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Editors' Picks: Some of our favorite shots and stories from 2016 until now

July 23

Editorial Note: These articles and images have been revisited (and some reprinted) as part of our "Editors' Picks" issue. The pieces can be viewed by clicking the links listed below. This issue was created with the intent of showcasing some of the Daily Lobo's best work from Aug. 2016 until now. Our news, sports, culture, photo and music editors — along with our Editor-in-Chief — selected some of the most memorable pieces and moments to compile this year-in-review style issue. Although we were unable to include everything in print, more of our favorites can be found online and in our archives. The Daily Lobo staff

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Sports

Football: Strong turnout highlights women's clinic

Robert Maler | July 23

A blustery wind and ominous-looking thunderstorm weren’t enough to scare off a bevy of women, who came out in strong numbers for the 24th Annual Lobo Football Women’s Clinic on Friday. The storm ultimately missed Dreamstyle Stadium, offering just a few sprinkles and allowing the event to go off without a hitch. The parking lot continued to fill up as women continued to check-in and fill up the tents near the south end zone. Ashley Bowen, a former UNM student, and Michaela Holler, a current nursing major at UNM, attended the clinic for the first time.

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Sports

Men's Basketball: UNM roster nearing completion, while former Lobos find new teams

Robert Maler | July 22

Shortly after the conclusion of the 2016-17 Lobo basketball season, a mass exodus of players began. Despite a coaching change that saw some players have a change of heart, the team still lost six players who had played significant minutes. Former Lobo point guard Jordan Hunter was the last and most recent of the six to find a new home. Hunter announced that he will be sitting out a year and intends to play out his eligibility at Lamar via Twitter. With all six former players finding new landing spots, some might argue that the UNM team last year had plenty of talent and the ability to be much better than its 17-14 overall record. But other than former shooting guard Elijah Brown, no player came close to averaging double figures. Regardless of whether the players, the coaches, injuries (or a combination of all three) deserve the blame, none of them seemed to play up to their potential.

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Sports

Men's Basketball: Weir calls new Aussie signee "a perfect fit"

Matthew Narvaiz | July 21

The Lobos recruited Down Under for their latest signee to the University of New Mexico's men’s basketball program for the 2017-18 basketball season. That signee is 6-foot-5 wing guard/forward Makuach Maluach, who hails from Australia but was born in Sudan. Maluach,19, brings a healthy dose of basketball background with him, as he was a member of the Australian junior national team, where he competed in the FIBA U18 Oceania Championships—there, he averaged 7.2 ppg amd five rebounds in 2016. He also played prep ball at Newington College in Stanmore, NSW, Australia under head coach Rex Nottage.

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Sports

Track and Field: Kerr receives Athlete of the Year Award

Matthew Narvaiz | July 20

Awards seem to be a frequent sight for the University of New Mexico’s student athletes. This time, Josh Kerr, distance runner and incoming sophomore, managed to pick up one of the highest honors given to a student-athlete — he was named Mountain West Male Athlete of the Year. Last season, Kerr also picked up two individual NCAA titles during the 2017 track season for the mile run and the 1,500-meter run at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor championships. “It’s a great honor for Josh and the University of New Mexico to be honored with the highest athletic award that the Mountain West can give. To be a two-time NCAA champion at such a young age is a testament to his dedication and talent,” Track and Field head coach Joe Franklin said in a press release.

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News

Hundreds of thousands in uncollected "Pit" suite fees place cloud over UNM athletics

Matthieu Cartron | July 19

It was only a few months ago that UNM was under fire for the Scotland golf trip scandal — the athletic director at the time, Paul Krebs, allegedly used public funds from UNM to finance a golf trip for himself, coworkers and business friends. Now, the focus has shifted to a new scandal involving perhaps the university’s most recognizable venue, “The Pit," recently renamed Dreamstyle Arena. Many reports have suggested there are uncollected skybox ticket revenues that date back as far as 2010 and total $432,000. The Lobo Club, the branch of UNM athletics charged with independent fundraising as well as financial management of the luxury suites, has come under heavy scrutiny for what appears to be errant and disorganized managing practices.

