From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.
Krista Niiranen doing a workout running with poles in Rovaniemi, Finland. (Courtesy photo)
A World Junior Championships and World U23 Championships skier for Finland who had racked up top-10 finishes in her country’s competitive national-championships field, Krista Niiranen moved to the American Southwest last year.
“I had been studying law in the University of Lapland in Finland, but for the last season I transferred to the University of New Mexico and represented the UNM Ski Team,” she explained.
UNM’s Krista Niiranen racing to seventh in the 5 k classic at 2017 NCAA Skiing Championships at the Jackson Ski Touring Center in Jackson, N.H. (Photo: flyingpointroad.com)
Niiranen made a splash on the SuperTour and NCAA circuits, finishing sixth in the classic sprint and 10th in the 10 k freestyle at U.S. nationals before emerging as the top classic skier on the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association tour. She finished seventh in the 5 k classic at NCAA Championships and was named UNM’s Nordic MVP.
This summer, Niiranen is back in Finland training hard with various friends and teammates from before her time as a college skier. She has taken training opportunities all over her country and shared what it’s like to be a top skier in Finland in the summer.
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FasterSkier: Where are you based this summer?
Krista Niiranen: My summer training is based in three areas this summer: Joensuu in Eastern Finland, the Vuokatti Olympic Training Center, and especially my current hometown, Rovaniemi, in Lapland on the Arctic Circle.
I have to say that all of these three spots are top for skiers’ summer training. In the beginning of the summer break I was training in Joensuu, the same area I grew up in. If you happen to be a biathlon fan, I stayed within 30 minutes away from Kontiolahti Biathlon Stadium, where is also a great rollerski track for summer training. There is also another track for rollerskiing only in 10 minutes from my family home. Then in June I was training for three weeks in Vuokatti Olympic Training Center, where the majority of the Finnish nordic skiers were gathered up for some good summer training. Currently I am living and training in Rovaniemi in the Northern Finland as a neighbor of Santa Claus.
Niiranen (left) and Iina Ahokas rollerskiing in Rovaniemi. (Courtesy photo)
FS: Compared to Ruka or the World Championships venue in Lahti, what is the landscape like where you are training?
KN: For Americans who have watched World Cup races, I would say that Eastern Finland is pretty similar to Lahti, which is four hours drive from my family home to south. The landscape in Vuokatti and Rovaniemi is pretty similar to Ruka with long and some steep hills. But you can definitely find beautiful hills and lakes from all over the Eastern and Northern Finland, where my training has been based for my entire skiing career.
FS: Do you have a team that you are training with, or are most of your training sessions alone?
KN: During summer I have a couple of training camps in Vuokatti and Lapland with a group of athletes who are challenging the skiers in the Finnish national teams. In the beginning of the summer I was training in Joensuu and Vuokatti with a couple of skiers from the same local ski club I represent when I’m competing in Finland. There are also many skiers at my level living in my current hometown in Rovaniemi, so I can get company for training on a daily basis. I really enjoy training with other skiers, but sometimes it is nice to go for a session alone as well.
FS: What is it like to rejoin a group after being away in the US for most of the year?
KN: I was welcomed to participate in trainings and training camps even if I spent most of the year in the US. Of course it was a little bit different situation when I had not raced in any competitions in Finland last season, but I have many good skier friends here in Finland so it was just fun to catch up with them during rest afternoons and easy trainings.
Jasmi Joensuu (left) and Krista Niiranen on a trail run outside of Vuokatti, Finland. (Courtesy photo)
FS: During the summer, how do you design your training – is it based on a plan from New Mexico? Are you adapting it at all to be able to match with your training friends?
KN: This summer I am designing my training plan based on the knowledge I have gained from my previous Finnish coach and during my time as a Lobo. I am adapting my plan to match with the fixed training camps and trainings of other skiers based on the same area. I think that doing intervals and other training in a group is a good way to develop as a skier and learn from each others. I am also trying to listen my body to keep the balance between hard training with lots of hours and rest time.
FS: Are there typical workouts that you do that are different and probably wouldn’t appear on an American training plan?
KN: The training is pretty similar here in Finland than on our American training plan in New Mexico, but the biggest difference is that we are used to do more really easy long distance and level 2-3 training in Finland, but not really level 4-5 training during summer time.
In Finland I am also orienteering weekly basis as a training. I think that orienteering is a more Scandinavian or European thing, because in the US it was mostly an unfamiliar concept for many people. Running and navigating from point to point in the forest using a map and compass is actually pretty hard training. At least for me, a chill orienteering session ends up always being at least level 3 training when running fast in the forest and concentrating on reading a map.
Iina Ahokas (left) and Krista Niiranen rollerskiing in Rovaniemi. (Courtesy photo)
I have also added some elements, like without poles skate skiing, from our American plan to my training plan in Finland. I am also planning on doing some track sessions here in Finland – I was not used to doing that before my time in New Mexico.
FS: What’s the hardest workout you have done so far this summer?
KN: Definitely, a traditional roller ski race in Vuokatti. The event consisted on 1.6 k uphill skate rollerskiing prologue, a 3 k cross-country running race, and 10 k skate rollerskiing pursuit where the final 1.6 k is uphill. The race was also mentally interesting, because I had not raced in Finland for over a year and therefore I did not really have any expectations when it comes to my current shape. After a hard competition, I was happy when I realized that I had set a new personal best in all the three stages after a year in the US.
[Ed. Note: After the final stage, Niiranen was 10th, two minutes and 50 seconds behind biathlon World Champion Kaisa Makarainen, who won the women’s tour ahead of five-time Olympic medalist skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen. World Champion Matti Heikkinen won the men’s tour.]
FS: Are there any absolute favorite places to run or bike or rollerski?
Krista Niiranen (left) and Finnish teammate Petra Torvinen training in the Vuokatti ski tunnel. (Courtesy photo)
KN: All the areas I have been training in this summer are among the best spots for summer training in Finland because the access to rollerski tracks, bike paths and trails is just by the front door. But if I should choose my absolute favorites, I would mention group training on a rollerski track and uphill classic rollerskiing in Vuokatti. Also running with good skier friends (and reindeer) on the countless of trails surrounded by a beautiful scenery in Rovaniemi is one of my favorites. I was also super excited to ski on real snow in a ski tunnel in Vuokatti, even if the scenery there is only a concrete wall.
