and Ellenberger was promoted to head coach. King left the following year to become athletic director and later head coach at Indiana State University. Under Ellenberger, the Lobos won WAC championships in 1974 and 1978 and compiled an overall record of 134–62 (.684). The team's success, along with his energy and enthusiasm, made Ellenberger highly popular among Lobo fans. He became a local celebrity in Albuquerque, a restaurateur and man-about-town, earning the nickname "Stormin' Norman" for his flashy attire, fiery coaching style, and flamboyant personality. The Lobos were frequently ranked among the top 25 in the nation under Ellenberger, and attendance for Lobo games at The Pit was regularly among the top four in college basketball. The 1973–74 team won the WAC championship and became the first Lobo squad to win an NCAA tournament game. The 1977–78 team was his best at New Mexico, led by Michael Cooper, who went on to become one of the greatest defensive players in NBA history. The Lobos were ranked for most of the season, peaking at No. 5, winning the WAC championship, and reaching the NCAA tournament. Ellenberger was voted runner-up for the US Basketball Writers Coach of the Year award. The turning point in Ellenberger's career came with the "Lobogate" recruiting scandal, involving forged academic transcripts, payments made for bogus Junior College credits, and other devices to attain eligibility for players who lacked academic credentials. In an investigation into illegal gambling, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had placed a wiretap on the phone of a major Lobo booster. While Ellenberger was visiting this booster, in November 1979, he took a call on the tapped phone from an assistant coach. They discussed an arrangement to transfer bogus credits from a California Junior College to the office of the UNM registrar. Based on this conversation, the FBI launched an investigation into the recruiting activities of Lobo coaches. Ellenberger was fired on December 17, 1979. The investigation led to a federal indictment of Ellenberger on seven counts of fraud and forgery of academic transcripts, but he was acquitted of those charges at trial. In July 1981, however, he was convicted by a state District Court on 21 of 22 counts of fraud and submitting false public vouchers. The judge deferred sentence, placing Ellenberger on unsupervised probation for a year, and all counts were formally dismissed in 1983. The NCAA investigation into the scandal found