Athletic Hall of Honor Profiles

Kristi Arrington came to the University of New Mexico as a young woman and played on the Women’s Golf team. As an amateur golfer, Arrington was a First-Team All-American and a three-time All-Conference player. While at UNM, Kristi won the 1984 New Mexico State Invitational, the New Mexico Amateur Championship, and the coveted Dick McGuire Invitational. After attending UNM, Kristi made some lifelong decisions. In 1986, she qualified for the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour her first attempt, and in 1987 she married her husband, Fred Albers.

Kristi considers El Paso her home-base and presently represents Vista Hills Country Club and El Paso Country Club, although she travels quite a bit on the LPGA tour.

After 20 years on the tour, Kristi has compiled quite a record of accomplishments! She started her rookie season in 1986 in grand style by tying for 23rd, and recorded her first LPGA career hole-in-one. In 1988, she tied for 8th at the U.S. Women’s Open and scored her second career hole-in-one. In 1989 and 1991, she placed in the top 10 four times and in 1992, she had two second place finishes. 1993 proved to be a banner year as she became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the Sprint Classic and posted seven top-20 finishes as well. In 1998, she posted her career round low of 62, and in 2003, Kristi crossed the $2 million mark in career earnings. She posted her fourth career hole-in-one in 2004. Kristi also managed motherhood while playing on tour, and in 2001 gave birth to her first son, Austin.

Kristi still enjoys the game. She credits her husband, Fred Atkins, and Bill Eschenbrenner as the individuals most influencing her career. She lists making First-Team All American (1984-1985) while at UNM and winning the 1993 Sprint Classic as her biggest thrills in golf.

Jill Trujillo, UNM Women’s Assistant Golf Coach, says of Kristi, “We are proud of her, she was one of our best woman golfers at UNM. Not only has she excelled in her professional life, she has helped out with countless charities in the El Paso area.” Kristi is a member of the El Paso Hall of Fame and the Golf Hall of Fame.

Congratulations to Kristi as she now has another accolade to add to her list—the UNM Alumni Lettermen’s Athletic Hall of Honor!

Kim Feldman

Matt Arnot, a UNM gymnast from 1981-85, was a four-time NCAA All American and, in 1985, was awarded the Nissen award—equivalent to the Heisman Trophy because it is given to the top senior each year based upon both academic and athletic accomplishments. He was also a four-time WAC All-Around Champion.

By the time Arnot came to UNM, he was already a seasoned gymnast.

“I started in a tumbling class at Fishback Dance Studio in 1970. Ed Burch was the teacher,” he said. Burch later opened Gold Cup Gymnastics in the late 1970s and took gymnasts to international and Olympic competition.

Time management and discipline are hallmarks of the sport, Arnot said. “I frequently was at school from 7:30 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon and in the gym from 4:30 until 9. I had to fit schoolwork in there and my parents said that if my grades suffered, I couldn’t do gymnastics. Gymnastics motivated me to do my best,” he said.

Unlike other sports that have an off-season, gymnastics is year round. “The collegiate season ran from December to April and the international circuit from May through September or October. The months in between, we healed from injury and learned new skills,” he said.

In 1984, Arnot was ranked 15th in the All-Around Olympic Trials. He had a long and illustrious career as a member of the USA national team from 1978-1985. Also in 1985, he earned a BBA from Anderson Schools of Management at UNM, and became the UNM men’s assistant coach.

The degree came in handy when Arnot opened Duke City Gymnastics in 1990. He owned and operated it until 2002 when he sold it in order to “dedicate my time to my family,” he said.

Currently, Arnot is a loan officer and partner at Superior Mortgage Company. He made partner in May and has been in the mortgage business since 1986.

Arnot said his best event was the rings, but instead of the iron cross, these days it’s his children, ages 11, 4 ½, and 2, running rings around him.

Arnot said that being inducted into the UNM Alumni Lettermen Athletic Hall of Honor is a “huge honor.”

“UNM is a big school with a lot of emphasis on football and men’s and women’s basketball. Gymnastics was always a minor sport,” he said. “That makes the honor even better.”