FS: Maybe related, is your area set up best for some parts of training?
KN: I would objectively recommend all of these three areas for summer training for any skier, but in Vuokatti there is everything what a nordic skier can ask for during summer. There are a rollerski track, long uphills, tens of kilometers of trails for long distance running and hiking, bike paths, a ski tunnel with real snow and beautiful scenery with hills and lakes in Vuokatti. It is not a wonder that there are other national teams in addition to Finnish skiers training in Vuokatti as well.
It is just convenient that especially in Vuokatti and Rovaniemi: all the training possibilities and facilities are right after stepping out the front door, so there is no need to consume time and energy for driving for training.
FS:What is the best part of Finnish summer, aside from training?
KN: The best parts of Finnish summer are midnight sun, going to sauna and swimming in a lake, and everyman’s right to pick up berries and mushrooms to a freezer for the fall and winter.
Midnight sun from an apartment window at the Vuokatti Olympic Training Center in Finland. (Photo: Krista Niiranen)
University of New Mexico’s Carlisle Gym as seen in 2010. The UNM athletics department is under scrutiny for using public funds to pay for a 2015 golfing trip to Scotland. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
The finances of the University of New Mexico (UNM) athletic department are back in the news once more, this time with allegations of spending nearly $65,000 in public funds to pay for a 2015 golfing trip to Scotland and then actively hiding the trip and its participants, on top of a recent history of money-losing sports programs and expensive coaching buyouts.
As FasterSkier previously explained, citing reporting originally from the Albuquerque Journal, the UNM athletics department recorded a deficit of $1.54 million for the fiscal year that ended in June 2016, against an overall athletic department budget of roughly $30 million total. FasterSkier also noted the timing of the men’s basketball coach receiving a $1 million buyout on March 31, and the ski team being cut to save funds less than two weeks later.
(For their part, UNM officials disclaimed any connection between the two developments, and pointed to a mitigation clause written into the quondam coach’s contract that means UNM will be out less than $1 million over the next two years if the coach gains employment elsewhere.)
Finally, FasterSkier analyzed data that the university submitted to the federal government under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act to suggest that football at UNM cost nearly as much in allocated expenses last fiscal year as 19 other sports combined, and that as many as 21 of UNM’s 22 varsity sports programs – all save men’s basketball – lost money last year.
Against this financial background, the Albuquerque Journal reported on May 1 that the UNM athletics department had spent $39,000 on a fundraising golf trip to Scotland in summer 2015 (the start of the fiscal year in which the athletic department lost $1.54 million) for athletics-department personnel and supporters. UNM Acting President Chaouki Abdallah said at the time, “The purpose of the trip makes clear that the [private] UNM Foundation should have covered the expenses paid by UNM, which included air fare, six nights lodging and five rounds of golf for athletic director Paul Krebs, golf and lodging for then-men’s basketball coach Craig Neal and golf and lodging for Lobo Club director Kole McKamey,” the Journal reported.
Also in 2015, Krebs “signed a four-year contract with the school worth over $300,000 in base salary, with $70,000 more in potential performance bonuses,” Deadspin noted on Tuesday afternoon.
The athletics-department expenditure came to light following a public records request by local newspaper the Albuquerque Journal. Expenses for the Scottish golf sojourn were listed as the deposit for a men’s basketball tournament in Ireland in the records that were provided to the newspaper. Extensive portions of the rest of the records were redacted completely, as shown in this screenshot of some of the records provided to the Journal.
Earlier this month, after the Journal and other local news media had reported on the allegation that the university had paid for three athletics department employees to go golfing in Scotland on the public’s dime, Krebs remembered something he had previously forgotten to disclose.
“VP Krebs came to me and told me that he wanted to tell me something that he had forgotten or did not tell me before,” local television station KRQE quotes Acting President Abdallah as saying in a story published earlier this week.
Krebs now mentioned that three private donors had also gone on the golf trip, and also had their expenses covered by the university. The three private boosters, businessmen Darin Davis, Raleigh Gardenhire and Paul Gibson, are not state employees.
The failure to previously mention the presence of the three private citizens was a “serious” omission, Abdallah told KRQE. But Abdallah added that he had worked with Krebs for some time, “and I think he is an honorable man,” he said. “Even honorable men sometimes make a mistake.”
The revelation that UNM paid for three boosters to go golf in Scotland at a time of athletic department deficits is not only poor optics, it also raises issues of criminal exposure and constitutional violations. On the criminal side, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s office told the Journal that the office “is always concerned about public funds being spent appropriately,” but could “neither confirm nor deny an existence of an investigation” into any specific case.
On the constitutional side, article IX, section 14 of the New Mexico Constitution contains what is known as the anti-donation clause, which bars the state from “mak[ing] any donation to or in aid of any person, association or public or private corporation . . . .” For the University of New Mexico, a state actor, to make a gift to private citizens in the form of three Scottish golf trips at roughly $8,000 apiece is facially a violation of this provision.
Additional information about the anti-donation clause and its interpretation may be found at this instructive site, a subsite of the University’s main Unrestricted Accounting page. This branch of UNM’s Financial Services Division “review[s] all purchase requisitions [and] travel reimbursements” submitted to the school, the Unrestricted Accounting page explains. “We approve the transactions based on compliance with University policy.”
University of New Mexico Ski Team Head Coach Fredrik Landstedt carries a Lobos flag on March 8 at 2017 NCAA Skiing Championships at Cannon Mountain in Franconia, N.H. (Photo: Flyingpointroad.com)
This article has been updated with additional comments from UNM student-athlete Brenna Egan.
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Skiing at the University of New Mexico (UNM) is officially alive again, at least for one more year, while the university and the ski team pursue viable long-term funding sources, school officials announced earlier on Thursday.
Speaking at a regularly scheduled meeting of the UNM Board of Regents Thursday afternoon, Acting President Chaouki T. Abdallah told the board that “several months ago” he had directed Paul Krebs, UNM vice president for athletics, to pursue cost-saving measures for the athletics department.
Krebs received “relentless and in my opinion undeserved criticism for this decision,” Abdallah told the Board of Regents, according to FasterSkier’s transcription of his remarks from a video recording from the board meeting, “even though he was following University direction. This is actually unfortunate.”
