Mar. 29—Lobo nation awaits the figurative puff of cherry and silver smoke from new Athletic Director Fernando Lovo to signal he's hired someone to coach UNM men's basketball.
That hiring process appears to be in the final stretch.
The Journal has confirmed two candidates — University of Alabama Birmingham's Andy Kennedy and UC San Diego's Eric Olen — have emerged as the focus of Lovo's search.
It is unclear if a formal offer has been extended to either candidate.
Friday, the Journal reported Albuquerque native and New Orleans Pelicans assistant coach James Borrego formally pulled his name from consideration, electing to continue in the NBA, where he's worked for more than two decades.
Lovo, already conducting his second major coaching search in his fourth month on the job at UNM, has not spoken publicly about any candidates or about a timetable for the search. That remained true Saturday, as he did not comment when reached by the Journal.
Richard Pitino took the Xavier University job late Tuesday night after four seasons coaching the Lobos.
While the national search for his replacement started then, the possibility of it happening this spring was not a surprise to Lovo, who hit the ground running that evening, starting to contact people around the country about candidates.
Kennedy, 57, has been a head coach for 18 years — the past five at his alma mater UAB, 12 at Ole Miss and one at Cincinnati. His teams have had 20 or more wins in 15 of his 18 seasons as head coach and he's only had one losing season.
After missing the postseason in his first year at UAB, Kennedy's taken the Blazers to two NCAA Tournaments and two NIT appearances in the past four seasons. He also took Ole Miss to two NCAA Tournaments and six NITs. He led Cincinnati to the NIT semifinals in 2006 when serving as the interim head coach, replacing the resigning Bob Huggins.
His career record is 391-219, including 125-50 the past five seasons at UAB.
Reports of his 2022 contract extension indicate he was due to make $1.1 million this past season. His contract runs through the 2028-29 season and the buyout situation is unclear.
Olen, 44, has coached at UCSD since 2004 — as an assistant until 2013 and as head coach since then, going 30-5 this season, winning the Big West and playing in the program's first Division I NCAA Tournament.
A two time Big West Coach of the Year, Olen oversaw the program's transition from Division II to Division I. He led the Tritons to the D-II NCAA Tournament four consecutive seasons (2016-2019, 2020 tournament was cancelled) and three conference titles. As a DI program, he led UCSD to the postseason a year ago (CBI Tournament) and to Big West regular season and tournament championships this season, being the league's lone NCAA Tournament team.
His team beat Mountain West member Utah State in December in Logan and rose to a high NET ranking of 34 and a high KenPom ranking of 35 (UNM's highs this season were 36 in NET and 35 in KenPom).
According to a San Diego Union-Tribune article earlier this month, Olen just completed the first season of a five-year deal that paid him $485,000 with bonuses. He has a $150,000 buyout.
Pitino made $1.2 million this past season at UNM and was offered more than $2 million to stay. It is not clear what candidates for the job are being offered.
Recruit decommits
One of UNM's two high school signees from November announced on Saturday that he has decommitted from playing for the Lobos after Pitino's departure.
Jaylen Petty, who won the sate of Washington's "Mr. Basketball" Player of the Year award at Seattle's Rainier Beach High School, announced his decision on his social media accounts.
Petty wrote that ...
