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The troubling legacy of Ritchie McKay still looms large over the Lobos.

The University of New Mexico men's basketball program will likely lose at least one scholarship during the next two years thanks, in part, to high turnover of players during ex-coach McKay's tumultuous tenure.

The men's basketball program failed to pass new NCAA academic standards this year, posting an Academic Progress Rate of 899 when the NCAA's minimum grade is 925. The rate will be based on a four-year average this year, making it difficult for UNM to improve its numbers.

The team dodged sanctions this year by getting a special exemption, but it can't avoid penalties if its score isn't 925 or better next year.

"I don't see how we can avoid losing scholarships," coach Steve Alford said. "We can't control what happened in the past. All we can worry about is how we run the program now. We are working very hard to help our athletes become better students."

UNM Athletics Director Paul Krebs said it's likely the men's basketball program will face trouble because of grades.

"I really don't see how we can avoid losing scholarships next year," Krebs said. "I think Coach Alford is doing great things to help our student athletes, but we're just in too big of a hole to turn things around in his first year."

The men's basketball program is facing problems under new NCAA academic restrictions. Teams must score a minimum of a 925, with the NCAA awarding four points a year to schools for athletes who remain academically eligible and return to school for the next semester. If a team scores a 925, it is likely on track for a 50 percent graduation rate.

The NCAA deducts a point when players leave programs, regardless of whether the athlete graduates from another school. If the player withdraws mid-semester or is academically ineligible, the school loses two points.

"I don't necessarily agree with every aspect of the APR because I think we face a lot of challenges when a student has a legitimate reason for transferring, but I agree that making sure our athletes are successful students is the most important part of our job," Alford said. "I want to see them do well and graduate, and I'll do anything and everything I can to make that happen."

The university faces similar problems in other sports.

The baseball team lost 1 scholarships this season after scoring an 891, coming in 22 points below the minimum rate. Next year, the program should lose scholarships again because it's impossible to get its average above 925.

"Our baseball scores are embarrassing and inexcusable," Krebs said. "It would take a miracle for us to avoid losing scholarships again this year. That's one of the biggest things our new coach has to address. And we don't want our programs to be coming in around the 925 average, we want them exceeding those expectations. That means baseball is in terrible shape right now."

The UNM football team also is on the cusp of facing sanctions, scoring a 925 this year, but coach Rocky Long and Krebs said they believe the program will dodge scholarship restrictions.

"We had bad numbers the first year this started when no one really understood how you were being graded, but we've been above 925 each year since that happened," Long said. "If they observe the letter of the rule, then we probably will be below 925 and could lose scholarships. But I've been told if you show progress like we have and are above 925 for several years, you won't lose scholarships."

Aside from getting their athletes to remain academically eligible and stick with UNM until graduation, coaches only have one way of gaining extra points to boost their average. The school gets one extra point for athletes who left the program in the past four years if they return to graduate from UNM.

"I've called them, but they aren't my guys, and it's hard to convince them they should come back to help our team," Alford said. "I'm counting on them loving the University of New Mexico and the Lobos.

"It's tough. But anyone who wants to come back and be part of our program has to show respect for the current team and do anything possible to help us out, or they don't have my permission to hang around here."

Long said he has found about 17 football players the past two years who had earned their degrees after their eligibility expired, helping boost the program's numbers.

"Those guys were already in school ,and we just didn't have them down as graduating," Long said. "Have I called other guys who left to ask them to come back? I told them about our situation, but it's up to them to come back if they want to. They have lives and jobs and families. They all have their reasons for leaving, and they have to want to come back."

Long has had the task of keeping up with nearly 200 athletes who have cycled through his program during the period in which the academic progress numbers have been averaged.

Alford inherited poor ratings.

Alford and Krebs were careful to avoid pinning blame on McKay for the basketball team's woes.

"I want to be clear that Ritchie McKay did a lot for this program and worked hard to have his players academically eligible," Krebs said. "It's just been well-documented that he lost a lot of players, and that ended up hurting the program's APR."

Alford said he won't let the likely loss of scholarships alter how he recruits future athletes. UNM could lose one to two scholarships in basketball for one year and will have two years to take the hit. Most schools prefer to serve the sanctions sooner rather than later to show the NCAA it is being responsible and accountable for its poor showing.

"We don't know what kind of hit we'll be taking, so we're not letting it restrict us right now," Alford said. "We have to focus on being the best team we can be and can't worry about what outsiders might do that would affect us."

Krebs said a major part of his plans for his second year as athletics director centers on academic improvement.

He is in the process of approving a long-term academic plan that includes 50 to 70 changes designed to help all sports.

One of them includes hiring Henry Villegas, an associate athletics director for academics, to oversee the programs designed to help athletes in all sports. Another is accepting a vice president title, which ties him to major decisions in the president's office that include how the school is helping all students stay on track to graduate.

Krebs also is looking at bringing in more tutors, flagging athletes who have learning disabilities to give them extra help, and building an academic center to help athletes and other UNM students on campus.

Long said such support is sorely-needed and would be a relief for every athletics program at UNM.

He said Bowl Championship Series schools, which rake in the majority of money from bowl games and other post-season play, already have those types of programs.

"The reason you don't see BCS schools losing scholarships is because they have the money to support their athletes," Long said. "At USC, they have a mentor for every single player that checks on their academic progress daily. Here, we get some help from UNM tutors, but our coaches are the ones who do that job. That's not enough to reach all of our players."

Alford said he is looking forward to getting more support for his program, but he already has taken steps to improve the team's scores.

He has implemented rules he learned under his former coach, famously-strict Bobby Knight.

"Coach Knight showed me how to lay the foundation for a strong program, and our guys have already figured out I am serious when it comes to being good students first," Alford said. "If players aren't taking care of their responsibilities in the classroom, our coaches will know it immediately because we're constantly checking on them. And if they don't meet our standards, they won't play.

"Ultimately, it's up to the student athlete to want to do well and graduate, but we're not going to let them play if they're barely getting by. They have to be role models in our community to have the honor of wearing a University of New Mexico jersey."

Although he is frustrated two programs are bound to lose scholarships next year, Krebs said he is optimistic about the school's future.

"I don't see any reason why we can't be a leader in academics as well as our athletic performance," Krebs said. "We're not happy with where we're at right now, but we're not accepting it. We're doing everything possible to fix our obvious academic problems and help our athletes."