Brenna Egan of the University of New Mexico racing at 2017 NCAA Skiing Championships on March 9 at the Jackson Ski Touring Center in Jackson, N.H. (Photo: Flyingpointroad.com)
But, Abdallah continued, “Substantial good has come from this decision, as those who care about this sport have pledged financial assistance for next year, which will allow us to explore long-term financial commitments. So today I am announcing that we will reinstate skiing for the next year while we seek those solutions. So I want to thank everybody who came together to help the university and to making sure that, at least for the coming year, we will have skiing, and we’re going to work together to try to put it on a long-term financial scale.”
Current UNM student-athletes are understandably pleased. “It just feels really awesome to see that my fellow teammates can focus on their athletic goals again,” senior skier Patrick Brachner wrote to FasterSkier earlier on Thursday. “Personally,” he continued, in response to the volume of community support, “I am very happy that the community has the ultimate power to overturn unjust decisions.”
Sophomore Brenna Egan echoed Brachner’s gratitude at the support their program had received. “We are so thankful for everything that has been done for our team,” Egan wrote to FasterSkier. “The show of support was astounding, from both our many supporters in New Mexico and the ski community. It has been really eye opening to realize how important skiing is to people, even in a community like Albuquerque. Honestly, we could not have done this alone.”
A press release from the students on the ski team contained slightly more detail about what happens next: “Effective immediately, the ski team will be reinstated for the 2017/2018 season. Donations from ski team supporters will supplement a somewhat-reduced Athletic Department budget for the ski team. Team coaches and supporters will be able to use the next year to establish a long-term funding mechanism to keep the team in place thereafter.”
UNM sports information director Frank Mercogliano was contacted a week ago today for comment on what long-term funding solutions for the ski team might entail. Mercogliano did not respond to this request for comment.
While the official UNM ski team website still leads with, “Lobos to discontinue men’s and women’s skiing,” ski team supporters have been more responsive. “REINSTATED!” read the main page at www.saveunmskiteam.com effective Thursday afternoon.
“We will be able to accept donations shortly,” supporters continue on this site. “Pledge your support now!”
UNM junior nordic skier Petteri Vaherkoski during the Sand Hills time trial in Albuquerque, N.M., last September. (Photo: Christian Otto)
This week’s workout comes from University of New Mexico (UNM) sophomore Julia Devaux, who recently wrapped up her second season with the UNM nordic team. Devaux, 23, is originally from Grenoble, France, and grew up training in Villard de Lans. She was previously a member of the French national team but sought out new motivation to continue skiing.
“[UNM Head Coach] Fredrik [Landstedt] gave me the opportunity to come at UNM 2 years ago,” Devaux wrote in an email. “I chose UNM because it was crazy and unusual to be part of a Division 1 ski team in the desert! I needed something new, and I totally found it here.”
Devaux is studying business, with a concentration in marketing. She shared the following team workout:
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“As a member of the University of New Mexico Nordic Ski Team, you are put through workouts that you could have never imagined doing as a skier. Here is one of the craziest, toughest and most unusual workouts that I know: the Sand Hills Time Trial.
We are located in Albuquerque, N.M., and what do we have around us? A desert! This is where Fredrik, our head coach, decided to set up this unusual running time trial.
A few minutes’ drive from campus are some sand hills. Extremely steep hills. Think about some hills you can barely walk up. Add in soft sand and it feels almost impossible (see pictures )
Julie Ensrud doing the Sand Hills time trial during her freshman season with the UNM nordic team last September in Albuquerque, N.M. (Photo: Christian Otto)
This workout is a great reference of fitness for us. We do it four to five times a year, so we can keep track of our performance. Running is a big part of nordic training, so this is a good intensity workout to improve our base.
One lap is about 1.5 k, with five huge hills that we run up and down. We use nordic walking poles (hip height). Using poles is a good way to balance weight and use upper body as well.
Women run two laps, men three. To give you an idea, the women’s record is 20 minutes, 41 seconds (Kati Roivas), and the men’s is 25:43 (Aku Nikander). For 3 k and 4.5 k, this will give you the right idea about how steep and sandy these hills are!
We warm up by walking the course once, which takes about 30 minutes. We usually start individually, but every once in a while, we will do a mass start. We cool down on our way back to the vans, where we dump piles of sand out of our shoes.
I love that the Sand Hills Time Trial is unique to our team, a workout where we push our limits, fight with our teammates and run after the clock as we do when ski racing. Training in such an unusual environment for a ski team makes it so much more exciting!
The Workout: Sand Hills Time Trial
You’ll need: Running shoes, Nordic walking poles (hip height), a hilly course (preferably sand)
Warm up: Walk the course once (should be about 1.5 k long with several big hills)
Time trial: Individual start or mass start. Women race 2 laps, men race 3. Record times and compare each time you revisit this workout.
Cool down: Jog back to your car (or team vans). Dump sand out of shoes.
The decision to cut the UNM ski team program next fall was made a few weeks ago, and we are fighting this decision with all we’ve got. Please help us by visiting saveunmskiteam.com, sign our petition online, share with your friends…
Every piece of support is helping us, we need to show how great we are, and we need you!”
UNM skiers (from left to right) Eva Severrus, Kati Roivas, Brenna Egan, Julie Ensrud, and Julia Devaux getting ready for their team’s Sand Hills time trial last September in Albuquerque, N.M. (Photo: Christian Otto)
A man associated with the University of New Mexico carries a Lobos flag in support of its ski team on March 8 at the 2017 NCAA Skiing Championships at Cannon Mountain in Franconia, N.H. (Photo: Flyingpointroad.com)
The slogan’s cheerful inclusivity seems merited these days, in light of the support flowing toward Albuquerque from some of the biggest names in American alpine and nordic skiing.
Here’s what Mikaela Shiffrin – Olympic gold medalist, four-time FIS Alpine World Ski Championships gold medalist and reigning overall World Cup champion, among other accolades – posted on Instagram earlier this month soon after the news broke:
Screenshot from Mikaela Shiffrin’s Instagram account.
And here’s four-time Nordic World Championships medalist Jessie Diggins on Facebook last week, taking time out from her Hawaiian vacation to talk about the importance of collegiate skiing:
Screenshot from Jessie Diggins’s Facebook page
(The reference to the ski team at UAA, or University of Alaska Anchorage, involves the outpouring of community support directed to the University of Alaska Board of Regents urging it not to cut skiing within the University of Alaska system, culminating in what ski team supporters said was one email to the Board of Regents “every two minutes.”)
