Carpetbagger, moneygrubber, gold-digger, disloyal, traitor. All of those terms (and worse) would be used one day to describe the coach Rudy Davalos inherited to command his field of dreams. It is somewhat strange then, that those same people tended to use superlatives such as brilliant, offensive genius, and winner all in the same breath. Jekyll and Hyde? No, the man in question was Dennis Franchione.

A two-time NAIA Coach of the Year, Franchione was hired one season before Rudy Davalos rode into town to take over the Lobo athletic reigns. Finishing a mediocre 3-8, which was almost identical to his predecessor's 3-9 record the season before, Franchione quickly ran headlong into the realities of Lobo football at the time. In fact, during his six seasons at New Mexico, Franchione "only" managed to build a seemingly mediocre 33-36 record (.478 winning percentage) and had just three winning seasons, all told. I said "seemingly mediocre" because that was still the third most victories by a coach in the entire history of the school at the time. Dennis Franchione managed this partly through a formula he devised of "fattening-up" on weak non-conference opponents.

"I think one of the keys to putting the program on solid ground is not overburdening them with too tough a nonconference schedule," Franchione said. "You have to understand, it's still fragile. You don't need setbacks; you need to keep taking steps forward."

Franchione had the full support of his athletic director through those lean years, and it all paid-off in 1997 when his team won the WAC Mountain Division championship and a chance to play Arizona in the Insight.com Bowl game. This was the first postseason game for the Lobos in 36 years, and made Dennis Franchione the most popular man in Albuquerque...at least for a while.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan for Rudy Davalos, but you know what they say about the best-laid plans.

"I think he had a plan of leaving, too," Davalos said later, and he was right.

The amazing 10,000 Lobo fans that made the seven-hour trek to Tucson for the bowl game did so with a heavy heart, because Franchione had already announced that he was coaching his last game for the Lobos.

It was a classic case of not knowing what you've got until it is gone. Unfortunately for Albuquerque, Franchione was more respected nationally for what he had accomplished here than he ever was locally - not that it would have stopped him from leaving anyway. The Lobos went on to lose that game 20 to 14, and Dennis Franchione moved on to Texas Christian University...and then to Alabama...and then to Texas A&M.

In his wake, he left behind a lot of angry fans and sportswriters who would be very vocal in their criticism of the upwardly-mobile coach. In defense of Franchione however, it must be said that he turned around every program that he coached at in those stops, and is considered to be one of the premier coaches of his generation.

This would normally be the point where Franchione leaves our little story about Rudy Davalos, if it wasn't for the misconceptions many Lobo fans seem to have concerning his departure, and the efforts that Rudy made to keep him here.

Strangely little known, Davalos made a Herculean effort to keep him here at UNM, and as everybody familiar with Franchione knows, that meant lots of money.

Franchione's starting base salary in 1992 of $85,000 was raised during the years to $115,611 - despite a freeze being put on all faculty raises by UNM during the time. With annuities and other perks, his total package in 1997 was around $210,000.

How did Rudy manage to get his coach a raise during years when the salaries of all faculty members were supposedly frozen?

Dumb question.

Remember, we are talking about Rudy Davalos here.

What's really amazing is the package he was able to put together at the end of the '97 season in hopes of keeping his coach. A $2.1 million dollar deal over seven years ($300,000 base salary) was offered to Franchione, but this was turned down in favor of TCU's $2.6 million over six years.

Surely, John Bridgers would have been amazed by the figure Rudy had managed to rake and scrape together. Even as late as the 2004 season, that was more money than the current coach Rocky Long received.

Though it was little consolation to Lobo fans at the time, he would have been gone anyway. The Lobos of 1997 simply occupied too low of a rung in the NCAA hierarchy for the starry-eyed Franchione.

This should have ended the progress of football at UNM completely - and would have, if it wasn't for the drive and determination of Rudy Davalos.