Carolyn Gonzales

Chuck Clausen, ’63 BSHPE, was a super wrestler and football player. He was also a super coach, coaching in more bowls than a soup kitchen can fill. He was also a Super Bowl coach. He got his start on the mat and on the field at Albuquerque’s Highland High School before competing in both sports at UNM. A heavyweight grappler, Clausen won more than 90 percent of his wrestling matches as a Lobo between 1960 and 1962 and was in the top 5 in the WAC each year.

A gridiron great, Clausen played center and linebacker in the 1961 Aviation Bowl and the Lobos came out on top. He played the same positions the following year when his Lobos were WAC champions.
A five-time letterman, Clausen wasn’t coming to school just to play. He was equally astute in the classroom, making the dean’s list almost every semester. He served on Student Council and was vice president of the Student Lettermen’s Club. Clausen earned a physical education degree, but also took the required courses for a major in psychology.

Following graduation, he coached wrestling and football at Gallup High School for one year before moving to Fremont, California, where he not only coached, but also earned a master’s in psychology at San Jose State. New Mexico lured him back briefly and he became the defensive coordinator for the New Mexico Military Institute.

“I planned to stay there. I enjoyed being in New Mexico,” he said. But then Marv Levy called to offer him a job as defensive coordinator at William and Mary. “My wife asked me how much it was going to pay and I didn’t even know. It turns out it was $1,000 less than I was making at NMMI, but it all worked out,” Clausen said.

When Levy left to coach in the pros, Clausen went on to pick fruit in the Tangerine Bowl. In 1971, Woody Hayes called from Ohio State—the Mecca of college football. “No interview ever took place. I never met the board, but when an Air Force colonel sitting next to me on the plane the next day told me I got the job as defensive line coach, I should’ve believed him,” Clausen recalled. Five years and four straight Rose Bowls later, Dick Vermiel, then at UCLA, was asking him to give a defense clinic.

“Not long after Vermiel got the job with the Philadelphia Eagles, he called me and offered me a job even though I’d never been a pro player. I was with the Eagles for 10 years. Each year we won more games,” he said. In 1981, he coached in the Super Bowl as his Eagles took on the Oakland Raiders. The Eagles lost. Clausen said, “Winning is very important in the pros, but what I remember is the people. Great coaches love their players and want to help them be as good as they can be.”

Clausen coached a few more years in the pros—with the Atlanta Falcons and one year with the San Diego Chargers—but he’s discovered that commercial real estate requires the same kind of relationship-building that sports demands. A highly successful realtor in Georgia, he’s in their multi-million dollar club and the leading edge society.

Of his induction Clausen said, “I am honored. It was something I didn’t expect. UNM was an important part of my life, contributing to my success on the field and providing me with a good education.”

Carolyn Gonzales

In his nearly 14-year tenure as UNM director of athletics, from 1992-2006, Rudy Davalos elevated the Lobos’ program academically, competitively and fiscally. His accomplishments were recognized nationally in 2002 when Sports Illustrated featured him as one of the “101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports.” He also received the Dr. Albert C. Yates Distinguished Service Award in 2006, bestowed upon an individual who successfully supported, promoted and exemplified the ideals of the Mountain West Conference or a member institution.

UNM student-athletes were consistently among the Mountain West Conference leaders in the academic arena. The Lobos produced 86 MWC Scholar- Athletes during the 2004-05 academic year, more than any other conference school. UNM student-athletes continually established new standards for semester grade-point-averages, reaching a combined 3.0 or higher in the last eight terms of Davalos’ tenure. Additionally, more than 100 student-athletes received national academic recognition since 1993.

Athletically, in the 10 years before Davalos came to New Mexico only five sports had combined to win or share 10 conference titles. During his tenure, eight teams won or shared nearly 40 regular-season or postseason conference championships. The University was represented at NCAA postseason competition more than 115 times, while more than 150 student-athletes earned All-America recognition for their athletic achievements.

In men’s basketball, eight of the Lobos’ 11 NCAA Tournament appearances came while Davalos was at New Mexico. Likewise, all of the NCAA Tournament showings for the Lobo women’s basketball program occurred while he was at UNM. Men’s and women’s basketball ranked in the top-15 in national attendance average nine times.

In football, half of New Mexico’s total bowl appearances happened between 1997-2004. Season attendance records were broken seven times.

