Hundreds of people were packed into the Student Union Building at Thursday's University of New Mexico Board of Regents meeting, where the fate of several sports programs hung in the balance.
The meeting lasted nearly four hours as dozens of advocates — head coaches, current and former student-athletes, alumni and other members of the community — made statements to the regents urging them to table the issue or reject the motion to eliminate sports.
But the parade of testimonials from supporters wasn't enough to sway the minds of the board, which voted unanimously to approve the proposal submitted by NM President Garnett Stokes and Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez to eliminate four sports programs and impose roster management mandates on two others.