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Sports

Football: Lobos looking forward to upcoming annual women's clinic

Robert Maler | July 19

The 24th Annual Lobo Football Women’s Clinic is scheduled to begin on July 20 at Dreamstyle Stadium, giving women a firsthand look at the program. Head Coach Bob Davie seemed to be looking forward to hosting the upcoming clinic and generating some excitement, while also potentially picking up some new fans. “The Lobo Football Women’s Clinic has become a great tradition here at UNM,” he said in a release. "Every year we look forward to the opportunity to give the women of New Mexico an inside look of what Lobo football is all about."

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Sports

Men's Basketball: Lobos lose member of coaching staff to Western Kentucky

Matthew Narvaiz | July 16

Marc Hsu, who came along for the ride with new Lobo head coach Paul Weir to assist in coaching duties at New Mexico, is back on the road again. Hsu has left the program to continue his coaching career at Western Kentucky University, where he will take on the role of assistant coach. Before Hsu followed Weir to the University of New Mexico men’s basketball program, he made stops as an assistant coach at Barton County Community College (2005-06), Laurinburg Prep (2006-07), Chipola Junior College (2007), Oregon State (2007-08), Binghamton (2008-10), Texas Southern (2010-12), CSU Bakersfield (2013-16) and New Mexico State (2016-17).

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Sports

Football: Lobos viewed as one of most entertaining teams in the country

Robert Maler | July 9

Lobo football fans already had plenty of reason to be excited — coming off a nine-win season, earning a share of the division crown and capping things off with a victory in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. The team showed a penchant for rattling off big plays and lighting up the scoreboard. At one point in the season, UNM running back Teriyon Gipson, as an individual, had as many plays of 50 yards or more as any other team in the nation. Now others are starting to take note of UNM’s potential and exciting style of play. Matt Brown of sportsonearth.com recently referred to the Lobos as “one of the most entertaining teams to watch” in college football, a release said.

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Sports

Men's Basketball: 2017-18 non-conference schedule released

Matthew Narvaiz | July 6

With the season a little over four months away, the University of New Mexico men's basketball team finalized its non-conference schedule for the 2017-18 season. The schedule of non-conference opponents features 13 games in total — eight at home in the newly named Dreamstyle Arena, five on the road. The home games include a matchup with Arizona – the team’s first time at The Pit in nearly 20 years – and a Dec. 9 Rio Grande Rivalry matchup with new Lobo head coach Paul Weir’s former team, New Mexico State. Other notable home matchups include: Tennessee Tech, Rice and Nebraska-Omaha. Nebraska-Omaha and Tennessee Tech’s visit to Dreamstyle Arena rounds out the first two games of the Emerald Coast Classic before the Lobos travel to Destin, Fla. to play TCU and either St. Bonaventure of Maryland in the very same tournament. From there, UNM will host Evansville on Nov. 29 in the 2017 Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge.

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Sports

Women’s Soccer: Lobos set academic program record, 2017 schedule announced

Matthieu Cartron | July 4

If any team has demonstrated the ability to balance both academics and athletics, it has been UNM women’s soccer. The latest semester marked the fourteenth consecutive semester in which Lobo women’s soccer maintained a collective 3.4 GPA or higher. Additionally, the team set a program record in the 2017 spring semester by achieving a 3.77 GPA. While several student-athletes outperformed that benchmark, all 27 scored higher than the 3.5 plateau.

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Sports

Women's Tennis: Copas nets early wins at 2017 Fed Cup

Robert Maler | July 3

New Mexico Lobo women’s tennis player Ruth Copas had a solid showing playing for her home country of Ireland in the 2017 FedCup in June at the National Tennis School & Tennis Bluc Acvila in Chișinău, Moldova. Copas said she found out she was selected to the team the day after she returned home for the summer. She said it was so nice to be with her family when she got the news. “I’m so excited...I can’t wait to wear the green jersey!” she said prior to traveling for the competition.

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Sports

Track and Field: Lobos make most of opportunities at nationals, seem primed for continued success

Robert Maler | June 26

The New Mexico track and field team turned in impressive performances at the 2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, and the future seems to look bright with some of the competitors set to return. Sophomore Josh Kerr, junior Alice Wright and senior Sam Trigg each earned All-American accolades by finishing in the top eight of their respective events. Graham Thomas was unable to advance to the finals in the men’s steeplechase, finishing 20th in the preliminary round with a time of 9:01.75. Head coach Joe Franklin lauded the way the student-athletes competed at Hayward Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, and said it was a “special day” in a recent release. One of the highlights included a national championship run by sophomore Josh Kerr.