The UNM ski team won the 2004 NCAA championship— the first Lobo program to claim a national title—and was second in 2006. Lobo men’s soccer was national runner-up in 2005.

When Davalos started in 1992, the athletics department budget was $9.4 million. The Lobos operated the 2005-06 fiscal year with a budget of more than $22 million. Not one time during Davalos’ stay did the department fail to meet its annual financial obligations.

Davalos forged a relationship with the state’s governors and legislators, local businesses and private contributors, allowing the school to update, renovate or provide new construction for virtually every athletics facility.

Davalos served on numerous conference and national committees, including the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Committees, the NCAA Baseball Committee and the NCAA Championships Committee.

Davalos currently chairs the executive board of the New Mexico Bowl.

Excerpted from GoLobos.com

Jeremy Fishbein is entering his 14th season as a collegiate soccer head coach and his fifth year at the helm of the Lobo men’s program. He spent nine seasons at the Division II level before joining the Lobo program in 2001 and leading it to places never before seen at UNM.

Fishbein spent the 2001 season as the associate head coach under longtime head coach Klaus Weber, UNM’s al-time “winningest” coach. There he learned the ins and outs of running a Division I program. He also helped guide the Lobos to their first ever Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) title and their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

When Weber decided to retire in the summer of 2002, the only choice for his replacement was Fishbein.

From the start, Fishbein dedicated himself to improving the team’s 7-12-2 record from the 2001 season. He set a goal to build UNM into one of the top programs in the country and has worked toward that goal ever since.

Each year, Fishbein and the Lobos took steps forward. In 2002, UNM posted a school record 18-4-0 mark, winning the MPSF Tournament for the second year in a row, and returning to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season. The 9.5 game improvement from 2001 to 2002 was the 10th best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. 

The 8-9-3 record of 2003 may not have looked like progress, but facing seven ranked teams in the regular season gave New Mexico an idea of what it took to be a top program. UNM was one goal away from returning to the NCAA Tournament, but fell 3-2 in the MPSF Championship game to San Jose State. 

In 2004, Fishbein and his staff put together the 15th best recruiting class in the nation, according to CollegeSoccerNews.com, and meshed it with a very talented group of returning players into one of the best teams in school history. UNM amassed a 17-1-2 record, defeated No. 1 Indiana in the regular season, won the MPSF title for the third time in four years and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. For his efforts, Fishbein was recognized as the 2004 National Coach of the Year by Soccer America magazine.

As good as 2004 was, 2005 was even better. The Lobos tied the school record for wins with an 18-2-3 mark, won the MPSF title again and were ranked No. 1 in the nation for parts of the season. UNM was the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced all the way to the NCAA Finals. The Lobos also set an NCAA record for attendance with 3,629 fans per game, including a sold out crowd against Cal in the NCAA Tournament. Again Fishbein was honored with the 2005 Far West Region Coach of the Year and 2005 MPSF co-Coach of the Year honors.

Fishbein has built a solid resume for himself during his first four seasons at UNM. Only the second coach in school history to win the MPSF Coach of the Year honors twice,he earned his 150th collegiate coaching win in 2005. Also, Fishbein has coached five of the eight Lobos who earned All-American honors—Junro Narita (2002), Jeff Rowland (2004-05), Andrew Boyens (2005) and Lance Watson (2005)—and the only Hermann Trophy finalist in school history in Jeff Rowland (2005).

The Lobos’ success has carried over into the classroom under Fishbein. UNM set a program record with a 3.35 team grade-point-average in spring 2005. UNM also placed four players on the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American squad, including Ben Ashwill, Brandon Moss, Jeff Rowland and Matt Wootton. No other team in the country had more than two representatives.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Fishbein, 40, played college soccer at both the University of Richmond (1984-85) and the University of Cincinnati (1986). His post-collegiate playing experience included stints with teams in New Zealand, Australia and California. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from UC Santa Barbara and a master’s degree in sport administration from UNM.

His wife, Alicia Meraz, was an all-conference tennis player for the Lobos from 1993-96. The couple has two daughters, Alisa (5) and Gabriela (3).

Excerpted from GoLobos.com

Charles “Chuck” Koskovich, raised in Canton, Ohio, was the oldest son of Joseph and Catherine Koskovich, of Zagreb, Yugoslavia. An avid athlete, Chuck was recruited to play football for the University of New Mexico. His tenure as a student athlete lay the foundation for a long and fruitful life in Albuquerque.

