...the dark clouds were starting to somewhat lift on UNM athletics, yet another thunderstorm rolled onto the scene late Thursday afternoon. Lobo womens soccer player Elizabeth Lambert was the center of attention in completely all the wrong ways in the team's 1-0 loss to BYU in the Mountain West Conference Womens Soccer Tournament semifinals. Lambert was the instigator of several rough plays in the match, but the capper was when Lambert pulled the pony tail of one of the BYU players, literally snapping her neck back and forcing her to the ground.

The game was broadcast by The Mtn., with the rough plays splattered Friday all over YouTube and national television outlets, including The Early Show on CBS and ESPN. This was not what UNM needed in light of the recent events surrounding Lobos football coach Mike Locksley and his altercation with assistant J.B. Gerald; more negative national publicity and more negative national commentaries about something involving UNM.

Give UNM credit for something. Unlike the Locksley incident which has dragged on for weeks, the university acted swift here. Lambert has been suspended from the Lobo womens soccer program indefinately. How long does that prove to be since she's a junior and is expected to return to UNM next season? Time will tell. But for now, this was the right action to take. The things Lambert did on a soccer field have no place in sports, actions she has admitted were wrong and has apologized for. Just the same, the damage is done and like in the Locksley fiasco, there is much healing that needs to happen.

One footnote to this issue. There were some who called in to local radio sports talk shows Friday afternoon who felt that since this involved BYU, who some Lobo fans have learned to hate, this was okay. Think again and this time take off the rose colored glasses. Bad sportsmanship is bad sportsmanship, no matter who the opponent is. It's not a good example to set for young people who may one day wear the cherry uniforms the Lobos don now.

The UNM mens basketball team saw its first game action of the season Tuesday night, even though it was just an exhibition that doesn't count in the win-loss record. The Lobos defeated a pesky New Mexico Highlands team 98-68, with junior guard Dairese Gary leading the way with 20 points.

The on-court product at times was impressive. Freshmen guard Jamaal Fenton looks like a real keeper. He's lightning quick in handling the basketball and despite his diminutive size isn't afraid to mix it up with the bigger guys on the floor. Junior college transfer Darrington Hobson showed flashed of his massive potential. The guy kinda reminds me of when Danny Granger first came to UNM: good size, nice shooting touch and can play all over the floor. But there were stints in this exhibition where having nine freshmen and sophomores on the team showed. And matching up with bigger, more physical teams is going to be a challenge all season long for this size-challenged team.

As for the product AROUND the court, I have some simple advice if you plan to go to any games at the Pit in chilly January and February: bring a heavy coat if you're sitting in the higher seats. At least that will be the case if things don't change around the outside of the under-heavy renovation Pit. You could feel a draft around the inside of the building as there are no doors. And it wasn't even that cold a night. Hopefully for the fans sake measures will be taken to alleviate the draft issue. One other thing, you have to go outside to use porta potties to relieve yourself. Moral to this: go before you go to the game. It's all part of short term growing pains for what should be a future palace of an arena.

On the heels of a school human resource investigation, UNM has suspended head football coach Mike Locksley for 10 days for his role in a September 20th altercation with assistant coach J.B. Gerald. Locklsey cannot have any contact with his team during his suspension and will not coach the Lobos in their October 24th homecoming game against UNLV. Locksley will also lose $29,000 in salary and in the next three months has to take part in a class on conflict resolution.

The punishment fits the crime here. Especially in today's society, you can't get in a physical altercation in the workplace. Said altercation was established in the UNM HR investigation. Losing the 29-grand in salary is like a parking ticket compared to the 750-grand a year Locksley makes. A conflict resolution class can be good for anyone and should be for Locksley as well. But the hardest part for Locksley will be the 10 days he can't be around his team. That's very tough on any coach during their season. 10 days is a lot of time to reflect.

As for the Lobos team itself, life will go on with interim head coach George Barlow. The Lobos are on a bye this weekend and it's probably a good elixor for them, given the last two weeks of negative publicity surrounding the altercation and the ongoing investigation, combined with the team's 0-6 start. Even though the team is 0-6 and handing the reigns to Barlow for one game, don't expect any drastic lineup changes or new offensive or defensive formations. It will still be Locksley's game plan against UNLV. But if Barlow and the Lobos win the game, things could get a little interesting. Barlow for permanant head coach? Somehow I doubt it.

For UNM football fans, a loss to rival New Mexico State was humiliation enough. We're talking the Aggies, who the Lobos owned the last six seasons on the gridiron.

But on Monday, more startling news. Two days after the loss to the Aggies, word came trickling in that head coach Mike Locksley and wide receivers coach J.B. Gerald got into an altercation September 20th, the day after the Lobos loss to Air Force. Gerald filed a police report about the incident and has left the program. Gerald has not been heard from since. UNM Vice President of Athletics Paul Krebs gave Locksley a verbal and written reprimand for his actions.

It's another black eye for a football program that has seen more than its fair share of dark clouds the last year and a half. In the summer of 2008, UNM was placed on three years probation by the NCAA, which also reduced the number of scholarships the football program can offer student athletes. At the end of last season in which the Lobos finished 4-8, long-time head coach Rocky Long resigned. A few months after taking the UNM job, new coach Mike Locksley became the target of a sexual harassment and age discrimination complaint by one of his office staff.

And now, the altercation that the entire free world seems to know about. National media outlets have devoured the story like sharks around chum. Late Monday and well into Tuesday there was a lot of chit-chat on local radio, internet message boards and across the country on radio and TV. Not the kind of big-time press UNM is looking for.

At his weekly news conference Tuesday, Locksley was hit hard with questions about this latest incident, one that has shaken Lobo fandom to its core. In Locksley, I saw a man who seemed to be contrite for his actions and looking to move on. But the UNM human resources department is looking into this incident, and a simple verbal and written reprimand may not be good enough.

This story is far from over, though some Lobo fans wish it were. In many lines of work, if you and I work together, we get into a fight and I hit you, I will probably lose my job and depending on what you did, you might lose yours too. But athletics is a different world and a more-detached-from-athletics human resource investigation into the facts of the incident may not be so kind as to say "stuff happens." I don't want to even speculate as to what will happen from here; it's not fair to all involved. But we and all Lobo fans will be watching.

Three weeks into the UNM football season and there's been enough grumbling by some Lobo fans to last three years. Only three games into his tenure at UNM and some people are ready to run off new coach Mike Locksley and his new offensive and defensive schemes. You can read the cries in the newspaper and on internet message boards and hear them on the radio. Here's a little dose of perspective...it's only three games! Three games!! If it were three years and the Lobos were still struggling with no upside, then okay the cries are justified.

You don't rebuild (though Locksley would like to call it renovate) a football program overnight. When Locksley arrived at Illinois in 2005 as offensive coordinator to join new head coach Ron Zook, the Illini were horrible and prior to their arrival had a history of medicrity. Their first season together, the Illini went 2-9. The next year, 2-10. But year three, voila! 9-4. So the moral to this story, give things a chance to work. This isn't fantasy football to where you can change out players and coaches on a whim. We're talking peoples lives here. Progress is going to be slow, kinda like baby steps. Lobo fans in general need to show a little more patience as the potential rewards far outweigh any feelings of doom and despair over a slow start.