While it certainly appeared that the Lobos had found their leader, most people in Albuquerque still weren't convinced. To them, the only real power guiding sports at the University of New Mexico could be summed-up in two simple words: Lobo Basketball. For it's new athletic director, this was both a blessing and a curse, so he immediately set out to fatten-up the other sports without killing the sacred cash cow.

In Dave Bliss, he had inherited a basketball coach who would go on to win more games than any coach in New Mexico history. He also inherited an arena considered by many at the time to be one of the toughest anywhere in the country for an opponent to play. To go along with that, he acquired a rabid group of fans to go inside of that arena, many longtime season ticket holders (10,000 in 1992 - 14,000 by 1999) who had kept the Pit top ten in national attendance since 1966.

The flip side to all of this was that for New Mexico, Lobo basketball really was the sacred "cash cow." Unfortunately, it was also a cow that existed on a very poor farm. That farm also tended to be populated by farmers with unrealistic expectations, selective tastes, and very short memories.

Only twelve years earlier, the program had almost disappeared completely in the infamous scandal known as Lobogate. That it survived at all is as much a tribute to those fans as it is to any other thing. Even after sanctions and defections decimated their team, those fans continued to fill the arena and cheer for a team comprised mostly of walk-ons and football players - with a few good players sprinkled in. It was then - as it still is today, their finest hour.

But that was then and this was now.

By 1992 those fans had become less patient and far more demanding. Fortunately, Bliss had taken the team to the NCAA tournament the year before for just the fourth time in school history and for the first time since the scandal-ridden year of 1978. This was to be a rebuilding year for Bliss however, and he would not return his team to the tournament this season. He would return it to the big dance in 1993 however, starting a string of six straight tourney appearances.

It is important to note that this six-year run was exactly two more tournament appearances than the university had received in its previous 100-year history, and all six of them under the careful watch of Rudy Davalos.

This was not the miracle cure that would solve all of his problems though, as Rudy Davalos understood all too well. Struggling to fund the rest of his athletic departments with only one real moneymaker, the obvious (though only partial) solution was to increase the gate at the other sporting events - especially football.

Unfortunately, the fans and the administration's apathy towards anything non-basketball related was legendary, and was the single biggest reason for the failure of other sports at UNM. Little did most fans know at the time, but it also adversely affected recruiting for the basketball team, and contributed to the general lack of respect that they received from national sportswriters during the basketball season.

Consider the story of former athletic director John Bridgers. Beginning in 1979 and finishing in 1987, Bridgers saw both the best and the worst of Lobo athletics during his career. Arriving here from Florida State, he was handpicked to bring the basketball program back from the smoldering ashes of Lobogate. Working in tandem with the under-appreciated efforts of Coach Gary Colson, they were able to regain much of the respect the program had lost, while putting the "tainted goods" of the past far behind them.

It was to be the magical season of the football team in 1982 however, that became his legacy. Finishing 10-1 that season, the Lobos still somehow failed to get a bowl bid in what ranks as one of the most grotesque oversights in school history.

Reportedly, the empty seats at University Stadium had turned off bowl officials, even though the miniscule average of 23,236 per game was by then, the second best attendance figure in school history.

Although disappointed about the snub, Bridger's main concern at the time was in retaining his suddenly popular head coach, Joe Morrison. Unfortunately, the school administration did not share his concern, and Morrison bolted for South Carolina and three times the salary, where he would coach the Gamecocks to three bowl games before prematurely dying of a heart attack in 1989.

That particular story - of Joe Morrison leaving New Mexico for South Carolina, is a story in and of itself.

In December 1982, USC athletics director Bob Marcum was looking for a head football coach after the then current head coach, Richard Bell, had thudded to a 4-7 mark for the Gamecocks. Originally, Marcum knew Joe Morrison only by reputation, as the New York Giants' all-pro back turned college coach. But the two men had become friendly three years earlier, when they met at the Walter Camp All-American banquet in New Haven, Conneticut.

