiable journey that gets downright mean, some say.

"There can be an unhealthy amount of pressure the fans can apply on the team and the coach," said Jimmy Hester, the creator of the message board Wolf-Bytes (www.wolf-bytes.net).

"I know there's criticism everywhere, but it seems to be to a greater degree here. We've added a dimension that almost makes coaching here unfair."

All this for a program that hasn't advanced past the NCAA Tournament's round of 32. But the memories of the nationally ranked teams under Norm Ellenberger in the late-Õ70s and Dave Bliss in the Õ90s are planted in the minds of some longtime Albuquerque residents.

Scott Stiegler, host of Sportstalk on KKOB-AM, is reminded of this constantly.

"People call in all the time and say that this is a tradition-rich program that used to be fourth in the nation," Stiegler said. "They ask why can't we expect that again. Since this is the only game in town, these people want so badly to have a winner that they'll make outrageous statements to say they've had one."

Fans have bashed the program for months on message boards and radio talk shows.

The assault is generally aimed at McKay, the fifth-year coach whose job security is taking serious heat.

Ernie Blackstone, owner of Coaches Sports Grill, said this season has affected his business like no other. Fans are making physical statements by simply staying away. Attendance in The Pit has dropped from announced crowds of 16,426 per game before McKay to 12,926 this season.

"Sometimes they can be so intent on winning that if they don't, they get down on the team and don't show up," Koch said.

McKay said a fellow college coach once told him New Mexico is one of the top-five hardest places to coach in America because of the expectations.

The fans care, he says. They don't care everywhere.

These expectations pose positives and a "challenge," he said. On one side, "people come to games and you're the talk of the town."

The challenge, he said: "Winning is the expectation."

When asked if the criticism is fair, McKay replied: "Life sometimes isn't fair."

"Hopefully we'll win more so we don't have to leave involuntarily," he said.

Though he acknowledges fans should have high expectations, Athletics Director Paul Krebs prefers to establish internal expectations that help the administration gauge the state of the program.

Here are some of what Krebs calls reasonable goals. A Final Four berth every year isn't included.

Go undefeated in The Pit and finish around .500 on the road.

Annually rest among the top-three teams in the conference, which improves the chance for the regular-season title.

Aspire to make the NCAA Tournament annually. After that, "anything can happen."

Strive to be a top-20 or -30 team in the country.

"We should have high expectations," Krebs said. "We have the best facilities in the league. Our tradition is as good as anybody in the league. We've had great teams and conference championships. We're in a large metropolitan city, the largest in the state. We're not going to win every game, but I don't buy that fans have unrealistic expectations."

Krebs' realistic blueprint could appease, at least for awhile, many fans who don't expect to hoist trophies every year.

A large percentage of callers into Stiegler's show would be content with a consistent program that stays around the top 40 and "makes the Sweet 16 every now and then," Stiegler said.

That contentment might turn into restlessness.

"If they make the Sweet 16, some people will grumble about `Why not the Elite Eight?' " Stiegler said. "When Utah and Gonzaga and George Mason get as far as they have, fans say, `Why not us?' "

Many fans fume after every loss - and they show it online or vocalize it through the airwaves.

Not all programs with a strong fan base deal with similar issues.

Take Texas A&M, the sixth-ranked team in the country. Such a high-profile program can usually get the half-full treatment after losses, assistant coach Al Johnson said.

Maybe it's because the Aggies are 21-4 overall, 9-2 in the Big 12.

"People are real supportive more than anything," Johnson said. "It's not negative where the stuff is written out and dissected and discussed at a glance if we lose a couple."

What could remedy the constant dissecting and evaluating of Lobos basketball, fans say, is simple - more wins.

If the Lobos were 20-5 right now, maybe smiles would abound.

But would they accept their coach?

"It's almost like you get the feeling people will never be satisfied with that position," Hester said.