Chuck contributed his leadership and athletic skills as quarterback for the 1951, 1952 and 1953 football teams. The 1952 team earned a spot on the UNM Athletic Hall of Honor in 1993 as the National Defensive Championship team. Coached by Dudley DeGroot, also a Posthumous Hall of Honor inductee, the team continued to excel with several shutout wins over Skyline Conference teams. Other Hall of Honor inductees from Chuck’s squads include Larry White, Sam Suplizio, Jim Bruening, Mike Prokopiak and the Barney boys—Dave and Robert.

A competitive player on the field, Chuck was just as competitive off the field running for student body president. As only a quarterback can strategize his plays, Chuck was ready to make some changes in student government. But being the gentleman he was, he graciously stepped down when it was ruled he was ineligible due to a lack of only 3 credit hours. This didn’t stop Chuck from being involved as a student leader, however. Chuck was an active member of his fraternity, Kappa Sigma, when he ran for student council as well as Jack or King of Hearts. He also found time to court his future bride, Judy Hubbard. 

After graduating from UNM, Chuck spent his professional career with Lincoln National Life, ACF Industries and retired from the Department of Energy in 1996.  He and Judy celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2004 with their four children, Kathy, Mark, William and Gregory and their families. The couple loved to travel and took several romantic trips around the world.

Chuck had a passion for the Lobos, volunteering his free time with the Lobo Club and serving as president of the UNM Alumni Lettermen’s Association. As many athletes often do in their lifetime, Chuck volunteered to help youth in sports by coaching eight years for YAFL. He also spent several years as a board member of the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame and volunteered for the Heart Hospital in Albuquerque. His longtime friend and teammate, Dave Matthews, said, “Chuck faithfully represented and supported the University throughout his lifetime. He represented the very best product that the University could send to the community.  The University should be proud that his name is associated with it as one of its alumni.”

Chuck passed away this past April, leaving a void for the many friends and teammates who cherished his leadership, kindness and friendship.

Sue MacEachen

It’s good to have friends in high places, and such is the fortune of UNM athletics! Henry Saavedra, affectionately known as “Kiki” to many, is one of those powerful friends. He has served in a variety of leadership positions in the New Mexico State Legislature over a 30-year period. Presently, he is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Kiki receives the UNM Alumni Lettermen’s Distinguished Service Award for a myriad of reasons. One only needs to talk to him for a few minutes to gain an understanding of what he values most in life.

An avid sportsman himself at Albuquerque’s St. Joseph high school, Kiki chose to play baseball over football. Although he was tempted by seven football scholarship offers, he still remained faithful to baseball. And when it came time to make one of the most important decisions in his life, he chose to go to college over playing professional baseball.

Anyone who knows Kiki knows that he loves sports and he loves UNM. So, it is only natural that he has invested in the things he loves. Kiki is responsible for many major capital projects at UNM, some sexy and some not. Kiki didn’t make the grass green at UNM’s South Championship Golf Course—he made it greener. Kiki didn’t make the Tow Diehm building cool—he made it cooler. Kiki didn’t make the parking lots at the UNM Football Stadium tailgate lot and the Championship golf course smooth—he made them smoother. Kiki didn’t make the facilities at Johnson Gymnasium great—he made them greater! Rep. Saavedra is solely responsible for the $2.7 million dollars of recurring money allocated to UNM athletics each year. In its 26-year history, Kiki has seen the allocation fund grow from $26,000 to its present amount. Kiki is solely responsible for the infrastructure and renovation of many UNM athletic buildings including: funding 80 percent of the Tow Diehm south athletic complex; allocating money for refrigerated air for the Tow Diehm complex; paving the parking lot east of the UNM football stadium (where the tailgate activities thrive); funding the recent renovation of Johnson Gymnasium; allocating money to build the Golf Course Pavilion at the UNM South Championship Golf Course; providing the necessary funding of the well and pump for the watering system at the Championship Course; providing the golf carts for the South Course; and most recently, enabling the repaving of the parking lot at the UNM South Golf Course and the building of an indoor practice facility for athletics.

