Sports briefs
Thomas More offered spot in NAIA
Thomas More College announced last summer that it will end its 13-year membership in the NCAA Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference at the end of the current school year, and Tuesday the Crestview Hills, Ky., school was extended an invitation to join the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the Mid-South Conference. The switch would be effective with the 2019-20 academic year.
Thomas More will compete as an NCAA Division III independent during the 2018-19 academic year and will its explore options for 2019-20. A decision will be in the coming months.
Thomas More was a member of the NAIA until 1990 when it joined the NCAA. It joined the PAC in 1995.
“On behalf of Thomas More College, I would like to thank the NAIA and the Mid-South for their invitations and interest in the College and our athletic department joining their highly competitive association and conference.” Thomas More athletic director Terry Connor said.
The Mid-South Conference has eight full-time members located in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Georgia.
Flames fire coach
The Calgary Flames fired head coach Glen Gulutzan Tuesday after two years with the club.
Assistant coaches Dave Cameron and Paul Jerrard were also relieved of their duties.
Gulutzan led the Flames to the playoffs in his first season in Calgary, eventually being swept by the Anaheim Ducks. But the club missed the postseason in 2017-18 after posting a 37-35-10 record.
Calgary held the Western Conference’s final wild-card spot Feb. 25, but finished 12th overall after finishing the season with just two wins over its final 11 regular-season games.
Jets’ Mangold retires
Nick Mangold has made his final snap after 11 years of consistency, toughness and NFL-wide respect as one of the game’s best centers.
The former New York Jets star – with his signature blond, bushy Viking-like beard – announced his retirement in a post on Twitter Tuesday morning . He was selected to seven Pro Bowls and was twice a first-team All-Pro.
The 34-year-old Mangold did not play last season after being released by New York in February 2017. He played in only eight games in 2016 because of ankle and foot injuries that landed him on the injured reserve list for the final month.
New Mexico
votes to cut sports
University of New Mexico regents voted Tuesday in favor of a budget proposal that includes a reduction in sports and other measures as the school’s troubled athletics department looks to get its finances under control.
The 6-1 vote came during a meeting that was packed with concerned alumni, coaches and others. The Albuquerque Journal reports student regent and former Lobo football player Garrett Adcock was the only one on the board to vote against the measure.
While no decisions have been made by athletic director Eddie Nunez as to which sports will be on the chopping block, University President Garnett Stokes said she can’t imagine a scenario where the school would not have to cut sports.
“We don’t have other revenue sources to fill that kind of recurring deficit,” she said. “… It’s a really unfortunate place to be.”
The athletics department has failed to balance its roughly $33 million annual operating budget in eight of the past 10 fiscal years. It’s also projecting at least an $800,000 shortfall for the current fiscal year.
UNM sponsors 22 varsity sports. What remained unclear at Tuesday’s meeting was the actual cost of each team.
The regents and the newspaper have both asked the athletics department for a breakdown of the costs and revenues for every sport at UNM. However, Nunez said Tuesday the department can’t provide one yet because of the way the budgets have been compiled internally. He said he’s working on changing that.
Nunez has until July 1 to decide which sports to cut. He has said affected teams will be given at least one year notice.