DAILY LOBO new mexico
Super seniority
monday
see back page
August 23, 2010
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Photos by Vanessa Sanchez / Daily Lobo
Nearly a year after an alleged altercation, two UNM football coaches are
WORLDS APART
by Leah Valencia
news@dailylobo.com
by Isaac Avilucea
managingeditor@dailylobo.com Whether they’re aware of it, they both wear them — scarlet letters reminding the duo of the day everything changed. Somewhere buried in the rubble are the now ancient remains of a crumbled friendship forged on the pillars of coaching bonds. Once close, J.B. Gerald and Mike Locksley have become embittered adversaries, stung by the same set of unyielding emotions. Some 11 months after the now infamous dustup between him and Locksley, Gerald’s emotional wounds are still as fresh as the laceration he received to his upper lip Sept. 20. “I feel it every day,” Gerald said. The day-in-day-out pain became so intense that Gerald packed his bags and jetted back to Maryland, where he has since landed a job teaching underprivileged students at a Washington, D.C., charter school. When the season was still in swing, Gerald watched the team every Saturday from afar. During weeks that the team traveled, Gerald invited some players that didn’t make the trip to eat wings and watch the game at a local establishment. Yet throughout, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of emptiness. “You work all year to get up to that point,” Gerald said. “The season is like a coach’s reward. You put all that hard work — blood, sweat, tears — into preparing for a season. It’s like watching it all kind of, I don’t want to say go down the drain, but kind of that way.” And in his own way, Gerald said, he was robbed of the joys of coaching. “I never thought I’d be on the receiving end of those types of explosions,” Gerald said.
LOCKSLEY
GERALD
Especially not from a friend. Thin line between love and hate To this day, Gerald has fond memories of Locksley. Throughout Gerald’s high school career, Locksley was known in the Maryland area as a recruiting juggernaut. The two became more acquainted when Locksley, the up-and-coming assistant at Maryland University, snagged one of Gerald’s best friends, Madieu Williams, to play for the Terps. After Gerald’s collegiate playing days at Colgate University ended, he served as a graduate assistant at Penn State for three years. There, while under the direct tutelage of legendary coach Joe Paterno, Gerald said he and Locksley crossed paths on a number of occasions, including at coaching conventions. While Locksley was at Illinois, Gerald came to a professional crossroad. More than anything, Gerald longed for professional stability and security. So before Penn State’s 2008 season began, Gerald took one of the biggest gambles of his life. He informed Paterno he was leaving Penn State to pursue other coaching endeavors. Shortly thereafter, Gerald joined Locksley at Illinois, where he served as the offensive quality control coach, while Locksley was the offensive coordinator. At best, Gerald’s decision was a
lateral career move because he took a pay cut at Illinois. But, he was convinced that the “probability of turnover” and the opportunity to make other coaching contacts outweighed his choice to leave Penn’s program. No more than five months later, Gerald’s decision paid off, and Locksley accepted the head coaching gig at New Mexico, taking the young assistant with him. Gerald’s career seemed primed to take off. In such short time, he and Locksley built a strong rapport at Illinois, both professionally and personally. Even now, after all that’s happened, Gerald said Locksley was the “life of the party” at cookouts and functions. When it came time to punch the clock, though, Gerald remembered Locksley was a studious workaholic, possessed by the craft. They’d work demanding schedules, sometimes 16 hours a day. On several occasions, after an eventful, nonstop day at the office, Gerald said the two unwound by grabbing a bite to eat. All that would soon come to a halt. Little by little, things deteriorated. Not long before Gerald and Locksley were involved in a Aug. 13 verbal spat, in which the former wide receivers coach said Locksley threatened to slap him, the two’s relationship soured.
see Gerald & Locksley page 9
DL
Safety still an issue after campus stabbing by Ruben Hamming-Green rhamminggreen@gmail.com
A UNM student was stabbed in the neck outside the Anthropology Building on Feb. 15. Her assailant got away with her cell phone and was never found. Since then, several UNM departments initiated new safety measures, but no new lighting has been installed around the Anthropology Building. Cheo Torres, vice president of Student Affairs, said the initiatives are direct results of the incident. In February, a “safety walk” was organized, where a group of students and staff patrolled the campus at night looking for burned-out light bulbs, overgrown shrubs that could be trimmed, and places that could
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 115
issue 2
President takes off time for tumor
use more light fixtures, Torres said. “We have replaced probably 95 to 99 percent of the lights that were out,” Torres said. “We want our students to be 100 percent safe.” However, few new light fixtures have been added on campus. Physical Plant Department staff attended an Aug. 13 campus-safety meeting and identified several areas that need more light fixtures, including the Yale Boulevard bus stop, parts of Zimmerman Library and outside the Anthropology Building — a place they labeled a “priority.” “I consider (UNM) safe, but I also realize that we are an open campus,” Torres said. “Our students need to be very cognizant of their surroundings, especially in the evenings.” Torres said two more walks are
see Safety page 6
A QUESTION
UNM President David Schmidly announced that he would be undergoing medical treatment for a slow-growing abdominal tumor Aug. 18. He said the tumor, discovered during a routine checkup in May, would need more attention than previously thought. “The tests I under went were productive and indicated that I would require further treatment,” he said in a statement. Schmidly missed several workdays in September 2009 for operations and medical procedures pertaining to an undisclosed illness. Then he missed several days again in May, including the 2010 commencement ceremony, because of the tumor. Physicians at the UNM Health Sciences Center and UNM Cancer Center have referred him to an outof-state expert to seek treatment, he said. Schmidly, who has served as UNM president since October 2007, said he will continue to stay in close touch with UNM administrators while he undergoes treatment. “During my time on sick leave and throughout my recovery period, I will remain in full communication with the University leadership,” he said. Paul Roth, executive vice president for Health Sciences, said Schmidly should be back at full
see Schmidly page 11
DL
Junfu Han / Daily Lobo Students Alex Borowski and Julia Carrion ponder their answer to a simple question asked of 50 or so UNM students in front of the bookstore. Check out DailyLobo.com for the inspiring first installment of “A Simple Question for You,” a video project.
Downtown fire
Unbearable hunger
See page 2
See page 11
TODAY
89 | 68