Building a Program on the ROCK

While certainly not one to dismiss the importance of the coach he had just lost, Davalos nevertheless set out to find one with not only the same talents, but also with a different attitude toward New Mexico in general. In what has to rank as one of the best fits in school history, Rocky Long came back home to New Mexico on Saturday, December 19th, 1997 to become that very person.

While he had been gone a number of years, his heart had never really left the Land of Enchantment.

Our new coach had begun his long, journey back to New Mexico as a head coach some 25 years earlier as a star quarterback for the team and one of the most decorated and prolific offensive players in school history. His playing career didn't just end there however, as he went on to play 3 seasons in the Canadian Football League and 1 season with the World Football League before trading in his cleats for a full-time clipboard.

He had been an "on the field coach" all along as his teammates were quick to point out, and after a stint as a high school coach, Rocky joined his alma mater in 1978 as an assistant coach before accepting a promotion in 1980 to become defensive coordinator at Wyoming. From there, his path was much like anyone else's, accepting pay raises and new scenery along the way as his stock rose dramatically during the next 17 years. This included coaching stops with the British Columbia Lions of the CFL, TCU, Oregon State, and finally - UCLA.

Well, it was really not so final, as Rocky had kept his compass pointed in only one direction for 26 years.

When he first heard that Franchione had left, Rocky Long wondered aloud to his wife if there was any way he would ever be considered for the job. As his wife Debbie said to him later, "The stars were all lined up right this time."

It took Rudy Davalos just 25 minutes while considering the three final candidates for the job, to decide Rocky Long was their man.

"Everybody that I talked to, from (former Dallas Cowboy scouting director) Gil Brandt to coaches all over the country, it's the same - a hard working, great football coach. I love people with passion, and there's nobody that has a greater passion for the University of New Mexico than Rocky Long," Rudy told reporters.

At the time of his hire, Rocky had this to say: "I've been offered a couple of other head coaching jobs in my career and turned them down right away. New Mexico is the only place I'd consider being the head coach. I'm having a little trouble with this, because this is a dream come true for me. I'm humbled to be here and so excited, I can't hardly stand still."

Coming in on the heels of a bowl season, the 47-year old coach vowed to keep the winning ways alive at New Mexico. "What you will get from me is honesty," he said. 'We're going to put a product on the field that will be fun to watch. The stage has been set, and we're going to keep going in the right direction.

"He is the most honest man that I have ever met," Boss Rudy Davalos would tell reporter Iliana Limon in 2005.

"He is fair and honest and expects the same out of his players. I'm so happy he has been this successful, because I like him so much as a person."

"It was sort of taking a chance. Any time you hire an assistant, you're never sure how they'll do as a head coach," Davalos said. "But I loved what I saw in Rocky. He had a great defensive mind and also had a reputation as a disciplinarian who could still connect with his players.

"They all love him because he's fair when it comes to discipline and passionate when it comes to football."

All that and a scoop of ice cream.

"I want when I leave here, for them to say, 'Rudy's made a difference," said Davalos just after the hire. "Football is a very important piece to the puzzle."

And a very expensive one too. At almost $5 million dollars per year, football takes a huge bite out of the UNM budget of $22 million spread out over 21 sports. In fact, it takes the biggest sum by far. Some perspective is needed however, in order to see the bigger picture. Despite the ever increasing funding that Rudy Davalos has somehow managed to acquire for the university throughout the years, UNM still ranks in the bottom two-thirds of Division 1-A schools in spending. In other words, despite all of our best wishes, dreams and expectations, UNM ranks in the nation's lower 30 percent in funding.

The next time that you bitch over halftime advertisements and promotions in the Pit, think about that fact.

At Houston, Davalos was blessed with a gift of $25 million from a single donor. At UNM, the yearly total of all donations and sponsorships is not even one-fourth of that figure. Just imagine the frustrations and difficulties an athletic director here at UNM must face. Dig a little deeper, and try to imagine what kind of man it would take to go out every day and fight and struggle just to keep New Mexico competitive with all of those big spenders. The only possible person who comes to my mind is that old outlaw Rudy Davalos.