When Bell was relieved of his duties, another NFL legend, Sam Huff, suggested that Marcum contact Morrison, who had just finished a 10-1 season at New Mexico. and as it turned out, was ready to jump ship

"We played Hawaii the last game of the season, a chance to win the WAC (Western Athletic Conference), and there's 19,000 in the stands," Morrison assistant Jim Washburn says. "The Lobos won, but no bowl bid would be forthcoming." Afterward, Joe Morrison said, 'That's it' and we were gone."

For Morrison, who had coached 10 years at Chattanooga and New Mexico, South Carolina represented the big time. A visit to Columbia and 72,400-seat Williams-Brice Stadium sold Morrison on the spot. That night, in the bar of the Carolina Inn, he and Marcum wrote out a rough contract on a cocktail napkin, as reported by the Gamecocks Sportscenter.

Joe and his staff arrived in Chattanooga wearing jeans and cowboy boots, completely unaware of the stir they would soon cause.

"We'd been coaching out where no one cared who we were (New Mexico)," Washburn says. "Joe liked to go out and drink beer together the night before a game, so he asked someone where a good place was."

That night, the staff wound up at a club in northeast Columbia. When a local asked Washburn, "Isn't that Joe Morrison?" the assistant said, "Yeah, but keep it quiet, he just wants to hang out and listen to music."

Instead, the man grabbed a microphone and announced their presence to patrons. "Then they played the fight song, and next thing you know, the place fills up," Washburn says. "That's when we realized we weren't in Albuquerque any more."

No they weren't. While Joe and his staff would enjoy some initial huge successes in South Carolina, the future would be a dark one filled with death and NCAA violations.

Two decades have passed since Joe Morrison and his coaching staff rode out of New Mexico and hit South Carolina with the force of a tornado. Their arrival inspired the Gamecock nicknames of "Fire Ants" and "Black Magic," and they won a school-record 10 games in 1984, along with eight each in 1987 and 1988.

Unfortunately, they also left South Carolina saddled with an ugly legacy as the school where the term "steroids abuse" first came to national light. Less than a year later, Morrison was dead, nearly half his staff was under criminal indictment, and the others were long gone.

Defensive coordinator Tom Gadd and secondary coach Tom McMahon would both be dead of cancer before age 56, joining Morrison, who had suffered a fatal heart attack at the much too-young age of 51.

The three coaches who pleaded guilty in 1989 to involvement in the steroids scandal, triggered by an October 1988 Sports Illustrated article were all spent as well. Strength coach Keith Kephart and tight ends coach Tom Kurucz saw their coaching careers all but ended, while Washburn, the defensive line coach, spent years in coaching and financial purgatory before reaching the NFL.

Running backs coach Ricky Diggs? A painful divorce, health problems and a turbulent professional life. Linebackers coach Bill Michael and offensive line coach Mike Bender? Each nearly lost his wife, one to cancer, the other to an impatient motorist.

And most infamous of all, receivers coach Tank Black, became the national poster child for unscrupulous player agents, and is now prison for crimes ranging from fraud to money laundering.

Others associated with the program also had misfortune. Bob Marcum, the athletics director who hired the staff, lost his wife, Cecile, to cancer. Terry Lewis, the team trainer, died last fall at 58 of a heart attack. Morrison's widow, JeVena, died in 1995.

Nothing but tragedy.

Few of the assistants Joe Morrison retained in Carolina came with him from New Mexico, but the point still needs to be made of how often this is a life and death business, and it takes an extraordinary leader to take a middle-of-the-road school like New Mexico and make it successful without taking any similar shortcuts or leaving the school for the first greener pasture.

This is a tough business.

Former UNM athletic director Bridgers, now retired and living in Florida, still bristles with bitterness when recalling his days with the Lobos.

"I know (Morrison) never felt the administration was giving him the support it should - he was right," said Bridgers. "A coach can't do it by himself, I don't care how good he is. A lot of people felt football was worthless and did not want to give it any support at all."

