Former deputy director of athletics at Louisiana State University, Eddie Nuñez, has accepted UNM’s offer to become the school’s director of athletics. First reported by the Albuquerque Journal and confirmed on the UNM official website, Nuñez joins UNM after 14 years at LSU as part of one of the biggest athletic conferences in the nation.
“We had a good search process that yielded three qualified and personable candidates,” UNM Interim President Chaouki Abdallah said in a release from the school.
“We were looking for a leader who is dedicated to academic excellence, strong ethics, careful financial management and community engagement. The committee and I agreed that Eddie is the right person for this key position at UNM. Welcome to our Lobo family, Eddie.”
According to the release from the school, Nuñez was instrumental in renegotiating a multi-media rights agreement with Outfront Media sports as the deputy director of athletics and has experience working on marketing and promotions and social and digital media, a few areas in which UNM needs to improve going forward.
As the 13th director of athletics, Nuñez takes over a program is disarray over ongoing investigations over fundraising mismanagement and an inability to balance its budget. His first order of business should be selecting a chief financial officer and director of business operations, two positions that have been vacant for some time.