March 15, 2005
University of New Mexico director of athletics Rudy Davalos announced today that the school and head men’s basketball coach Ritchie McKay have agreed on a three-year contract extension good through the 2009-10 season. McKay is completing his third year of an original five-year deal.
New Mexico is 26-6 and headed to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six seasons after winning the Mountain West Conference tournament last week in Denver. Winners of nine straight games, the Lobos face Villanova Friday afternoon in Nashville. UNM is a No. 12 seed in the Syracuse Regional, Villanova No. 5. New Mexico has won five straight games away from The Pit, the longest such run in 27 years.
The 26 wins is the second-highest total in UNM’s 102-year history and represents a 12-win improvement from last year, the second-best in the history of the program. The Lobos were 14-14 in 2003-04.
Picked to finish fourth in the MWC, the Lobos were second behind Utah at 10-4, the most wins in league play in seven years.
“President (Louis) Caldera and I met this morning to discuss extending Ritchie’s contract,” said Davalos. “We both wanted to make the announcement before the team left for the NCAA Tournament. Ritchie has done what we expected him to do with our men’s basketball program. He has brought back respectability to a program that had gone down before he got here. The social conduct, academic performance and competitive spirit of our young men is what we want at the University of New Mexico. Considering where the program was when Ritchie took over, winning the Mountain West Conference tournament an advancing to the NCAA Tournament in just three short years is outstanding. We feel there is a real solid future for Lobo men’s basketball.”
The 39-year-old McKay is 50-38 at New Mexico and 133-127 in nine years as a collegiate head coach. The 2004-05 Lobos have won more games than UNM did in McKay’s first two seasons combined. However, the current season is the first that McKay has had a full complement of 13 student-athletes on scholarship. He only had 10 in 2002-03 and 2003-04.
“The extension is something that is great for my family and our staff,” said McKay. “As I’ve said many times, it’s a privilege to be the head coach at the University of New Mexico. We have very strong ties and feelings for this school. We’re very appreciative of President Caldera and Rudy in extending the contract. The extension will help in terms of recruiting and I hope it demonstrates our commitment to this University. We look forward to representing the University of New Mexico in the NCAA Tournament this week and, hopefully, beyond.”