Russ McCarthy was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director of Athletic Performance for Olympic Sports in August of 2025. McCarthy, who has been a member of the Lobo athletic performance staff since August of 2021, oversees all of the athletic performance for UNM’s Olympic Sport programs.
McCarthy served as an assistant director of athletic performance at New Mexico for four years from 2021-25, working directly with the Lobo women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s cross country/track & field, men’s and women’s tennis and men’s golf programs. He is in his second tenure with UNM, having also worked with the Lobos’ performance staff from 2006-09.
McCarthy, an Albuquerque native, returns to the Land of Enchantment with a litany of past experience with a variety of olympic sports at the highest levels. He previously served as a strength coach at Iowa and the USOC and has spent six years coaching olympic weightlifting for athletes representing the USA, Dominican Republic and Colombia. Other sports he has overseen include collegiate women’s soccer, nordic skiing and men’s basketball as well as olympic rugby, cycling/BMX, field hockey, wheelchair tennis, paralympic track and cerebral palsy soccer.