Column: At UNM, some sports on uneven playing field

The University of New Mexico boasts the motto "Everyone's a Lobo!" - and by everyone, it means only football and basketball players.

The distribution of funds among the 19 varsity sports at UNM is uneven. In fact, few sports receive full benefits. The athletic administration demands sportsmanship and fairness of its UNM athletes on the field, but it can't seem to demonstrate the same accountability from its office.

The penalties

If I were the referee of this game, here are a few plays where I'd call unsportsmanlike conduct:

Just five sports - football, men's basketball, women's basketball, volleyball and women's tennis - can give full-ride scholarships. The 14 other sports are forced to divide scholarship funds among their athletes, according to documents from the Compliance Office.

Football gives 85 full-ride scholarships, which include tuition, books and fees, plus about $900 a month for rent and living costs if the player lives off campus. If players live on campus, they are allotted an all-expenses-paid stay at the Redondo dorms, plus a meal plan. In comparison, men's track and cross country - which carries more than 40 athletes on the roster - divides 12.6 scholarships among its athletes, leaving even some of the best with only tuition and books taken care of.

Only football and men's and women's basketball are on training table - a program in which they eat free at five restaurants - including Subway, Saggio's and Fuddruckers - five days a week. Other teams don't get so much as a head of lettuce.

Consequently, many athletes are forced to work, some even two jobs, to make ends meet. So while some Lobos can focus on an already full-time commitment of being a student-athlete, others have to balance that commitment with the added stress of working for a paycheck.

And among those 85 full-ride scholarships plus training table for football players, I'd estimate only 40 players get significant time on the field, while All-Americans on other teams struggle to live comfortably.

Katie Coronado, a senior UNM javelin thrower who was the runner-up at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships last season, lives on 12 meals per week through her athletic scholarship. If she wanted more, she'd have to pay for her own larger meal plan.

And instead of the Redondo dorms football and basketball players live in, Coronado lived in the old De Vargas Hall. She said she changed dorms in the middle of the semester because the plumbing was always backed up and she couldn't take showers. Coronado was charged for switching to the Student Residence Center, and she has to pay extra out of her own pocket every semester for the upgrade.

Coronado said she'd likely be a better athlete if she got everything football and basketball players got.

"I think it's pretty insane how they get treated so well," Coronado said. "I would be riding a top-of-the-line motorcycle or driving a more decent truck around if I had that. More food would be really nice, too."

But before I throw too many flags, let's take a look at some possible reasons the money is allocated the way it is.

Official review

Replay No. 1: Is it the programs' success that dictates the dispersion of perks? Since the football team hasn't been close to the Top-25 polls since it scratched it at No. 25 more than 10 years ago, I'd say no. And after posting an embarrassing 4-8 record without a bowl invite last year, I'd say hell no. Skiing has been the only sport at UNM to win a national championship in addition to being NCAA runner-up two times and producing 10 individual national champions. And men's soccer reached the national championship in 2005 and has advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament six times in the past eight seasons. So reward for performance obviously is not a factor.

Replay No. 2: Are the players being awarded based on their grades? After all, they are called student-athletes. The answer is no. For the spring 2008 semester, football reported a 2.79 team GPA, and men's basketball posted a 2.87. Those numbers are no comparison to sports like men's skiing with 3.75, women's tennis with 3.65 or women's golf with 3.54.

Replay No. 3: Is it simply a matter of revenue? The answer is yes. Men's basketball and football sell the most tickets and make the most money. But being the persistent official I am, I checked with the big boys in the review booth to see if that's what most successful university athletic programs base their funding on, as well.

Blake Barlow, the University of Texas assistant compliance coordinator, said all athletes from all sports on full scholarship at Texas get training table at a cafeteria on campus. He said since all student-athletes go through close to the same demands, providing extra nutrition is important for all of them.

And while Barlow said football and basketball bring in the primary revenue at Texas, the institution made a decision to give the training table to all its athletes.

"Football and basketball making the most is the case everywhere," he said. "But it's helpful to spread that among other sports. It's an institution's call whether or not to do that, and those are some tough calls that unfortunately have to be made."

To me, it's the wrong call.

Perks being dispersed only to a few sports programs is not based on any legitimate, fair system. Even if most of the revenue is generated by the mainstream sports, if UNM wants to become a powerhouse like Texas, then it needs to evenly divide earnings among all sports.

If they can't afford to do it for all sports, then they shouldn't do it for any. Athletes from different sports work just as hard as each other, and one program should not be rewarded more than another. So instead of putting $900 a month plus the cost of dinner at five restaurants five days a week into 85 football players, I'm sure some of the campus' ethnic programs about to lose all or most of their funding could use a few of those dollars.

Until then, UNM needs to change its motto to "Everyone's a starving, working-two-jobs-to-get-by Lobo."

Vanessa Strobbe is a member of the UNM track and field team.