And finally, here’s former UNM skier Kristina Strandberg. A Swedish native, Strandberg was not heavily recruited to the university, but ended up winning the 2000 NCAA Championships 15 k classic her freshman year. Strandberg would ultimately leave Albuquerque as a four-year All-American and four-year Academic All-American. She went on to spend several more years in the U.S. training and racing, racking up myriad SuperTour victories and at least one first-place finish in a U.S. national championship race while spending a total of 12 years living and racing in America.
“What I thought would be one year’s adventure turned out to be a life changing experience,” Strandberg wrote to FasterSkier in a recent email.
She added:
“When I was recruited to the UNM Ski Team I was a mediocre skier by Swedish standards,” she added. “I was right out of a few years retirement and I was looking for a situation where I could develop my skiing while traveling and seeing other parts of the world before ‘growing up and getting a job’. With my short list of results there were not many coaches interested in me. I was waitlisted at Utah without any hope for a spot to open when the Utah coach suggested I’d contact Fredrik [Landstedt]. I did, and since he needed more girls on his roster he offered me a scholarship. …
Kristina Strandberg (then racing for XC Oregon) racing in West Yellowstone in 2010.
I spent a total of 12 years living and ski racing in the US and I’ve come to think of Fredrik as one of the best coaches in the nation,” she continued. “He is a skier through and through, with a solid understanding of the sport and an unparalleled interest in the development of technique and equipment. He understands the commitment it takes to be a college athlete and he knows how to offer the support that is needed to succeed. When I was out of college and raced on the Supertour he was still there for moral support. I truly believe that I would not have become the skier I was, in college or afterwards, if it wasn’t for Fredrik and I still consider him one of my best friends.
I can only echo what others have said before me regarding the Ski Team’s impact on the local ski community. Our coaches always made a point of us reaching out to local skiers and to participate in local events. I’ve skied all over NM, in places like Abq, Red River, Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Chama. People have always been very happy to see their “local” university team in action. I also enjoyed weekend camps in Durango, CO, where we interacted with kids and coaches in the ski club.
One aspect that is often overlooked is that we were given fantastic opportunity to explore the Southwest. The Ski Team went on several training trips a year, all around NM and the surrounding states. With no other support needed than a van for transport, we biked in Moab, hiked Wheeler Peak and ran in White Sands. Fredrik made a point of showing us as much more of the country as he could. He’s really proud of his adopted home grounds and I am too!
Strandberg also gained a post-graduate scholarship for additional study at UNM. She ultimately graduated with a Masters of Science degree, which, she added, “I’m putting to good use now at my job as a methodologist at Statistics Sweden.”
Back in Albuquerque, the current members of the ski team continue to hit the books. At the 2017 Lobo Scholar-Athlete Banquet on Monday evening, “the Athletic Director’s Cup for the top academic program went to women’s skiing for the second straight year,” according to a UNM press release. Additionally, three of the nine senior student-athletes who were honored for graduating with a 4.0 GPA hailed from the ski team.
UNM senior Sydney Staples racing at 2017 NCAA Skiing Championships on March 10 at Mittersill at Cannon Mountain in Franconia, N.H. (Photo: flyingpointroad.com)
Alpine skier Sydney Staples, a senior from Bountiful, Utah, who is one of the three skiers about to graduate with a perfect GPA, was named the women’s Lobo Club Student-Athlete of the Year. In an emotional speech captured on video, Staples unsuccessfully fought back tears as she acknowledged the elephant in the room when it came to celebrating the accomplishments of the UNM ski team at this particular time:
“My team just barely received an award for [highest] cumulative GPA for the women’s team, and there are three of us skiers up here,” Staples said. “And there are a lot of skiers in this room right now that are going to go on to compete at the highest level of the World Cup or go to the Olympics, and some will stay here and pursue careers. And I’m so proud of all that they’ve accomplished, all that we’ve accomplished. And at the same time, I’m devastated that they won’t get the opportunity to stand where I’m standing today.
“And for the kids that we ski with each year in Santa Fe, and … Taos, and Colorado, all over the states, who tell us that they want to be just like us when they grow up – I’m sad that they won’t get that opportunity either,” Staples continued. “And so I want to encourage you, everyone here, to keep working hard, in your sport and in your classroom, and to keep taking advantage of all the incredible opportunities that are given to you at this school. Because you never know if that opportunity is going to be taken away from you.”
Staples subsequently left the podium to a standing ovation.
University of New Mexico (UNM) Ski Team supporters assemble outside the UNM Board of Regents meeting in Albuquerque, N.M., on April 18. (Photo: saveunmskiteam.com)
Football at the University of New Mexico (UNM) cost nearly as much in allocated expenses last fiscal year as 19 other sports combined, according to a new analysis of data provided to the federal government by the UNM athletic department. The financial context comes amid continuing suggestions by ski-team advocates that cutting skiing will provide substantially less than the $600,000 dollars in annual savings previously announced by the school.
The University of New Mexico, like all American co-educational colleges or universities that receive federal financial aid and sponsor intercollegiate sports, is required to submit certain information annually to the U.S. Department of Education under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, or EADA. While the announced purpose of this data collection, visible at the EADA reporting site, is to help support gender equity in college sports, the data also permit an approximation of a school’s overall athletic department budget.
And the data show that, at UNM as elsewhere, football is king. The school reported total expenses for football, in the 2015 fiscal year (July 2015 – June 2016), of, in round numbers, $9.1 million. Men’s basketball cost $3.7 million, and women’s basketball $2.0 million, for a combined total of $5.7 million. The 19 other varsity sports at UNM had expenses of $9.9 million combined, or approximately $521,000 per sport. (This counts men’s and women’s teams as separate sports, as is standard for NCAA reporting and Title IX purposes even though skiing is, uniquely, scored on a coed basis. This also suggests that each of men’s and women’s skiing, at approximately $300,000 per sport given a total cost of $600,000, is cheaper than the average sport at UNM.)
Total expenses for UNM’s 22 varsity sports in fiscal year 2015. (Screenshot from ope.ed.gov/athletics)
The University of New Mexico currently sponsors 22 NCAA Division I varsity sports. In addition to football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball, the other 19 sports are: men’s baseball, men’s cross-country running, men’s golf, men’s skiing, men’s soccer, men’s tennis, men’s indoor track and field, men’s outdoor track and field, women’s beach volleyball, women’s cross-country running, women’s golf, women’s skiing, women’s soccer, women’s softball, women’s swimming and diving, women’s tennis, women’s indoor track and field, women’s outdoor track and field, and women’s volleyball.