And like the fighter he is, Davalos has always remained optimistic. "I like the direction we're going," he said. "I'd like to see New Mexico become a top 50 program."

Rocky Long shared his vision, and sat his sights even higher than the boss did.

"Once we get to where we can compete for conference championships, we're going to have to invest a little more so that we can become a top 20 team," Long said.

"If we get to be a top 20 team, then we're going to have to invest a little bit more if we want to be a top 10 team."

Added Rudy, "When you get right down to it with people in this state, they're no different than any other state. Football has to be good before they judge you a good athletic program."

Former UNM president William Gordon had this to say at the time. "The focus has to be to get better every year as a program. "That can't be the focus of someone who wants to make an enormous splash one year, just so he can go somewhere else the next."

While other successful coaches in UNM history tended to use the university as a stepping-stone, Long used a totally different term to describe New Mexico, calling it, "my destination."

By the 2002-2003 season, Rocky Long had progressed a little slower than some people had liked at the time, but none more so than Rocky himself. During the difficult early years of building his team, he had almost quit. "He was so upset by the losing record that he talked about leaving so he wouldn't be a burden on me or the university," Davalos told Iliana Limon. "I told him I would not have any of it. I told him he could change his staff, but I wanted him as our head coach. I still believe if he hadn't turned the corner, he would have left."

Davalos told Limon that he had faith in Long because the coach emphasized strong academics, kept his team out of trouble and was focused on winning.

"You worry about the coaches who don't see anything wrong with losing or make excuses for their trouble," Davalos said. "Rocky never made any excuses."

In 2003, Rocky Long was the only coach in the entire nation to have increased his win total for 5 straight seasons. Along the way, Rocky the ex-quarterback had proven strangely adept at designing defenses, and had kept the Lobo defense among the nation's leaders in many defensive categories. Narrowly missing a bowl game twice before, that season Rocky overcame the long odds of a terrible start and crippling injuries, to rally his troops into making a late-season run and capturing a UNM bowl bid for only the second time in 41 years.

Playing perennial national power UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl, the Lobos led in every category but the scoreboard - but that's where it counts.

Disappointed, the 4,000 Lobo fans who made the trek to Las Vegas could at least count on one thing: Rocky Long would be back the next season to lead his beloved alma mater once again into battle...and failure be damned! It had taken 27 years for Rocky Long's career to come full circle, and he wasn't going anywhere.

"I don't care how much money they (other schools) offer me," Long told reporters.

Rudy had this to say regarding the fans, "I think the feeling is, 'Rocky is one of us,' he came here and excelled. His wife went to school here. They want him to be successful."

He adds, "Ever since I got here, I wanted to have a successful program in football. We are moving forward. We are getting better."

And indeed they were. Rocky would again lead his troops to a Bowl Game in 2004 and 2005 - the first time that the Lobos had been to three consecutive Bowl Games in the school's history. And by the Fall of 2005, Rocky had won more games as a Lobo head coach than any of the men who came before him. Under the Rock, New Mexico is one of only three schools to have its defense rank in the top-30 nationally every season between 2000-04, the others being perennial national powers Oklahoma and Texas.

And so, the athletic director had found what he had been looking for all along - a quality coach buying instead of renting. As attendance continued to grow each season, the embarrassments of the past began to soon fade from memory. Back in the 1960's, the program had been nicknamed "Piggly Wiggly Tech" because the local supermarket chain had advertised a promotion to give away free tickets to everyone buying at least $25 dollars in groceries. Just a few years later, even a can of corn would get you in for free during the games.

A fan often has the luxury of picking and choosing which sports to support and which to ignore. Rudy Davalos has no such luxury - they all cost money and they all deserve special attention - if only for the student athletes who give their all in the name of the school. There was yet another glaring underachiever at the university among the "Big Three" when he arrived, and the changes he made in that program would in time be nothing short of astonishing.

