ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The Lobos football program has officially introduced former Cleveland Storm head coach Heath Ridenour as the team’s new quarterback coach.

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“This is a dream come true for me, the opportunity to come here and coach division one football here in my home state. I’ve had this dream for a long time,” says Ridenour. “There’s going to be a learning curve for me. There’s no doubt, there’s going to be a learning curve, but I don’t think we got where we were at Cleveland because we were behind the times. I think we were all quick studies. We were committed to the grind, we were adapting and overcoming and finding solutions.”

In his 10 seasons at the head coach AT Cleveland, Ridenour’s teams went 96-18 including thee state championships.

Cleveland did not waste any time filling the vacancy left by Ridenour, as the Storm decided to promote from within. Previously an assistant coach, Robert Garza is now the lead man for Cleveland.

“I’m super excited man. I got an opportunity to lead one of the best programs in the state of New Mexico,” says Garza. “I’ve done my time and I’ve done my best to help build this program and I feel gracious to have this opportunity that it’s finally come.” Garza has been with the program since it started.

Meanwhile, the Lobo men’s basketball home opener goes down Saturday night against Utah State. The Aggies are the only team in the conference to have a winning record in the Pit at 10-9.

“I think Utah State’s a really, really good team and they got players who have been good in this league,” says coach Pitino. “They got players who have been good for their coach at the previous stop. I just know it’s going to be a challenge.” Tipoff is at 6:00 p.m. at the Pit.

In other news, the Lobo women’s team set a new program and conference record with 21 three point field goals made against Utah State on Thursday night. UNM is now third in the country in made three pointers with 156. “I think a lot of it just depends on the other teams plan and the last couple of teams have been trying to run us off the 3-point line and we had to score in other ways,” says coach Bradbury. “Last night we got open shots and last night we made them.” The Lobos are back in action Sunday against San Diego State.

Also, the fourth ranked UNM hockey team will will have a big test against Air Force on Friday night as the team tries to qualify for the playoffs. UNM has already has already beaten Air Force twice this season, but the team expects a big challenge this time around.

“This is our 3rd or 4th game of the season and they came with a flurry for about 8 minutes of probably what I would consider a blitz if you had to do a comparative sports term,” says coach Harvey. “So, we survived it and then pulled a flurry on them. I bet you they try it again and that’s going to be their Achilles Heel, because if they cant put the goals in the 8 we will take back over and do our thing on the other side.”