A man associated with the University of New Mexico carries a Lobos flag in support of its ski team on March 8 at 2017 NCAA Skiing Championships at Cannon Mountain in Franconia, N.H. (Photo: flyingpointroad.com)
Two UNM sports teams have won an NCAA championship in any of those 22 sports: skiing in 2004, and women’s cross-country running in 2015.
There are some reasons for caution regarding the expense data. Nearly every single revenue and expense figure matches up, dollar for dollar, within the report. That is, football apparently had expenses of $9,137,178 last fiscal year, but had revenue of precisely $9,137,178 as well.
Another weakness with these numbers is the gap between sport-specific and unallocated expenses. The EADA site lists an additional $10.5 million in expenses “Not Allocated by Gender/Sport” (the penultimate line in the screenshot above). So while roughly $25 million in athletic department expenses are broken down by sport and gender, an additional $10 million more is not attributable to any given sport. That’s nearly 30 percent of the listed total athletic department budget.
Finally, the bottom-line figure of the EADA document shows the UNM athletic department as reporting total revenue for the 2015 fiscal year of $35,338,508 and total expenses of precisely the same amount, suggesting that it neither made nor lost money last year. This suggestion clashes with both external reporting by the Albuquerque Journal and an internal financial memo sent to the UNM Board of Regents (see pages 243-248) by then-UNM President Bob Frank, both of which suggested that the UNM athletics department had a budget deficit of $1.54 million in fiscal year 2015. (Off revenue of $31.8 million and expenses of $33.3 million, both of which are less than the $35.3 million figure reported through EADA.)
The $1.54 million deficit figure is correct, UNM assistant athletic director Frank Mercogliano clarified in an email to FasterSkier. “There are certain numbers that go into the EADA report that are different than what we refer to here as the ‘actual budget,’ ” Mercogliano wrote to FasterSkier Tuesday. “The ‘actual budget’ numbers are the ones that the Journal reported on… the one with the deficit.”
Mercogliano added, “I personally have never seen the EADA report but I have been told that is why there are always differences in the numbers.”
Paul Krebs, UNM vice president for athletics, “didn’t have specific sport-by-sport figures,” the Albuquerque Journal reported last summer. But he acknowledged that “football, despite a winning season and a bowl game appearance, lost money and men’s basketball, despite a downturn in ticket sales, made the largest profit in the department.”
Men’s basketball marks the only portion of the EADA report listing different numbers for revenue and expenses. The figures given there suggest that men’s basketball earned $2,225,538 in profit for the athletic department last fiscal year.
A pair of ski team supporters outside the UNM Board of Regents meeting in Albuquerque, N.M., on April 18. (Photo: saveunmskiteam.com)
If the UNM football team indeed lost money, it has ample company. The Washington Post reported in November 2015 that 28 of the 48 “Power Five” schools (those schools in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC, the five wealthiest college athletic conferences) saw their athletic department operate at a loss in 2014. And that included schools like Wisconsin, Auburn and Michigan State, whose annual athletic department revenues of $104 to $123 million dwarfed the $32 million figure for UNM last year.
The Washington Post article did not consider UNM, nor any other school outside the Power Five conferences. All 48 Power Five conference schools had substantially more revenue in 2014 than UNM.
And finally, back to the ski team. The UNM athletic department initially announced that “The decision [to cut skiing] will save the department approximately $600,000 per year in operating budget, scholarships and salaries.” Ski team supporters have since countered that “The Ski Team’s annual budget is actually only about $285,000 for the university as a whole, not the $600,000 figure the Athletic Department claims it will save by cutting the team.” The explanation given is, “This is mostly because the largest line item in the Ski Team budget is scholarships paid out of the Athletic Department budget, but paid TO the university’s main campus.”
On Tuesday, the UNM Board of Regents met in Albuquerque. It was greeted outside by sign-waving attendees showing their support for the ski team. A video from inside the meeting shows multiple people speaking in support of the ski team.
Current members of the University of New Mexico ski team advocate for their team’s continued survival. (Photo: saveunmskiteam.com)
When viewed with the benefit of hindsight, the most prominent names from the 2015 Western Regional Elite Group (REG) hill climb time trial are easy to pick out from the results. There’s current University of Alaska Anchorage skier Hailey Swirbul in second, tenths of a second off the win. There’s current U.S. Ski Team D-Team athlete Hannah Halvorsen in fifth. And slightly farther down the results sheet, but still in the running, there’s then-recent Park City High School grad Brenna Egan in 10th.
Brenna Egan of the University of New Mexico racing at 2017 NCAA Skiing Championships on March 9 at the Jackson Ski Touring Center in Jackson, N.H. (Photo: flyingpointroad.com)
Egan is the first to admit that she’s not a skier at the level of Swirbul or Halvorsen – indeed, judging from the results of this year’s World Juniors, few are.
But she’s certainly of a certain caliber. Egan posted a top-10 finish at Junior Nationals in her final year of eligibility as a U20. She was third in the junior women’s classic sprint at the 2016 Spring Series races in Craftsbury, earning a mention in the USSA press release alongside Jessie Diggins and a passel of APU skiers with World Cup starts. There was the REG camp invite the summer after high school. It’s a résumé that most American junior skiers would kill for. And together it was enough for Egan to realize her longtime goal when UNM coach Fredrik Landsted gave her the opportunity to ski for a Division I ski team.
“I was thrilled,” Egan has written, “as this had been a goal of mine for years. Over these last two years, New Mexico has become my home, and this team has become my family. I have improved so much under Fredrik’s coaching, and I was really looking forward to becoming even stronger. I am so grateful for the time I have had here, but also heartbroken that it is being taken away from me so suddenly. I have two full years of school left, and I am nowhere close to being ready to give up skiing.”
Last week’s announcement that UNM would be cutting its ski team was a shock to many. Particularly to the athletes, who found themselves scrambling for a place to ski next year, while suddenly in competition with the calendar, their own teammates, and any other American skier looking for one of the very few scholarship spots on any NCAA ski team.
