He was sued by a former administrative assistant for sexual harassment, a case that was settled out of court. He punched his receivers coach during a coaches meeting, an incident that resulted in a 10-day suspension. There was an altercation with the sports editor of the student newspaper and allegations afterward of an attempted coverup. He has a 2-26 record as coach, including Saturday's 48-45 overtime loss to Division I-AA Sam Houston State.
Despite a string of embarrassing incidents, Mike Locksley remains coach at New Mexico.
Then came Saturday night, when a minor was arrested for drunk driving in a car registered to Locksley, according to police.
Josh Butts was pulled over by Albuquerque police after speeding and nearly hitting a pedestrian in front of University Stadium. He did not have a driver's license and failed a field sobriety test. Police say his blood alcohol level registered at 0.16, twice the legal limit. Three other minors also were in the vehicle and showed signs of impairment. Although two were released, one of the passengers became hostile toward police and also was arrested.
The university released a statement early Sunday saying the car was actually registered to Lockley's son, Meiko, a former high school teammate of Butts. Meiko is a walk-on defensive back for the Lobos. Butts, who initially said he was a Lobo recruit on a visit, later recanted his story.
Less than 10 days ago, Locksley put strength and conditioning coordinator Troy Hatton on administrative leave after he was arrested for suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
Saturday was the homecoming game for New Mexico. The announced attendance was 16,313, which takes into account the number of tickets sold. The actually number of fannies in University Stadium was estimated to be around 7,000.
Locksley signed a six-year contract in 2009. He is to be paid $750,000 a year. The only likely reason he still has a job is that the university can't afford to buy him out, a price said to be in the territory of $500,000. But that could be changing. Word is that the biggest contributors to the program are threatening to pull their support unless Locksley is replaced.
UPDATE: The university fired Locksley this afternoon.
http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/32255285
Posted by: greg6363 | September 25, 2011 at 03:41 PM