The "big man on campus" was obviously Lobo basketball - despite the recent success on the gridiron, so what about the "big woman on campus?" Well, she played in the Pit too, but not only was she playing in the men's shadow, at the time you might as well say she was playing in an alternate universe. Women's basketball though - just like football, would soon come of age under Rudy Davalos.

Prior to 1995, the Lady Lobos had amassed a miserable record of 14-96 during the last four seasons, including 5-22 the season before. Just prior to that, they had been dropped off the athletic menu altogether. Davalos didn't have to look very far to find his program builder. In fact, he was living right there in Albuquerque.

The Outlaw and the Wizard

Don Flanagan was one of the winningest coaches in high school history, having posted an amazing 401-13 record during the 16 years as head coach at Eldorado High School. That 97.0 winning percentage also led to 11 state championships and 15 district championships, not to mention his teams being ranked nationally 7 times.

Flanagan had been approached before about the job, but it took the irascible Rudy Davalos to make him an offer he couldn't refuse.

He inherited a program that had drawn a total of only 800 fans the previous season, but Coach Flanagan somehow believed that women's basketball could enjoy the same sort of manic following as the men did...and he was right.

Nowhere in the history of New Mexico athletics would a program come so far - so fast.

That first season he led the Lobos to a 14-15 mark, and all the way to the finals of the conference tournament - far and away the best first year a coach has had in the history of the program. Improving in 19 of 20 statistical categories, the Lobos snapped a 54-game road losing streak, and a 34-game WAC road-losing streak en route to that mark. The next season's record of 18-10 was the second best mark in the 19-year history of the program, and people became believers almost overnight. This manifested itself most importantly through the turnstiles, as the Lady Lobos soon began a perennial run (just like their brothers) as one of the top 10 programs in the nation for attendance. Later on, they would even sell-out the 18,100 seat arena on some occassions - which meant those particular games would be among the most heavily attended in all of college basketball that season.

When the totals were tallied after last season, the program that had sold only 800 tickets just ten years ago, had finished fourth in the nation with an average of 11,865 fans per game. The Lobos had 12 crowds in excess of 10,000 and packed The Pit with 18,018 fans against UNLV on Jan. 31. That was the largest crowd at a women's basketball game in the entire country last year.

Magic, indeed. The wizard has become far and away the winningest women's coach in school history with 191 wins and only 89 losses. In just seven seasons, Don Flanagan has guided the Lobos to seven consecutive winning seasons and seven straight postseason appearances, including four trips to the NCAA Tournament culminating in a 'Sweet-Sixteen' berth in 2003.

Last year - also for the first time in history, the Lobos led the country in both scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. Needless to say, during Don Flanagan's tenure at New Mexico, the Lobos have completely rewritten the women's basketball record book and have chalked up countless historical moments.

Instead of the laughingstock it used to be, now UNM is now among an elite group of favorites each season to win the MWC title. For seven years in a row, Flanagan has finished no worse than 3rd in the conference, and won outright or shared in four conference championships. Add to those the only four NCAA Tournament appearances in school history and multiple NIT appearances - including a 1-point loss to Ohio State in the 1999 final.

It was and is the closest a Lobo team (among the major sports) has ever gotten to winning a national title.

You would think that with his unbelievable track record, Don Flanagan might be immune from some of the criticism that dogs coaches and athletic directors at the university, but you would be wrong. As anyone who has ever coached the men's team will tell you, once something becomes wildly popular in Albuquerque, the critics, prognosticators, and Lazy-Boy coaches are sure to follow.

Always his own harshest critic, Flanagan takes the criticism in stride - though many fans worry the negativity might run off their world-class coach.

Not true, says Flanagan. "I like it here. I like everything about it."

Asked by the Albuquerque Tribune what in his opinion, constituted a successful program, Don was as candid as ever in his remarks. "I measure that on several criteria. You win 20 games; you're on the topside of your conference; you have a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament; you definitely play postseason; you graduate your players; and your players are a credit to the university."