FasterSkier previously quoted a current UNM athlete, senior alpine skier Patrick Brachner, as saying that the mid-April timing of this announcement means that “It’s too late to transfer to other ski teams; spots are taken.” Frank Mercogliano, assistant athletic director of communications at UNM, begged to differ, saying of Brachner’s sentiment, “I don’t think that’s correct.” Mercogliano noted that other schools “have basically had us on speed-dial,” and offered his reassurance that other NCAA schools are “going to find room for kids that can win podiums on the circuit. They’ll do that.”
Some Facebook commenters on that article begged to differ. “What coaches are on speed dial? I’m sure some members of the team would love to know,” wrote Colorado-based alpine skier Taylor Grauer.
If Mercogliano is correct, and in an era of tightened budgets and contracted opportunities some other school will have room for UNM’s displaced athletes, his perspective begs the question: what about athletes not on the podium? By definition, only three skiers can be on the podium of any given race. There’s a lot more athletes than that in an NCAA race. What about them?
If Egan is a fair representative of this underclass – good enough to ski on a competitive RMISA team, not quite a podium contender, at least not yet – then the future may be grim. In a candid email to FasterSkier over the weekend, Egan held little back about her current options and emotions:
“Basically, it’s going to be very difficult to get on to new teams. Lack of spots is obviously going to be a problem, but the issue also extends to tuition. Coaches rarely give out full scholarships, and the money is typically saved for people who are consistently skiing in the top ten. I, and a few of my teammates, are not these kinds of skiers. We all have something to offer, through a combination of academics, being great teammates, working hard etc. – all the things that are required to have a great team. However, since we are not podium contenders, coaches from other schools are not going to give us any money.
The University of New Mexico is great because it offers amazing academic scholarships – I am here on the Amigo scholarship. Without that, there is no way I could go to school out of Utah without acquiring crippling debt. Unfortunately, few schools offer the same kind of scholarships, so it will be next to impossible for me to ski for another school.
All of this in addition to the fact that we have been informed about this so late that IT IS TOO LATE TO APPLY TO MANY SCHOLARSHIPS. Of course I am going to do everything I can, but every indication is pointing to the end of my ski career.
The unfairness of this situation makes me sick to my stomach. I have been working incredibly hard with Fredrik [Landsted] to make progress in my training, and have put an unbelievable amount of time and energy into training so I can be a competitive skier in the Mountain West region. I deserved to know about this budget cut months ago, so I could have begun to make the appropriate arrangements, and so I could have a chance to continue the ski career I have worked so hard for. I feel like the decision to stop being a competitive skier was made for me by a man in an office who knows nothing about me or my sport. But he is not oblivious to the reality of this situation when it comes to recruitment and scholarships. I feel like I was viewed as a faceless number, rather than a valuable member of the athletic department.
Currently, I am spending every moment I can fighting for this team, while also trying to figure out my new options, all while continuing as a full time student. I am exhausted and overwhelmed, and totally heartbroken.
As for next year, I am a little lost. I had just settled on a major here at UNM (Environmental Science, which is not offered at the University of Utah, where I am likely headed next) and was ready to register for classes for Fall 2017. I will be applying for a few other schools and contacting coaches and crossing my fingers. Without UNM skiing and no scholarships, I will certainly be done skiing, whether I want it or not.”
When Egan graduated from high school, two years ago this spring, local paper The Park Record ran a flattering profile of Egan and some of her club teammates entitled, “Park City Nordic Ski Club [PCNSC] honors top athletes.”
The piece concluded, “PCNSC has become one of the preeminent cross-country ski programs in the nation, and it wishes these young skiers and the other PCNSC grads currently skiing in college all the best as they continue their ski journey. It’s a real testament to how the program has grown over the years, and how, with hard work, dedication and a sound program, some ski dreams will come true.”
Some dreams do come true. Some dreams never come true. And some dreams are lived for two years but then abruptly snuffed out, two years too early.
The University of New Mexico ski team (alpine and nordic) celebrates its podium finish at the 2010 NCAA Championships.
The men’s and women’s nordic and alpine ski teams at the University of New Mexico (UNM) will be defunded and cease to exist by the end of June, university administrators announced Thursday afternoon. While the death of the ski team is being presented as a fait accompli by the UNM athletic department, ski team advocates are nonetheless rallying support and preparing to make their case for continued funding to the Board of Regents. The threatened cut to another western ski program comes six months after UNM’s neighbor far to the north, the University of Alaska, had to rely on a groundswell of community support to reverse an announced ax to its ski program.
Budget background
Last month the local paper, the Albuquerque Journal, reported that legislators were running into the final days of the session in their attempt to balance the state’s budget “amid a fiscal crisis.” On Monday of this week it reported on New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez’s symbolic move to veto all funding for public colleges and universities for the next fiscal year. On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that state legislators were preparing to sue the governor over this action, “amid an unrelenting standoff … over how to shore up state finances.”
Also Thursday, UNM officials announced that the school would no longer sponsor men’s and women’s skiing. “The decision will save the department approximately $600,000 per year in operating budget, scholarships and salaries,” the school wrote in a press release.
UNM’s Krista Niiranen (c) racing out of the stadium while following Utah’s Merete Myrseth (l) and skiing ahead of Denver’s Taeler McCrerey (11) and NMU’s Kristen Bourne (6) in the women’s 15 k freestyle mass start at 2017 NCAA Championships in Jackson, N.H.
In round numbers, the budget for the UNM athletic department was roughly $32 million in the previous fiscal year.
The UNM athletic department recorded a deficit of $1.54 million for the fiscal year that ended in June 2016, the Albuquerque Journal reported last summer. “According to a report to University regents,” the Journal wrote, “UNM fell short of ticket revenue projections by $975,000 and missed fundraising goals by $200,000.”
In the summer 2016 article, Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs “made it clear it doesn’t mean there are bills not being paid or sports being cut.”
At that time, UNM Regent Marron Lee told the Journal that she was adamant that sports would not be cut in response to the budget deficit.
“No. We do not have too many sports,” the Journal article quotes her as saying. “We do a really good job with athletics at the University of New Mexico and I can’t think of one sport where I’d say, ‘Well, you have to be on the chopping block because we have a deficit.’”
So why was skiing the only sport cut now after all? Here’s what an FAQ sheet from the UNM athletic department has to say:
“Why skiing as opposed to a different sport? There are now less than 35 ski programs in the country that compete in the NCAA, and several of those do not compete full squads. There are just six other NCAA programs in the West, and when you look at the costs associated with skiing such as travel, insurance for international student-athletes, equipment and the fact that we practice three hours away, skiing made the most fiscal sense for our department.”
