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New Mexico State chancellor backs AD after basketball shutdown, coach Greg Heiar's firing
New Mexico State shut down its basketball program last week after allegations of hazing and fired coach Greg Heiar for cause Tuesday.
New Mexico State chancellor Dan Arvizu doesn’t have any plans to fire athletic director Mario Moccia after the basketball program was shut down this week.
Arvizu backed Moccia on Wednesday, just one day after basketball coach Greg Heiar was fired after the latest scandal within the program ended with it being shuttered for the rest of the season.
“I have not lost confidence in Mario’s ability to essentially be our athletic director,” Arvizu said via the Santa Fe New Mexican. “He still has my complete confidence to turn this program around. Clearly there’s some issues that we need to see why did it take so long to understand that there was an issue. We will get to the bottom of that.”
Arvizu also said the issues with the basketball program are not widespread through the athletic department.
“Our review indicates that this culture of bad behavior is contained in our men’s basketball program,” Arvizu said via the Santa Fe New Mexican. “It is not elsewhere. I want to make that clear.”
The Aggies announced the suspension of the basketball program Friday, and it was later revealed to be due to multiple hazing incidents within the team. A player alleged that three of his teammates repeatedly harassed him for months, including once pinning him down, removing his clothes and making inappropriate contact with him in front of several other players.
No criminal charges have been filed.
The incident was the latest involving the program this year. In December, forward Mike Peake was allegedly involved in a fatal shooting on the University of New Mexico campus just hours before the two schools were set to play. Peake was reportedly lured to campus in an apparent ambush, and he was shot in the leg. Peake allegedly returned fire, and then three of his teammates took the gun from him later and gave it to an assistant coach in a hotel, where the coach reportedly remained while the rest of the team left town.
No criminal charges were filed against Peake or any members of the team in that incident, either. It is still under investigation — something Arvizu said was due to Heiar’s reluctance to cooperate.
“In part, the reason it hasn’t been completed is the coach has represented counsel and it’s been difficult to interview him,” Arvizu said via the Santa Fe New Mexican. “In context of that, we’ve looked at rounding up evidence to essentially bolster our case [against] the coach and in the context of that, the decision was made based on the information that we had.”
Heiar refused to cooperate with the university’s investigation into the hazing incident earlier this week. It’s unclear if he knew what was going on.
Moccia said the school plans to hire a new basketball coach and play again next season, its first in Conference USA. There is no timetable for when the program can resume daily activities.
“Our focus right now is not to rush out and seek a new coach,” Moccia said via the Santa Fe New Mexican.