When asked, “Why do you give to UNM?” he quickly replied, “Tow Diehm was instrumental in my life, he helped me make some big decisions... That was it, man. And, he was my golf partner!” His eyes seemed to smile as he recounted the many memories of Tow.

Kiki is also very proud to talk about the love he has for his family, his wife Charissa and their five children—all but one a UNM grad.

Kim Feldman

To a lot of people, Jon Carlos Salazar was the personification of sports journalism in Albuquerque.

Which is to say: For more than a half-century, it didn’t really happen on the local sports beat unless Carlos wrote it in the newspaper.

The longtime sports editor of The Albuquerque Tribune, Salazar spent 52 years at his craft, turning out a folksy and friendly brand of writing that made his column an afternoon devotional – and his knowledge of the local athletic scene absolutely unassailable.

Nowhere was this more evident than at UNM, where for more than four decades it was almost impossible to be a Lobo without being interviewed by Carlos.

“He wanted to report the thing, and he tried to report without hurting people,” Bob King, the late UNM basketball coaching legend, once said of Salazar. “He tried to make it as painless as he could. There are times that wasn’t possible, but he liked kids. He liked the players, loved to follow them.”

Carlos—people simply called him Carlos—was an Albuquerque product through and through. He graduated from Albuquerque High School in 1943, served in the Navy during World War II and came to work at The Trib after hostilities concluded.

It didn’t take long for readers to catch on that this was no ordinary reporter. Salazar, a workaholic before the word was invented, was simply prolific—churning out story after story at a time when a good sport writer’s only real tools for success were telephones and insomnia.

He wasn’t always popular: Salazar once wrote in a Tribune newsletter than he was hanged twice in effigy by UNM students who didn’t think much of his style.

“I always said effigy hangings were better than the real thing,” Carlos wryly noted.

His kindness and ability to empathize were legendary—Carlos’ amiable nature eventually won over even the most skeptical observers. He was more than generous with advice to the legions of would-be sports writers who dreamed the impossible dream of having his kind of hold on a community.

“It Sez Here,” the name of Carlos’ column in The Trib, became a must-read ritual for the Lobo fan who followed names like Santiago and Perkins, Clausen and Daniels, Quintana and Long, Mathis and Cole, Cooper and Greene. He simply covered it all, and did it in a way that held a community’s attention—not just for a few minutes, but a lifetime.

After leaving his position as The Trib’s sports editor, Carlos became its obituary writer. Typically, he threw himself into the job with a passion, working long days and even longer nights. He knew no other way.

He battled diabetes for more than half of his 73 years; eventually it beat him in 1998. But his legacy remains at The Trib and in sports—the passions to which he gave his life. It’s almost impossible to write the history of UNM athletics without finding the words of the man who chronicled its move into the modern age.

The name is Carlos.

Phill Casaus

George W. “Blanco” White held the position of administrator of varsity athletics and intramural sports at UNM from 1937 until 1957. He was also the assistant dean of the College of Education and the director of physical education and health. While assistant dean, he was termed the general manager of Athletics. His job involved seeing that there was more income at the gate than there was outgoing in the athletic budget, determining ticket prices, telling the fans where to sit, and in general, keeping his finger on the pulse of the entire athletic program.

During his years at the UNM, Blanco strived to bring the athletic program into prominence. He endeavored to engage the services of coaches with winning records and those with excellent academic qualifications, and also with that necessary spark to motivate young minds. Like any athletic administrator, he had to make unfavorable decisions pertaining to the retention of popular coaches and other matters detrimental to the academic standards of the university. When directions came down from the top administration of the university, he was bound to comply with their wishes even when he did not agree.

All positions in the Athletic Department were under his leadership. All academic and athletic personnel served under his direction. This included the position of Athletic Director that was held by Coach Roy Johnson from 1931 until 1942. He served in World War II until the end of the conflict in 1945. During the war years, George White maintained that position until the return of Johnson.