The ski team’s perspective
Head Coach Fredrik Landstedt is unconvinced. “They’re justifying it partly because of the budget,” Landstedt told FasterSkier in a Thursday phone call, “because skiing has fewer schools [sponsoring it], 34 sponsored institutions right now with skiing; there’s a few more if you count men’s and women’s. … But in my opinion, it doesn’t really matter how many schools that sponsor your sport, if you want to be on the top. I wouldn’t really care if there were 200 more ski teams out there that had crappy teams; it wouldn’t hurt me any. I don’t even understand the justification based on the number of sports. I mean, we’re competing right at the top.”
(UNM sports information director Frank Mercogliano told the Albuquerque Journal that no one from the ski team “immediately felt up to discussing the decision with media.” Landstedt was more than willing to speak when cold-called on Thursday afternoon.)
Finland’s Aku Nikander (r) of the University of New Mexico leads Noah Hoffman of the U.S. Ski Team around a corner on the Spencer Loop during the final lap of the men’s 50 k classic race at the U.S. Distance Nationals at Hillside in Anchorage, Alaska, in 2014.
Landstedt is objectively correct that the UNM ski team operates at a high level within American collegiate skiing. The team won a national championship in 2004, the school’s first NCAA team title in any sport. They were seventh at NCAA Championships this year – “but that’s one of our worst places,” Landstedt said of a program that consistently places even higher than that.
Alluding to the threatened cut to the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) ski team last fall, Landstedt said, of a team that has enjoyed solid results but that has historically lagged behind UNM at the top of the results sheet, “This will definitely hurt collegiate skiing. Because now, you know, Alaska Anchorage is one of the top programs, but they haven’t been even close to as successful as we’ve been as far as being up on the podium. And now you’re cutting one of the top programs in the country … and that means, what program is safe out there? ADs everywhere can point to the fact that they cut us – we were national champions.”
For UAA head nordic coach Andrew Kastning, “the pain from our recent struggle [over being defunded] is still fresh,” he wrote to FasterSkier. “So I know what they’re feeling and hurt for them as well.”
Kastning continued, looking back on his experience at UAA, “One of the reasons we got saved is because we got a lot of vocal support from [the] ski community which recognizes the importance and uniqueness of US college skiing and how it can raise the level of competition for every skiing region. It’s too early to tell what this means for college skiing, but it’s not good, and we all need to stand together and fight for the Lobos just as hard as we yelled and screamed for the Seawolves.”
(Current actions to support the UNM ski team are discussed at the end of this article.)
Back in Albuquerque, Landstedt is justifiably proud of his program. He cites the current 3.92 GPA of the women’s ski team, and 3.6 GPA for the men, as evidence for his claim that skiing has “always been the top academic program” at UNM.
Plus “We’ve always been the top athletic program,” Landstedt adds. “We have 13 NCAA trophies; there are only three more at UNM, total, for all the other sports. And we have 17 individual NCAA champions. So athletically we have traditionally by far been the best program [at UNM].”
Landstedt continues, “And on top of that, the ski team has always covered its budget here, so we never put anything to the deficit. We don’t have facilities that they have to pay for at UNM. The only cost as far as facilities is that the State of New Mexico has provided us with two vans, that’s it for 30 years. … So you’re showing poor judgment when you’re cutting the program that really typifies the excellence of being a student-athlete, a top student-athlete at the top level.”
The skiers’ perspective
One such student-athlete is Patrick Brachner, a senior alpine skier from Austria. Brachner spoke candidly with FasterSkier about how the athletes found out the news and the current mood of the team.
“For us, this decision came absolutely out of nowhere,” Brachner wrote to FasterSkier earlier today. “We knew that the Athletic Department was reporting a deficit, but it was always communicated that no teams will be dropped. Also, the Ski Team has not increased its spending since 2003 and we raised about $50,000 every year from supporters to support our budget. If there is a certain amount allocated from the Athletic Department for skiing, and our coaches never exceeded this budget, why would there be any reason to cut this program, although other programs have continuously exceeded their spending.”
Emilie Cedervaern (University of New Mexico) during the first lap of the women’s SuperTour 10 k freestyle race in West Yellowstone, Mont., in Nov. 2015.
“It was a total shock” to learn yesterday that the program was being cut, Brachner continued. “Most of my teammates declared majors, signed up for classes the day before, I was talking to new recruits about their living situation for next year only hours before we got dropped.”
The mood within the team “wasn’t great” on Thursday, Brachner noted. But he added that, “if anything, this has just put us closer together and sparked our fighting spirit. It is amazing to see all the support of other UNM Alumns, and even Alumns of other colleges with a skiing program. People have to understand how great of a job the UNM Ski Team does in shaping people for the rest of their lives.”
Finally, Brachner provided a dose of realism regarding the options for current athletes. While UNM pledged either to honor current scholarships through graduation or to help skiers transfer to another institution, Brachner wrote that “It’s too late to transfer to other ski teams; spots are taken.”
(Frank Mercogliano, an assistant athletic director of communications at UNM, had a far less pessimistic view of current athletes’ options. “I don’t think that’s correct” that it’s already too late to transfer somewhere else, Mercogliano told FasterSkier in a Friday phone call. “Because we’ve got other schools that have basically had us on speed-dial, calling, asking about kids. … There’s room; kids will be able to transfer and go to schools, and be able to get scholarships. I mean, they’re going to make room. We have some kids that are – we have a lot of podium kids coming back here, both in Nordic and in Alpine. There’s room – trust me, they’ll find – the Utahs, and the Colorados, and the Denvers, and even the New Hampshires and the Vermonts and the Montana States and the Alaska Anchorages of the world – they’ll find room. They’re going to find room for kids that can win podiums on the circuit. They’ll do that.”)
And as for those students who wish to remain at UNM, on scholarship and without skiing? “In order to keep their scholarships here,” the senior Brachner wrote of his current teammates potentially still in Albuquerque next year, “they would need to work 10h for free per week for the Athletic Department, the institution that kicked them out.”
Funding issues and the men’s basketball coach
Hanging over any current discussion of funding for the UNM athletic department is the prominent and public fact that the school recently paid one million dollars to buy out the contract of men’s basketball head coach Craig Neal, a decision that occurred on March 31. (Neal would have been owed an additional $300,000 if he had been fired during the current contract year, which began on April 1.)
