Friday column: Locksley precedent is a hit

If you’re a scalp hunter for The University of New Mexico, your job just got easier.

UNM might not be Harvard, and Albuquerque might not be — oh, I don’t know, Cambridge or Palo Alto — but at our state’s largest university, there is one personnel perk you don’t get at any other school.

One free shot.

Yes, thanks to the precedent set by the administration in the case of head football coach Mike Locksley, all university personnel can take a productive swing at the co-worker of their choice and get no more than a verbal reprimand and a letter placed in their personnel file.

Talk about a great recruitment tool.

“Well, no, I’m afraid our salaries are rather limited at the moment, and the school contribution to the 401(k) plan has been halted … but if you run into an annoying fellow professor, you can cold-cock him!”

“When do I start?”

To be fair, Locksley didn’t knock out assistant coach J.B. Gerald, but grabbing him by the collar, hitting him and splitting his lip — an attack bad enough to necessitate a police report — is close enough to allow a little hyperbole for recruitment purposes.

After all, coaches have been known to mislead athletes to get them to sign on the dotted line. Locksley, for instance, is accused of wanting to fill the football office with young lovelies bodacious enough to make potential recruits sign letters of intent before they remember where they are.

Alas for football administrative assistant Sylvia Lopez, 54, it was decided she didn’t fit the bill, and out the door she went. Lopez in May filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charging sexual harassment, age discrimination and retaliation.

At the time, UNM athletic director Paul Krebs said of Locksley, “He is an outstanding football coach. I believe he is an outstanding individual. I’m really looking forward to what he’s able to build here long-term with our football program.”

What he’s built so far is a program that’s an embarrassment both on the field and in the office. But he remains the coach.

The only possible problem for Locksley — and the one-punch rule — is an investigation launched by the school’s Human Resources Division. But UNM President David Schmidly and Krebs are two of the three people who will make a final decision on the matter. Schmidly has made it clear he’s got Kreb’s back, and Krebs has made it clear he has Locksley’s.

“I do not believe (the punch) is a reflection of his dealings,” Krebs said Monday. “It’s not a reflection of his character. This does not shake my faith in his leadership whatsoever.”

Let’s roll the tape on that last part again: “This does not shake my faith in his leadership whatsoever.”

Who wouldn’t want to work for an administration like that?

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.