It must be stated that the athletic staff under the direction of George White kept the Lobo athletic program in national prominence because everyone helped each other in the coaching of all sports. When push came to shove, Blanco did what he had to do to keep the Lobos viable. When Benny Sacks was called to active duty, Willis Barnes took over the basketball program. One year later, White took over the Lobo basketball team, 1943-1944, and won the Border Conference Championship, defeating Arizona and Texas Tech, twice each. White always felt that the winning of the Border Conference championship was his ultimate coaching memory. When needed, White performed all duties. He served as an assistant football coach in 1940. In the absence of Johnson, he not only coached the basketball team, but also the track team, 1943-1945. After the war, he coached the tennis team from 1953 until his untimely death in 1957 at the age of 60.

Coach George White graduated from Albuquerque High School in 1914. He enrolled at the University where he was the football captain in 1917 and also participated under the direction of Coach Roy Johnson in track and basketball after Johnson joined the faculty at the University in 1920.

Jim Hulsman

This is the second year in a row that Maja Kovacek has been named female athlete of the year. She carried a double major in psychology and sociology while completing an outstanding tennis career with the Lobos. She played at the No. 1 position in singles and doubles for most of her career and became the only two-time all-America selection in New Mexico women’s tennis history. A two-time MWC Player of the Year and four time all-conference honoree, Kovacek was nationally ranked in singles play four straight years at UNM. A native of Pula, Croatia, Kovacek earned Academic all-MWC accolades four years and was one of only eight regional winners of the Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship & Leadership Award. She was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District second team. Kovacek’s list of accomplishments includes ITA Rookie of the Year, UNM Female Student-Athlete of the Year, Mountain West Conference Female Student-Athlete of the Year, ITA Scholar Athlete and MWC Scholar Athlete. She was recently selected as the Mountain West Conference nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award honoring senior student-athletes for their cumulative collegiate achievements in service, leadership, athletics and academics. 

Abbie Letz played in 126 games with 80 starts during her four successful years (2002-2006) of basketball at UNM. During her tenure, the Lobos compiled a 95-32 overall record with four straight 20-win seasons; four consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including the 2003 Sweet 16; and the school’s first tournament victory away from The Pit. Letz was a member of Lobo teams that won three Mountain West Conference Tournament championships and two regular season MWC titles. Despite a nagging back injury, Letz was named third team all-MWC in 2006, setting career-highs in virtually every statistical category. She led UNM in rebounding at 7.5 a game and was third in scoring at 10.3 points a game. Off the court, Letz earned academic All-MWC honors all four years at UNM and was named MWC Scholar Athlete three times. An El Paso native, Letz also won the team’s Community Award twice for her volunteer work.

During his career from 2001-2005, DonTrell Moore was one of the premier running backs in the nation. He captured virtually every rushing and scoring record in both school and league history, and was the first to be named first team all-conference four times. As a senior the two-time All-American was named MWC Offensive Player of the Year by the league media and coaches. Moore had seven 100-yard games as a senior and ranked 10th nationally in 2005, rushing for a career-best 118 yards per game. Moore finished as the UNM and MWC career rushing leader, making him 13th all-time in NCAA Division I-A history. Moore’s 51 rushing TDs and 59 total TDs are the most in school and conference history. He became the sixth player in the history of NCAA Division I-A football to reach the 1,000-yard mark four times in a career. His 1,028 career rushing attempts and 26 career 100-yard rushing games were also school and conference records. Moore’s 5,947 career all-purpose yards rank 2nd all-time at UNM, tops in MWC history and 25th all-time in NCAA history. Moore earned his degree in criminology in December 2005.

Jeff Rowland was a standout member of the Lobo men’s soccer team from 2002-05. He left UNM as the most decorated player in school history, going from a non-recruited walk-on to a Hermann Trophy finalist. The two-time All-American ranks third in points (104), second in goals (45) and shots (239), and ninth in assists (14) on UNM’s all-time list. He also has five career goals and three assists in NCAA Tournament play. As a senior, Rowland led the team and the MPSF with 36 points on 16 goals and four assists. He guided the Lobos to the finals of the NCAA College Cup, scoring two overtime game-winners. Twice he was a consensus All-American and named 1st Team CoSIDA ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American and 1st Team NSCAA Scholar Athlete. Rowland was one of two finalists for the 2005 MAC Hermann Trophy given to the top college soccer player in the nation. Rowland was drafted the No. 2 overall pick in the 2006 MLS Supplemental Draft by Real Salt Lake, but a knee injury has put his playing career on hold. He is currently finishing his degree in marketing at UNM.