Emilie Cedervaern (New Mexico) leads Sadie Bjornsen on the final climb of the first leg at the 2015 SuperTour Finals 4 x 5 k mixed relay in Sun Valley, Idaho.
At best, it may be said to be bad optics for the athletic department to pay out a $1 million buyout on March 31, then announce on April 13 that a sport is being eliminated due to lack of funding and the need to save $600,000. (Although Landstedt suggests that the actual savings to UNM would be closer to $450,000.) At worst, ski-team members are beyond skeptical.
“The economy in New Mexico is poor,” Landstedt acknowledged. “They’re still trying to work out the state budget, the university has said it has a budget deficit, and the athletic department has a budget deficit. But the athletic department’s deficit is in big part because they signed very poor contracts with the basketball coach and have to pay them million-dollar buyouts, and so forth.”
He continued, “The economy is tough, tough decisions have to be made, but I believe there are other ways to cut or to increase your budget than by cutting our program out. That said, I believe it’s not the main reason for the predicament UNM Athletics are in; it’s because of the management or the current leadership of athletics.”
Brachner, the current alpine skier, similarly pulled no punches in contrasting the Neal buyout with the recent news about defunding the ski program.
In the introduction to an online petition in support of the ski team, Brachner wrote, “After firing UNM’s basketball coach earlier this month, UNM’s Athletic Director Paul Krebs has decided to discontinue the Women’s and Men’s Skiing program, a program that has deep roots not only within the University, but throughout the entire state. To put things in perspective, only the replacement of UNM’s basketball coach during his existing contract will cost the athletic department far more than the yearly budget of Women’s and Men’s skiing combined. This example is only the tip of the iceberg of ongoing financial mismanagement at the expense of student-athletes.”
For its part, the UNM athletic department disavows any connection between the buyout and this recent announcement. Its FAQ document addresses this claim: “Are there any ties between this announcement and the recent search for a men’s basketball coach and the buyout for Craig Neal?”
The answer given is: “No, discussions about ways to help our bottom-line regarding our budget have been ongoing for several months among the department’s budget committee. That committee made a recommendation to [vice president of athletics] Paul Krebs and he made the recommendation to the University administration. Regardless of the buyout for men’s basketball coach Craig Neal, this decision would have been made.”
New Mexico’s Emilie Cedervaern on the ground after winning the 15 k classic mass start at the 2015 NCAA Championships in Lake Placid.
Mercogliano, the athletics department spokesman, also provided a more nuanced view of the contract language of the Neal buyout. Mercogliano mentioned a mitigation clause in the contract, by which any money Neal earns over the next two years reduces UNM’s financial obligations to its former coach by an equal amount.
That is, Neal is presumptively owed $500,000 in each of the next two years, payable in 24 monthly installments, as a “salary” for not coaching the UNM basketball team in that time. But if he made $100,000 per year for two years, then UNM would owe him only $400,000 per year for two years, or $800,000 total. If he made $250,000 per year, then UNM would owe him $500,000 over the next two years. And so on.
“We’re assuming he’s going to get a job,” Mercogliano said of Neal; “that’s not much of a question at this point. Whatever salary he then gets gets mitigated off of what we owe him.”
Mercogliano also characterized the budget analysis as, “It’s not, ‘Skiing was cut, we’ve got this $600,000, how now are we going to spend it.’ It’s money that we just don’t have any more, because of state budget cuts, rising costs, cost of scholarships,” and other expenses.
What happens next
Skiing has been a varsity sport at the University of New Mexico since 1970 (it began as a club sport two years before that). Despite that venerable heritage, UNM is now preparing for a future without skiing. “Is there a possibility skiing could be reinstated?” its FAQ sheet notes.
“One would never say never,” was the answer, “but in our current climate, it is not a part of the future vision of Lobo Athletics. We are moving forward with skiing off the table.”
University of New Mexico athletes toe the line alongside citizen skiers at the Chama Chile Ski Classic in Chama, N.M. (Photo: Southwest Nordic Ski Club)
Despite that official statement, Landstedt is preparing to advocate for his program. “We’re going to fight this decision. We’re working out a strategy right now,” he told FasterSkier late Thursday afternoon. “Because we were told at the meeting at 1 o’clock [today] – the AD told us they would discontinue the ski program. They read us a letter stating that by June 30 we’re out of there, we’re fired. And then 10 minutes later the press release went out, and then right after that they told the student-athletes. So we didn’t find out anything until right then. It was very poorly handled by the department in the first place.”
Brachner wrote, “UNM’s Board of Regents has their next meeting on Tuesday and we need to gather as many troops as possible in favor of the team, athletes, teachers, supporters, friends, etc. to show that we are important to the community and it is valuable for UNM to have a Ski Team.”
One representative of the local ski community is Clay Moseley. The president of Southwest Nordic Ski Club, based in Los Alamos, is active in supporting what he calls “a small, but very vibrant Nordic community in New Mexico, with a rapidly expanding group of kids in both Albuquerque and Northern New Mexico.” Moseley wrote to FasterSkier that “Our access to the team is a critical part of the motivation for the kids. They marvel at the team and the team members are always so supportive and friendly to our kids. We are SO isolated here, so having that little bit of contact to some ski ‘heroes’ is vital.”
As of Friday, a petition titled, “Save the NMU Ski Team,” had more than 3,000 supporters. Its goal is 5,000.
The Board of Regents may be reached by email at regents [at] unm.edu, or by phone at 505-277-7639. Contact information for Board of Regents President Robert M. Doughty III is available through his law firm website. Board of Regents Vice President Marron Lee lists her email address as marronresipsa [at] gmail.com in the publicly available New Mexico Bar Association Directory.
The University of New Mexico Ski Team is seeking a Nordic Assistant Coach. This is an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated coach to work with one of the top Collegiate Nordic programs in the country. Right now we are primarily looking for someone that is interested in starting graduate school at UNM in January 2016. A small salary will be offered for the fall semester, August – December, and once the coach starts graduate school, the full tuition + a monthly stipend will be paid.
The Nordic Assistant coach will work directly with the Head Coach in all aspects of coaching and be involved in fund raising and promotional activities.”
Please e-mail expressions of interest to Head Coach, Fredrik Landstedt landsted@unm.edu
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