UNM: Locksley probe bungled, not buried

Top University of New Mexico officials admit today they messed up big-time in the handling of the Locksley scandal.

For more than a month there have been inconsistencies surrounding the investigation into the scuffle between football coach Mike Locksley and assistant coach J.B Gerald.

University President David Schmidly admits the investigation was botched from the beginning, from the way witness interviews were conducted to how the documents were destroyed.

“First people and organizations are not perfect,” Schmidly said.  "Mistakes happen."

Schmidly pointed out numerous mistakes:

• Athletic director Paul Krebs should have reported the incident immediately to UNM's Human Resources department instead of conducting his own investigation
• Witness statements taken by the athletic department should not have been paraphrased and the documents containing all the findings should not have been destroyed.
• The university should have turned over all documents to News 13 when requested weeks ago.

While they made these huge mistakes, university officials insist there was no cover up.

“I misapplied university policy when conducting the investigation and frankly I was not aware of the university policy," Krebs said.  "Frankly for that I’m sorry that this has added to the confusion."

September 20, 2009 then assistant coach J.B. Gerald filed a police report claiming Locksley choked him and punched him in the mouth.

Athletic director Paul Krebs still maintains in Wednesday's press conference that no witnesses saw Locksley throw a punch. This despite statements from a coach who says Locksley was swinging at Gerald and three coaches who said Locksley choked Gerald. Those statements came during the athletic director's investigation in the days right after the scuffle.

Krebs says he thought the coach meant Locksley was swinging his arms as in flailing, not punching. Still, Krebs only gave Locksely a written and verbal reprimand, a slap on the wrist.

After the human resources investigation by the university, Krebs handed down a second punishment, suspending Locksley for 10 days without pay.
The university also claimed today J.B. Gerald asked for $500,000 to keep him silent; President Schmidley said the university will not settle.

News 13 asked UNM officials if they would release the findings from the human resources investigation, the second investigation that led to Locksley's suspension and President Schmidly said the university will meet with its attorneys before making a decision on that.

Schmidly also said the university should have handed over all documents to KRQE News 13 when the formal request was made weeks ago.

“It was a mistake," Schmidly said.  "It was not intentional, and as soon as the error the documents requested were released.”

Schmidly said even after all the admitted mistakes there was no intention to do anything wrong.
 

“I have a lot of confidence in these two people right here.” Schmidly said about Krebs and Vice President for Human Resources Helen Gonzalez.  “I have no reason to believe that they would want to cover up anything, and I don't believe that they have.”