Editor,
I am not an avid sports fan and I don't pay a lot of attention to college basketball until the end of the season.
However, this season was so riddled with the poor performance by the UNM basketball team it was difficult not follow their unfortunate escapades. In my mind, it is humiliating enough to go to the NIT, but to lose in the first round by 30 plus points is unacceptable.
No one can lay the team's poor performance this season at the feet of the players; they've been playing with one arm tied behind their backs. Coach Fraschilla is an uninspiring, mediocre coach who, along with Rudy Davalos, has put his ego ahead of the team, the University and the public who pays his salary.
This is not just about winning games. It's also about being an inspiration and a teacher to the athletes. We've forgotten that they are young students who are at the UNM not only to play sports and obtain an education, but also to be prepared for life in the adult world.
Considering Coach Fraschilla and Athletics Director Davalos are the primary examples of what the real world has to offer, there is little doubt as to why there has been a mass exodus from the team over the last few years. Rather than acknowledging their part in the team's demise, the two of them opted to playing politics on the radio.
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The humble coach and athletic director routine is not playing out as well as they may think. It was pathetic and embarrassing to listen to Davalos, on the eve of the women's team first NCAA game, sing praises to the Mountain West men's teams who made it to the tournament because their presence was bring money to the University.
As I see it, Davalos and Fraschilla are liabilities to the University, not because they can't produce a winning basketball team but because they've taken a quality program and have ruined it by putting their personal agendas ahead of their responsibilities.
Wake up, Board of Regents! There is a festering cancer within the athletic program and its time for a change.
Fred Sanchez
Santa Fe resident
Editor's note: This letter was submitted before UNM men's basketball coach Fran Fraschilla announced his resignation Sunday afternoon.