"All of those things go into being a successful program. It's not just wins. I think that we get a lot of positive feedback about the type of young person we're bringing into this program. Winning is a nice luxury as part of the whole program. But I want to surround myself and our coaches want to surround themselves with success-oriented young people and that's what I think we've done."

"Anybody who's met our players have realized that this is a quality group of young ladies who are excellent athletes who have excelled on the court and in the classroom. This year was our highest fall GPA and usually the spring is even better. It's been really a good year, so we're getting the right kind of people. At this stage of the year, I think you would have to say right now that this season has been a big success. I would like to believe that we're doing it on our own merit. I think that we have a great community of basketball supporters and they're recognizing quality basketball. It doesn't take more than one game for some of these people to want to be men's and women's basketball fans."

Yes, thank-you, you magical hoops-wizard, you. Thanks one helluva lot.

Like I have any more spare time to spend supporting this team (teams)!

But actually, it doesn't just stop there, thanks to that sly sonofagun, Rudy Davalos.

I kid, of course, but the fact is, you can't swing a dead BYU Kitty around here without hitting a Lobo success-story anymore.

In 2003, the UNM Ski Team won the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, for gosh sakes! That was "only" the very first national championship of any kind whatsoever for UNM in it's 114-year history..

My opinion afterwards? They probably should have carved Rudy's likeness up on the Sandia Mountains. But it doesn't just stop there, Lobo fans.

The men's soccer team has been the number one team in the nation on multiple occassions, leading all-the-way up to a runner-up finish to national champion Maryland in 2005. The Lobo tennis and golf teams have all enjoyed their greatest success under Rudy Davalos as well, and continue to be successful on the field and in the classroom. Track and Field has been completely reborn and Volleyball is rapidly improving. What this ultimately means for Lobo fans, is that we have to be on guard 24-7; 365 days a year now. The days of the "one-trick pony" are long gone in Albuquerque.

During the 2004-05 season, a school record 15 teams represented UNM at NCAA postseason competition. Under Davalos, UNM has ranked as high as 43rd nationally in the Sports Academy Director's Cup, which is based on success of Division I schools in all sports.

And the athletes are leaving our school far better-equipped for life than ever before, as well.

Student athletes' grade-point averages improved from 2.73 before Davalos' tenure to a whopping 3.02 in the spring 2005. It was the sixth straight semester the Lobos have surpassed a 3.0 average in the classroom.

All that and a triple-scoop of ice cream with sprinkles. Ah, but what about the cherry on top...the Lobo men's basketball team?

Like all cows (even sacred ones), that particular beast takes up a lot of room on the Lobo farm, and requires it's own rather lengthy chapters...which oddly enough, is exactly what parts 4; 5; and 6 are all about. But before we get ready to go out into the "tall cotton" so to speak, I think now is a good time to reflect on what Rudy Davalos has meant to athletics here at the university.

By any measure, an athletic director's success is judged by the performance of his team on the field/court, in the classroom, and on the financial statement. At all three we have clearly shown that Rudy Davalos is the most successful athletic director that this school has ever had.

Still, you can't please everyone - especially some Lobo fans.

While the determined, old outlaw had somehow managed to build his perfect beast upon the campus of UNM - and in doing so, had ushered in the Golden Age of Lobo Sports, a few stragglers still somehow appeared to be oblivious to the fact.

Those critics (most of them residing out there in the "tall cotton") tend to hold their sports heroes (and the men behind them) to some imaginary and superfluous standard that they themselves would never want to be held to. I would hope that they consider the previous three chapters (and the upcoming ones) before they pass judgement so readily on a man who has fought so hard and so successfully for a school with so few real heroes in its corner.

Or, as the man himself has said to many an errant caller on his radio show 'Rudy's Views,' "You don't know what the hell you are talking about."