Bridgers knew what he was talking about. Prior to coming to UNM he had been the AD responsible for turning Florida State into a national power - and for hiring legendary coach Bobby Bowden. The gross indifference that the UNM administration had displayed would cost the school for many years to come, as the Lobo football team would go eleven straight years without another winning season.

"Among the people who had the leadership", he said, "there weren't enough of them who saw the need for a good football program. As a result, it struggled and did not achieve the level of success I always felt it could."

John Bridgers never gave up, and in fact, he had plans to add 4,000 seats to university stadium, which at the time had a capacity of 30,646.

Without any support from the administration or regents, he was able to raise $1.2 million in cash and pledges towards the $2 Million project. But once again, Bridges good intentions fell upon deaf ears. University president Gerald May informed the athletic director to return all of the money and donations.

"I never understood that," Bridgers said. "A good program is not going to just come by accident."

These days, John Bridgers would rather just forget about the University of New Mexico and his time spent there. Perhaps the difficulties an athletic director faces in this state are best summed-up in the two words he uses to describe his initial decision to leave Florida State for UNM: "A mistake."

So why do I bring all of this pre-Rudy Davalos history up? Simply to illustrate how far we have come and yet, to also show how easy it is for a university to plunge off of the deep end when trying to keep up with all of the Joneses out there.

These and many other issues were the dilemmas facing Rudy Davalos in 1992 here at the University of New Mexico. Would he be able to build his own "field of dreams" where John Bridgers had failed? Would he be able to find his own Joe Morrison and retain him? Would he be able to change attitudes in New Mexico about football and other sports? And finally, could he win with honor and education, and would his exertions to improve the other sports cause the "cash cow" to suddenly become a piggy bank?

And to think, with all of these responsibilities on his shoulders, people still expected him to coddle blithering idiots on radio talk shows.

Wasn't going to happen.

Ah, but sharp teeth will only take a wolf so far, and after that cunning and leadership are needed to finish off the objective. It also doesn't hurt to have friends in high places with deep pockets.

In 1992, the entire Lobo athletic budget was fixed at $9.4 million. By the 2005-06 season, that budget had been increased to $22 million - far and away the biggest increase in school history during the same amount of time. That increase is due - in part, because of Davalos' ability to identify and maximize revenue-generating opportunities. He gets a lot of heat for moving the students section inside the Pit, but there was never a really massive student presence there anyway, despite the rose-colored glasses view taken by many. Almost any announcer that has ever worked a game at New Mexico will tell you that it has always been more of a "pro crowd."

Nevertheless, Davalos relented in 2005 and moved the students underneath the basket once again. Will it be a fortuitous move? It is hard to say, as history has not shown New Mexico students to be as willing to provide the same "college-type atmosphere," as say, a Duke or Kansas is for instance.

Nevertheless that original move - creating the Lobo Level seating area at the Pit, added nearly $500,000 each year to the scholarship fund along with another Davalos brainchild, the nine sold-out skysuites at University Stadium.

Early on in his tenure, Davalos assembled a nationally respected marketing and promotions campaign, along with a fund-raising organization called the Lobo Club, that all together would bring in more than $6 million annually for UNM athletics.

Before Rudy Davalos was hired, the amount brought in was less than one-third of that total. This, along with the generous aid of the State Legislature, various govenors, local businesses and private donations, allowed Rudy Davalos to begin turning those dreams of the past into the reality we see today. Virtually every UNM athletics facility has received a facelift since he arrived, and the process is ongoing. Already, he has added two tennis bubbles for indoor play, along with new infield grass and lights for the men's and women's soccer and track and field teams.

And then there is Isotopes Park - home of Lobo baseball. One of the finest baseball facilities in the nation and voted the top collegiate baseball field in 2004 by the SportsTurf Managers Association. Seating 11,124 fans, the new stadium has approximately 66,500 square feet of exterior seating plus 3,440 square feet of exterior suite seating. It has 54,300 square feet of open concourse and walkway plus 4,540 square feet of outdoor deck, 66,400 square feet enclosed space, 7,000 square feet of open outdoor picnic area and a 120,000 square foot playing field.

Simply beautiful.

