The University of New Mexico is home to the New Mexico Lobos. The University of New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team represents the University of New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference in the NCAA Division I. UNM established basketball as a varsity sport in 1899, only eight years after the invention of the sport, but it wasn't until 1920 when they hired a new basketball coach. It was at that point the UNM athletic department became competitive among colleges in the Western United States.