5 things to know about Colorado's new AD Fernando Lovo

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The University of Colorado found its next athletic director on Monday, officially hiring Fernando Lovo away from the University of New Mexico.

Lovo, a 37-year-old, brings with him a wealth of experience at all levels to succeed former AD Rick George. The Buffs’ next head man will be tasked with leading Colorado into the next and one of the most unpredictable eras of college athletics. Between generating revenue and rebuilding the football program, there seems to be a Rocky Mountain-sized pile of work waiting for Lovo.

Will he be the right man for the job? Only time will tell, but here are five facts you should know about Lovo before he officially starts on Jan. 1.

This isn’t his first rodeo

While Lovo is only 37, 21 years younger than Colorado football’s head coach, Deion Sanders, he doesn’t lack experience. After graduating from the University of Florida, Lovo has spent his time traveling from premier college football destination to the next, even making a brief stop as the Chief of Staff for the Jacksonville Jaguars. His longest-tenured position was with the Texas Longhorns as their Chief of Staff for five years, but he also served at Houston and Ohio State before that.

Lovo’s Lobos surprised a lot of people

New Mexico’s athletic department was trending in the right direction before Lovo, but his one-year tenure was one of unexpected success. The Lobos football program went from a perennial basement dweller in the Mountain West to nearly making the conference championship game under new head coach Jason Eck, whom Lovo hired. In one year, the Lobos won six Mountain West titles, the fourth-most in school history, and while it’s hard to pin that all on Lovo, it’s impressive nonetheless.

Winning on and off the field

Bringing on-field success to Colorado is only half of Lovo’s job description. Where those above him’ll judge him is on his ability to generate revenue and get the Buffs’ athletic department back to profitability. It’s something he did in New Mexico, reaching record ticket sales, athletic department revenue and donor club fundraising in just one season.

He’s 2-0 on coaching hires

Within a week of Lovo taking the New Mexico job, he was tasked with finding the Lobos’ next head football coach, and he knocked this hire out of the park. Snatching Eck, who was in the midst of a complete program turnaround at Idaho, for New Mexico proved to be a stroke of genius. In addition to Eck, who led the Lobos to a 9-2 season, he also brought in Eric Olen as the next men’s basketball head coach, who has his team at 10-2 in his first year.

Lovo told ESPN that Sanders has his “unequivocal” support, but he won’t be there forever. So far, Lovo hasn’t missed with bringing in coaches who can rejuvenate programs.

The next era isn’t old

Lovo is one of the youngest athletic directors in Division I, a whopping 28 years younger than George. That should come with a new perspective on leading an athletic department, which helped Lovo lead New Mexico to records in trademark and licensing revenue during his time there. He knows the worth of things like EA Sports’ College Football video games, pointing to that as a reason he didn’t need to visit Boulder before taking the position. However, that could be the start of the next era of Colorado’s athletic department.

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This article originally appeared on Buffaloes Wire: Colorado athletic director Fernando Lovo facts

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