And he hasn't forgotten about that old "cash cow" of ours, either.

Sometime in November of 2005, a state-of-the-art practice facility will be completed for the men's and women's basketball teams. The $4.2 million project features a practice facility and new offices for both the Lobo men's and women's basketball coaches and staff.

In addition to the practice court and offices, the 26,000 sq-ft complex will have coaches' locker rooms, a video room, computer lab, hospitality area with a caterer's kitchen, media workroom and a stylish lobby entrance that will showcase the history and tradition of the men's and women's basketball teams.

Certainly nice, but Rudy Davalos has been taking care of the venerable old Pit for quite some time now. Renovations and much-needed exterior landscaping were provided by the late nineties and just a few years later, Davalos was already thinking about an even greater transformation. Currently, studies are underway on plans to include a new or reinforced roof to hold a state-of-the-art scoreboard, additional seating, restrooms and concessions.

A big project and a costly one, that Davalos intends to see become a reality before his time here at New Mexico comes to an end. For those doubting that the project will ever see the light of day, the people who know the man behind New Mexico athletics will be quick to give a serious warning: Don't bet against Rudy Davalos.

Nowhere is there more proof of this, than in the amazing improvements he has brought about to University Stadium. Beginning back in 1992, Rudy was able to get approved a plan through sheer will it seemed, that would renovate and modernize the football program in five phases. Much grander than Bridger's vision, Davalos nonetheless succeeded where Bridger had earlier failed.

This Master Plan for expansion of University Stadium proposed increased seating for 43,000 spectators, enlarged and improved restrooms and concessions, and the creation of a continuous concourse around the facility by enclosing the endzones.

Phase I of the project was to construct a new training facility. The former building was such an eyesore and so antiquated that it was a common practice for coaches to steer any potential recruits away from it.

That all changed in 1995 with the unveiling of the $8.5 millionTow Diehm Athletics Facility, one of the premier training facilities to be found anywhere in intercollegiate athletics.

Ex-Lobo and former Green Bay Packer defensive back Scott McGarrahan called it "probably the best weight room I've ever been in. Without it, I wouldn't be where I am today."

UNM would not be where it is today either, according to Davalos.

"If the Tow Diehm building had not been built and the facilities had stayed the way they were," Davalos said, "we'd be playing in the Western Athletic Conference."

The next phase completed was a $1.5 million renovation of the concession area and restrooms in the northwest corner of the stadium in October of 2000. The best was yet to come though, with the unveiling of a $3.6 million expansion of University Stadium in August of 2001. This included adding 5,946 seats that enclosed the north endzone and "LoboVision," a huge, state-of-the-art video scoreboard.

The final phases are lagging a little behind right now, due to that age-old problem here in New Mexico - lack of funding. The State Legislature bailed out on an earlier commitment to finance the construction, and a major donor has been impossible to find thus far. Nevertheless, this project will one day be completed, and it will mostly be due to one man: Rudy Davalos.

Already, an indoor practice facility has been added to the wish list, but the feisty athletic director has been in the "wish business" ever since he first set foot in New Mexico.

To understand the magnitude of the deal-making and financial "wrangling" Rudy has been able to pull off in New Mexico so far, all one has to do is to look for parallels inside our own conference. Well - actually, there are none since the only members to undergo major renovations since 1997 (Utah and UNLV) got far more money through more conventional means to complete their work.

Utah received $50 million to rebuild Rice stadium and UNLV received $19 million for Sam Boyd Stadium renovations. Both projects were done in one phase - not by the piecemeal system that UNM is forced to use.

In addition, each project was funded by sources completely unavailable to us. Utah got both public and private funding because the stadium was to be used in the 2002 Winter Olympics, while UNLV was able to get a large chunk of money from the city's convention bureau since the stadium is the yearly site for a bowl game.

