This morning, New Mexico State University held a press conference regarding hazing allegations within the university’s men’s basketball program. This comes after men’s basketball coach Greg Heiar was fired last night.
At the press conference, NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu said that he is disgusted and angered by the alleged hazing that’s been going on within the men’s basketball program.
“Everything that I have learned is that our men’s basketball program has been infected with bad behavior, a culture of bad behavior," he said. "There have been some egregious violations of our student code of conduct. And there have been, essentially, other despicable acts.”
Despite the state of the program, Arvizu said that he still has confidence in the leadership of Athletic Director Mario Moccia.
“This particular incident, or set of incidents, is contained in our men’s basketball program. Primarily a coach responsibility, but the oversight of that is in question, and we will continue to look at that corner fall,” he said.
For season ticket holders, Moccia said that they will be compensated for the team’s canceled games.
“I’m assuming we’re going to do [both things]. We’ll either issue a refund to individuals or allow them to bank that money for a future Aggie purchase, whether that’s this spring, or into football or next year’s basketball,” he said.
In terms of the future of the program, Moccia said that NMSU men's basketball will move ahead and prepare to be fully operational by the beginning of the next basketball season.
