Albuquerque Journal

Roberts Declines Offer
By Greg Archuleta, Journal Staff Writer

Mike Roberts severed all professional ties with the University of New Mexico athletics department Tuesday when he turned down an offer to take a new role during Lobo football and basketball broadcasts.
   
Roberts, UNM's play-by-play announcer in both sports for the past four decades, learned Friday that he'd no longer call the games.
   
Learfield Sports, which assumed the exclusive radio broadcast rights to UNM games beginning in the fall, offered the 74-year-old Roberts the opportunity to host a pregame football show, a postgame show for football and basketball, daily Lobo sports radio reports on KKOB-AM (770) and perform various other functions associated with UNM athletics.
   
"I really wasn't interested in what they offered," Roberts said. "I don't think I do that kind of stuff well, so if I can't do it whole-heartedly, I don't want to do it."
   
Roberts will continue to work part time for KKOB and KNML-AM (610) and its parent company, Citadel Broadcasting Corporation.
   
"They're trying to set up some shows, something for me to do," Roberts said.
   
Last year, UNM signed a contract with Learfield as its exclusive athletics marketing partner through 2015. Learfield, which operates under the name, "Lobo Sports Properties," in administering UNM's athletics multimedia rights, made the decision to replace Roberts, with the school's consent.
   
Saying he felt "lost" over the past week's events, Roberts called Darren Dunn, Lobo Sports Properties general manager, to decline the offer in a terse conversation Tuesday.
  
  "I said, 'Darren, this is Mike Roberts. I'm not going to do it.' '', Roberts said. "He said, 'You're not?' I said no. And he said, 'I'm sorry to hear that,' and I said, 'No, you're not,' and I hung up."
   
Dunn declined comment, referring calls to Tim Cline, senior vice president for Learfield's Pacific Region.
   
"We thought we had put something together that would've allowed us to capitalize on his experience and keep him involved in the broadcast," Cline said by phone from Corvallis, Ore. "We're disappointed that he decided not to, but we certainly respect his decision and wish him well. We'll be looking to fill the spots that are available in the broadcast crew as quickly as we can."
   
Asked whether Scott Stiegler, who handled the UNM pregame and postgame shows last year, would resume those roles, Cline said, "We're not that far yet. It's too early to say anything about that."
   
Roberts would've been a Learfield employee had he accepted the offer. He said the proposal outlining the new duties was so vague that he didn't know how much work would be required.
   
Known as the "Voice of the Lobos," Roberts said he hasn't had a chance to think about what his life will be like without the microphone in affiliation with UNM athletics.
   
"I won't know that for a few months, but that's beside the point," he said. "It's a decision that I made, and I'll have to stick with it. I don't look back on it. It's happened; it's over."
   
Roberts says he's had several people call him since the news broke of his dismissal saying they were going to boycott Lobo games.
   
"I don't want that to happen," he said. "I don't want anything to happen to Rocky's (football coach Long) program or (basketball coach) Steve Alford's program because both those guys are really good to me."