It is the perhaps the truest measure of the man himself, that Rudy Davalos has never let underdog status or long odds keep him down. Such a man makes his share of enemies, however. Not everyone appreciates athletics and those who do, are often never satisfied because they fail to understand the dynamics (or lack thereof) driving this state. By the year 2003, athletic budgets of $40 million were no longer rare in this country, and in fact, there are a few out there exceeding $100 million dollars. It makes you kind of wonder how New Mexico is still able to compete on a level playing surface, eh?

For many at the university, just as in years past, they couldn't care less.

UNM professor Peter Dorato has been a long-time critic of Lobo football, and has seldom failed to speak out against the appropriation of funds for the program.

"To have winning teams in football," said Dorato, you need people who are good football players, who spend a lot of time at it and who spent a lot of time at it in high school, and hence less on their academic preparation" (Obviously, this professor is some sort of freakish genius).

"I can't get journals I need because they say we don't have enough money and yet, they can expand the stadium. How's that possible?"

Perhaps Professor Dorato (fine engineering professor that he is) would prefer teaching at the schoolhouse from "Little House On the Prairie" fame. That is not too far removed from what UNM would be without the allure and entertainment value of athletics. Right or wrong, it is the most recognized face behind the educational robes. It is a well-known fact that the registration of new students (the vast majority of whom are not athletes) often rises and falls with the fortunes of a particular team, and the subsequent press that it generates.

Professor Dorato was far from alone in his criticism. Cisco McSorley, a member of the state legislature for 20 years, says no matter how much money goes into improving the football program, it never seems to be enough.

"We were told a huge top (the press box built in 1976) would change the program," he says speaking as a former graduate. "We were told a weight room would change the program. But I don't see the stadium busting out at the seams on a regular basis for home games."

Oh, but that isn't quite true, Mr. McSorely.

On September 17th of 2005, a record crowd of 44,760 people watched the Lobos defeat cross-state rivals, New Mexico State. Every year for the past four seasons, Lobo football has eclipsed the previous record for total attendance. This season - as in the previous three, a new record for season ticket purchases was set, which is the truest barometer of success for a program that I know of.

Three straight Bowl Game appearances for the first time in school history, doesn't hurt either.

Lobo football has indeed turned the corner under Rudy Davalos, and you don't need to be an engineering professor or a state legislator to see that.

Needless to say, those and countless other skeptics and non-believers have not deterred Rudy Davalos from doing what he saw was in the best interests of the University of New Mexico. In fact, the only thing that seems to matter more to him than recruiting quality athletes to New Mexico, is the recruiting of quality student - athletes to the university.

In the year 2000-01, the athletes representing UNM's 21 intercollegiate sports combined for the two highest semester grade point averages since the school began keeping track of them in 1988. Those Lobos recorded a 2.91 GPA during the fall and spring semesters. This would make nine straight semesters (under Davalos) the Lobos had attained a 2.80 GPA or higher. Eleven UNM student-athletes were named to academic All-America teams while an amazing 109 earned all-conference honors.

Before Davalos' tenure, the GPA was a mere 2.73. By the spring of 2005, the standard had been pushed to 3.02, marking the sixth straight semester the Lobos had surpassed a 3.0 average.

War is not always pretty though, and there were casualties along the way. Men's swimming, gymnastics, and wrestling were all given the hatchet, mostly to meet Title IX compliance. It was also in keeping with the general configuration of other schools in the Mountain West Conference. This may or may not have been the wisest decision of the Davalos administration, and critics are still extremely vocal in protesting it today. At any rate, Title IX compliance is not a voluntary decision in modern athletics - it is a legal one. UNM could not afford to have federal dollars withheld by overzealous lawyers intent on upholding the letter of the law, so the point is moot.

Clearly, Rudy Davalos has proven himself to be an extremely capable administrator and fundraiser, but how did this eventually translate out onto the field where the fans chose to pass judgement? Did he ever find his own Joe Morrison to fill those extra seats, and would he retain him after football glory was acheived?

The answer to that question is, "Yes, he got what he wanted, but he lost what he had. In doing so, he found what he was looking for the whole time."

Sound confusing? Well, hopefully the other chapters in this series will explain that story in greater detail. Of course with Rudy Davalos, anything is possible.