Eric Olen’s phone started blowing up one night in an Italian hotel room late last month.
A court ruling back in the United States — Colorado, to be precise — had just come down that, for about the 50th time in the past year, sent the college athletics world into a frenzy, granting a whole bunch of players who were presumed to have been done with college one more season of eligibility. At least for now.
And that meant coaches of every sport — in this case, Olen is heading into his second year as the head coach of the UNM Lobos men’s basketball team — who may have thought they were done recruiting, had to get back to work to figure out the new rules.
“It’s kind of the new normal. It’s just like another thing, you know?” Olen told the Journal in a podcast conversation this week. “I was actually in Italy recruiting at the European Championships, so my phone started going off at, I think it was, you know 2, 3 in the morning over there.
“(So) then I’m looking through lists of players at 3 in the morning, like all right, is this going to be possible? Calling — I think I called Sam (Stapleton, Lobo assistant coach and point man on all things recruiting for the program) at some point, and he’s in the middle of a vacation. It’s like, ‘Hey, you got some work to do. Let’s start putting some lists together.’
“So you know, every plan we have kind of gets blown up at this stage. … You’ve got to be ready to pivot and and adjust. It's kind of never ending.”
Welcome to college basketball coaching in 2026.
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Olen sat down with the Journal this week for an hour-long conversation that is being broken into two episodes as part of the Talking Grammer podcast.
Part 1 (Episode 127) is available now wherever you download podcasts or on the Journal’s YouTube page.
This episode focuses on a wide variety of topics, from the offseason chaos of the NCAA’s ongoing legal challenges and recruiting changes, to whether or not it’s possible former Lobo Donovan Dent might be returning to the Lobos. It also recaps the high and lows of last season and the reality of just how intense Lobo fans, and star guard Jake Hall, can be at times.
Part 2 of the conversation (Episode 128) will be posted online Monday and is a player-by-player breakdown from Olen of this year’s current roster.
Here are a few more excerpts from the podcast:
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On the common initial perception of Lobo guard Jake Hall being a laid back, southern California surfer dude (things that are all true, but seem to mislead people from the reality that he’s as intense a competitor as Olen has ever been around):
OLEN: “Jake’s a psycho. You know what I mean? I think a lot of that shows up in how he works. I think if people saw the work that he’s putting in, it would be more obvious. You see him on the court, but nobody’s working harder than that guy. Nobody shoots more shots. That's why he keeps getting better. I thought he got better as the season went along. I thought he came back this summer better than he was before.
“That’s what we’re looking for in guys. And he’s not the only one. I think Uriah Tenette is going to take a big jump. I think that other guys in our program are gonna continue to progress. They want to be really good. We’re looking for guys like that.”
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While NCAA rules seem to get challenged and change all the time lately, one rule that is still enforceable and in play is that coaches are very restricted in what they can publicly talk about with regards to potential recruits not on the roster. Nevertheless, Olen was gracious enough to answer as best he could a question so many Lobo fans have wondered with recent NCAA rulings: Is Donovan Dent going to be a Lobo again?
OLEN: “First of all, Donovan Dent is an incredible basketball player who could help every team in the country, including ours. And I actually think he’d be a great fit in how we play with the space on the floor (Olen’s system creates) and his ability to put pressure on the rim. He’s a great decision maker, just dynamic with the ball in his hands. So, huge fan of his of Donovan and his game.
“But relative to kind of the what we were just talking about, we don’t really have a path in terms of resources to add players at this time, certainly players with his market value, for lack of a better term. I don’t see really any path to that for us and him working out. ...
“A full scholarship (to offer) isn’t quite as competitive in this market, so yeah. We’re pretty far away.”
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Experiencing the Pit in person last season vs. hearing about it before he got to UNM:
OLEN: “There’s lots of places with good atmosphere. And the people kind of fill the seats. I think that the fans here, they show up with purpose. The pride in ‘I’m coming to the Pit to add to the atmosphere, to make noise’ — the intentionality and understanding of their impact here is unique to me. ... I really love the purpose and the intention that our fans show up with, and you feel it on the court.”
Geoff Grammer covers Lobo men’s basketball and other sports for the Journal. Reach him at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.