"I didn't do it, no one saw me do it, there's no way you can prove anything!"

Bart Simpson, Michael Locksley, Paul Krebs.

There is an oddly un-linkable headline, top of the fold story,
in the Journal this morning; "Fans are Howling".

The gist; fans don't think that Head Football Coach Michael Locksley and UNM Athletic Director Paul Krebs have told the truth about Locksley's assault and battery on an assistant coach.

The controversy was re-fired by a recent ESPN story, link.

It appears fans believe neither Locksley nor Krebs has told them the truth.

Their concern is justified.

The closest thing to a real investigation was conducted behind closed doors, with witnesses interviewed one a time in a room with at least two people whose interests were in covering UNM's ass. There was someone from UNM's Human Resources, and at least one lawyer who works for UNM. There was no tape recorder and no court reporter. There will be no transcript to review. The lawyer took"notes", though I'm certain they will argue the notes are "work product" and therefore exempt from public records requests. Bottom line, no incontrovertible record was made of who said what.

If anyone wants to hold the good ol' boys accountable for not following up on any allegation made during the UNMHR interviews, and the good ol' boys want to dispute it, there will be two people who can testify that they "have no specific recollection" that what ever was said, was ever said, against one person testifying what was said, was said.

Though there are credible allegations that Locksley choked his assistant, UNM Human Resources did not address the issue of "choking", "because the word "choke" did not appear on the police report".

Locksley denies the "choking", insisting he only tried to "grab" his assistant's collar. Six grown men either battering, being battered, or so concerned by what they were witnessing, they tried to hold the combatants back, and all the while Locksley was only trying to rearrange his assistants collar. Right.

We are to believe that "nobody saw any punches thrown". Apparently the assistants lip was split (there are photographs) accidentally by something besides a "punch" while the assistant's disheveled collar was being straightened.

It's like Krebs' statement, no one testified that they saw a punch being thrown.

Let's not forget, at one point, it was Krebs' final decision,
that Locksley would receive a verbal reprimand
as the consequence of his misconduct.

Are stakeholders entitled to an AD they can trust?

Are they entitled to a Head Football Coach they can trust?

Are students entitled to good role models?

Even if Paul Krebs did not tell the truth, he will suffer no consequence. UNM lawyers will argue that he "did not actually lie, he just didn't tell the truth" and, the law does not require truth telling.

The good ol' boys he works for will not hold him accountable for not telling the truth, in no small part because they expected him to not tell the truth. Protecting the image of the UNM Football Program is more important than truth telling. It is the whole premise for Public Information Offices. Their job is not to tell the truth, it is to spin the truth to the maximum extent allowed by the law. The law allows a lot of spinning.

The Journal reported markedly decreased attendance at the usual Lobo fan haunts. They reported that a number of fans have finally had enough, and no longer want anything to do with Paul Krebs, Michael Locksley, or Lobo Football.

It all seems more than a little unfair to Lobo football players,
who could probably use a little support from fans right now.

Assistant Coach JB Gerald will sue.
It will be settled out of court.

The amount of the the settlement will be kept secret
according to "the law".

Locksley will not have to pay the settlement from his
three quarters of a million dollar annual salary.

You will. You will pay also for his lawyers and Gerald's.
Their bills will be substantial.

The settlement amount will kept secret even from
the people who are going to pay the bill.
It's none of your business.

And of course, "it's all perfectly legal".