Many consider this a return to normalcy after the 2020 tournament was canceled due to Covid, the 2021 tournament being in the Indianapolis bubble, and some teams still opting out for 2022.
Then there were the New Mexico State Aggies, who advanced to the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, only to shut their season down with six games remaining this year.
Back in early December, forward Mike Peake was questioned for his part in a fatal shooting of a New Mexico student after a game. Video footage suggests Peake fired in self defense. Reports from state officials suggest Peake was lured to campus by three students and a teenage girl. Peake has not been charged by authorities to date.
In accordance with university policy, head basketball coach Greg Heiar was not made available to the media for 10 days after the incident. Heiar was in his first season after taking over for Chris Jans.
Heiar and his entire staff were placed on administrative leave on February 10, but not for the Peake incident. Documents obtained by ESPN show a number of issues within both the men’s and women’s basketball program at the Los Cruces campus, most of which went unresponsive. The men’s program had several incidents of hazing that were untreated, while there was a report that a women’s team official sexually harassed another student.
Two of the men’s players who filed complaints have since filed suit against the university.
The Aggies canceled the remainder of a disappointing season on February 10, with their final game being a 78-67 loss to eventual conference champion Grand Canyon two nights earlier. New Mexico State did not take part in the WAC postseason tournament either.
On February 14, Heiar’s staff was fired by university officials, which included school chancellor Dan Arvizu and Athletic Director Mario Moccia. Arvizu was slated to walk away when his contract with New Mexico State expired on June 30, but Moccia was just given a five year extension over the weekend. Once the final year matures in 2028, Moccia will be paid a reported $425,000.
It was Arvizu who signed off on Moccia’s extension, while reportedly not having the same positive backing from the remainder of the school's board of trustees. The school refused to allow ESPN to interview any school or Athletic Department officials once obtaining the documents in question back in the winter.
Sexual harassment and assault go hand in hand. If anything in the documents is found to be true, we could be looking at a potential Jim (“Gym”) Jordan case on a more remote scale. You know “Gym”...the Republican bootlicking waste of a congressman who swept the entire Ohio State wrestling team sexual abuse scandal under the rug while he was an assistant coach in Columbus.
You would be correct if you read that as bypassing the Ohio State detractor taking a much better opportunity to call out one of the five largest publicity whores in American politics.
New Mexico State has not yet hired Heiar’s replacement, but the school has much more to worry about as more of this scandal turns up new information. While you could not lay the blame for the Peake incident directly at the feet of the university, given that Peake was a target by the school’s top rival, one cannot ignore the questionable dealings within the entire program. The NCAA has slapped the “Death Penalty” on programs for scandals like this in the past that got out of control. Remember that there was a lot of talk that Penn State could face the Death Penalty after their sexual assault scandal came to light a decade ago.
-JC24