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Sports

Baseball: Four Lobos selected in Major League Baseball draft

Robert Maler | June 19

The New Mexico baseball team did not earn a trip to the College World Series this season, but four Lobo players fulfilled what was surely a lifelong dream after being selected in the Major League Baseball draft last week. Head coach Ray Birmingham said he has had approximately 150 players become professionals throughout his coaching career, and he is extremely happy for each of them. Birmingham said he considers himself to be an old-school coach and wants to make sure his players are good students and good people, listing those qualities first before discussing the importance of what is done on the baseball field.

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News

UNM athletics under financial scrutiny

Gabriella Rivera | June 18

Two weeks after the retirement of Athletic Director Paul Krebs and the naming of Janice Ruggiero as interim director, investigations by state officials into athletic department spending continue. In a letter to President Abdallah, Attorney General Hector Balderas explained he was opening an investigation into “the University of New Mexico Vice President of Athletics, Paul Krebs, and the June 19, 2015, through June 25, 2015, golf trip to Scotland.” State Auditor Tim Keller also opened a special audit into the Spending record of UNM Athletics, which includes the same golf trip. The investigations come after the athletic department reported a $1.6 million deficit over the last fiscal year.

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Sports

LGBTQ athletes help pave the way to new world of sports

Gabriella Rivera | June 11

The history of the LGBTQ movement within the world of athletics is marked by stories of individual bravery that build on all those before them. Although there were several before him, NFL player David Kopay is generally credited with beginning a movement when he came out as gay in 1975, shortly after retiring from football. The following year, tennis player Renee Richards was outed as a transgender female and was barred from competing in the US Open women’s division. Richards eventually won a court case that allowed her to continue competing as a woman.

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Sports

Women's Tennis: Lobo gets opportunity to represent her country in upcoming Fed Cup

Robert Maler | June 5

With the departure of five seniors from the women's tennis team, junior Ruth Copas will become the most tenured member of the New Mexico women's tennis program. The Dublin, Ireland native will soon add even more experience to her résumé as she prepares for the upcoming 2017 Fed Cup after being selected to represent her country in the event. Ireland is slated to compete in Group III and will play a round-robin format with the group's field containing four pools of four teams, according to fedcup.com. The winners of each pool will square off against each other to determine which two nations are promoted to Europe/Africa Zone Group II in 2018.

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News

Paul Krebs set to retire at end of month

Gabriella Rivera | June 4

After 11 years as the athletic director of UNM, Paul Krebs has officially announced his retirement effective June 30. The announcement came amid controversy revolving around the efficacy of the athletic department — investigations into the athletic department spending by Attorney General Hector Balderas and State Auditor Tim Keller. It also follows a seemingly unpopular decision among the University and community that cut the UNM ski program, though it has since been reinstated., Despite the timing of the decision, Krebs maintains he is “not running from anything”.

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Sports

Baseball: After second championship loss, Lobos finish season with 30-27-1 record

Matthew Narvaiz | May 28

The New Mexico baseball team’s Mountain West Championship is all but done. After losing Saturday afternoon’s elimination game to third-seeded Fresno State, 11-5, ultimately booted them from seeking a chance at the Mountain West Championship title. Despite the Lobos’ struggles and their post season hopes all but faded away, Hayden Schilling had an uplifting testimony for his team’s performance over the weekend. “We had a lot of adversity, but everyone in that dugout kept grinding and stayed the course,” Schilling said in a press release. “Not a single person gave up. That’s all you can ask for. I’m proud of how everyone attacked this weekend.”

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Sports

Baseball: Despite loss, Lobos have opportunity at elimination game

Matthew Narvaiz | May 27

It came down to a full count for late-season Lobo hero Matt Villalobos and his team, being down only one run in the bottom of the ninth inning — and then a strikeout ended it. But great pitching from San Diego State’s CJ Saylor sealed the deal for the second-seeded Aztecs, as they won the game Friday evening, 9-8, over the regular season Mountain West title holder Lobos. Even with the loss in the conference tournament, though, the Lobos will have the opportunity to face third-seeded Fresno State in an elimination game on Saturday afternoon. The game was a back-and-forth affair that saw the two high-caliber Mountain West teams tie the game on two separate occasions. Later, the Lobos even took control of the score in the early to middle innings, before San Diego State finished out strong.