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friday
April 5, 2013
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
Alford gets lukewarm welcome in Los Angeles by J.R. Oppenheim
assistantsports@dailylobo.com @JROppenheim UNM will pursue the $1 million buyout that former men’s basketball coach Steve Alford agreed to before he left UNM for the same position at UCLA. In a letter dated Wednesday and sent to Alford, K. Lee Peifer, interim university counsel, said Alford has until April 29 to pay the buyout, although his new contract was not to go into effect until Monday. “Steve Alford and UCLA do not have a comment on this matter at this time,” said Alex Timiraos, UCLA sports information director, in an email. The Daily Lobo received the letter, an email to Alford’s representative Michael Barnett and the unsigned contract on Thursday morning after filing an Inspection of Public Records Act request Wednesday. UNM announced a 10-year deal with Alford on March 20, one day before the Lobos lost to Harvard in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championships. He held an end-of-year press conference one week later defending the team’s success this past season. On Saturday he announced he is leaving UNM for UCLA. According to the Peifer letter, Alford informed Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs of his decision on March 30, two days
UNM demands $1 million buyout from former men’s basketball coach
before the contract was to go into effect. Alford could have earned up to $2 million per year after incentives at UNM. According to his original employment contract signed on June 26, 2007, and renewed on July 12, 2010, Alford needed to give 30 days’ notice to Krebs about the termination of the contract, the letter states. Therefore, Alford’s last day of employment at UNM will be April 29, according to the letter. “Failure to pay this amount in full by April 29, 2013 will constitute a breach of your employment agreement with UNM,” Peifer wrote. Alford said Saturday he did not have any contact with UCLA prior to the end-of-year press conference and that it was a tough 48 hours to decide on the Bruins job. Alford will earn $2.6 million per year in a seven-year deal at UCLA. UCLA officially introduced Alford as its head coach Tuesday at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. The reaction of the media was not flattering. Los Angeles Times writer T.J. Simers even called Alford a “dolt” in a Tuesday column. “Yeesh, the John Wooden statue outside of Pauley had more life to it than Steve Alford, the robot who sputtered nonstop platitudes while never once answering a question directly,” Simers wrote.
Q&A
with ASUNM candidates by Jamillah Wilcox
administrators, within students, and so they always ask for more community.”
Next Wednesday undergraduates can vote for student government representatives from “Unite for ASUNM,” “Believe for ASUNM” and “Shout for ASUNM” slates in the ASUNM elections. Read up on the presidential candidates and their platforms today before heading to the polls next week. Questions and responses for vice-presidential candidates will run Monday.
DL: After months of debate, the SUB Board finally decided in February to keep Chick-fil-A on campus. Did you work to support or refute this decision? HM: “It was probably one of the toughest decisions I ever made. It’s a very controversial topic. You had to look at two different things: the student voice, the students who are feeling victimized by this problem, and then you have to look at UNM’s side. Is it feasible and what is the restaurant doing that is not working on campus? I stick with my decision to keep Chick-fil-A on campus, but I also support the legislation that we’re working on through the SUB Board. The Retail and Marketing Committee is working on specific guidelines … because I don’t think we should have this open discussion every single time that a student has a problem with something.” DL: Earlier in the semester, the University witnessed various cases
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Holly Marquez, “Unite for ASUNM” Daily Lobo: If elected, on what principles would you model your presidency? HM: “The main reason is integrity, because you always want to be someone who can work with students: You’re approachable, you’re never someone that’s just not doing what’s right for yourself, students, and the University. One of the main concerns with students is that there is not communication with departments, with
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 117
issue 132
Juan Labreche/ @LabrecheMode / Daily Lobo Former UNM men’s basketball coach Steve Alford stands for the national anthem prior to the MWC Tournament Championship game in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alford now has to pay UNM some $1 million as per the buyout clause in his contract with UNM athletics. of assaults on campus that prompted safety initiatives from the administration. If elected, how do you plan to make the campus safer for students? HM: “Already the student affairs office is working on a lot of initiatives which I also support. They’re holding forums and counseling sessions on how to deal with assaults. Personally, I think that we just need to look at how our safety structure is and I would have to further research on who I’d want to work with about that. I can tell you that sometimes I do feel unsafe, and being a student listening to all these horror stories, you want to take action, but I think it also takes time to figure out how to do that.” DL: There have been discussions about whether the Athletics Department has been receiving too much money from student fees. What are your opinions on this, and how do you think the University could operate more efficiently on a tight budget? HM: “I have learned more than anything that the University is a very complex system and the decisions that the Student Fee Review Board made this past session are really intricate. As far as giving more funding to Athletics, people are going to ask for money because they want to give the most that they can for the organization that they are affiliated with. I think that it is always about compromising. We have to let them know what we have to work with and see what we can take away and what we can give to make it a good program within limits. Getting rid of unnecessary things … there’s always something that can
Warped tour
BFF time
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be reduced just because it’s not being utilized enough.” DL: A number of UNM students are older, non-traditional students who have one or two jobs while taking classes at UNM and who commute to campus. Considering that you are a young, traditional student, how are you prepared to represent non-traditional students? HM: “I would ensure that diversity is a main focus, because UNM and New Mexico have a varying range of demographics and personality styles. My goal would be to further communication with nontraditional students by means of monthly emails to the student body and meetings with the Association for Non-Traditional Students. I would like to see how they would like to integrate into campus so we remain transparent with our goals as fellow students at the University. One area where I see that greater involvement and networking can be achieved is teaching the non-traditional demographic about how the ASUNM student government works and how they could get jobs or positions in which to express themselves and help others on campus.” DL: Why are you the best choice for president? HM: “I really care about students and the University. No matter what happens, I think that we’re going to have great student leaders on campus and so when I think about my position as president, I know that I will be passionate and dedicated. If someone needs help I’m willing to be a mentor to them. I’m willing and open to new things
and working with the students.” Isaac Romero, “Believe for ASUNM” DL: If elected, on what principles would you model your presidency? IR: “I would want to make sure that I am open and available to students. I want students to know of all the leadership opportunities that are available to them, especially within our agencies because there are at least 30 positions that students can get involved in and get paid for.” DL: After months of debate, the SUB Board finally decided in February to keep Chick-fil-A on campus. Did you work to support or refute this decision? IR: “This is a pretty big issue that did come up and my stance on it was I did vote to remove Chick-fil-A from the SUB. As a senator, that was how I felt speaking with students. My reason behind that was because speaking with students who might have been discouraged coming to the SUB because they feel unsafe was an issue.” DL: There has been discussion about whether the Athletics Department has been receiving too much money from student fees. What are your opinions on this, and how do you think the University could operate more efficiently on tight budget? IR: “As far as increasing student fees for Athletics, I think that it’s necessary to get students’ input. If students want to pay more, I think that Athletics is going to have to offer something more than they already do, which is free tickets. I think it’s great,
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