On Thursday, NMSU President Valerio Ferme announced that the University would be parting ways with Athletic Director Mario Moccia.
The firing comes after a string of controversies within the NMSU athletics department, including instances of gun violence as well as allegations of sexual assault and hazing.
In a letter to the NMSU community, Ferme said the decision was made after reviewing a 70-page report from the New Mexico Department of Justice, which criticized NMSU leadership’s response to events surrounding a 2022 shooting involving NMSU athletes, and found that, “the sexual assaults perpetrated by three NMSU men’s basketball players did not occur in a vacuum but were reflective of a more pervasive toxic culture throughout the program.”
Ferme said that NMSU’s Deputy Athletic Director Dr. Amber Burdge will immediately begin serving as acting athletics director.
