For NMSU basketball, yet another disaster
The cancellation of the New Mexico State University men’s basketball season is yet another reminder that oversight is crucial in big-time college sports. That NMSU lacked critical leadership — from its coaches, athletic director and campus administrators — was obvious late last year.
That’s when Aggies basketball player Mike Peake shot a University of New Mexico student while in Albuquerque in November for a game against the archrival Lobos. The fatal shooting may have been self-defense, but Peake’s breaking curfew and willingness to carry a gun on a road trip were just the tip of the iceberg that is sinking the good ship NMSU.
The reaction from New Mexico State
— to the shooting, the police investigation that followed, and now, to revelations about a hazing incident within the team that includes allegations of criminal sexual contact — all points to a program in disarray.
But as we’ve often seen in college athletics, problems in sports often reveal problems at the top.
And NMSU has got ’em. Its leader, Dan Arvizu, is, in effect, a lame duck. His contract was not renewed by the school’s board of regents last year. Even New Mexico State’s commissioned investigation of the Albuquerque shooting by an outside law firm hasn’t been produced for public consumption.
Tuesday’s meeting of the university’s board of regents may be high noon — a cryptic notice sent last weekend indicates only that it will discuss personnel matters.
The sad truth is, it may take years for this epic mess to be cleaned up, and most likely, by people who today are not employed by New Mexico State.
The most recent allegations of hazing are simply jaw-dropping. At least one player has told police he was harassed by fellow team members, claiming they made inappropriate contact with his buttocks and scrotum.
Obviously, hazing of any sort should have no place in our society. Should it occur, an adult in charge — a coach — needs to step in. We hold out the possibility NMSU’s coaching staff didn’t know about these alleged assaults, but the fact is, in almost no segment of college life are regimens as controlled as they are for Division I athletes. Coaches know their players’ schedules; their eating habits; their addresses; their parents; their problems.
So to believe no one in charge at New Mexico State knew — or at least heard about — what was happening to at least one player strains credulity.
In a letter to the NMSU community, Chancellor Arvizu wrote: “Hazing is a despicable act. It humiliates and degrades someone and has the potential to cause physical and emotional harm, or even death. Sadly, hazing can become part of an organization’s culture, if left unchecked. NMSU policy strictly prohibits hazing, in all forms, and it’s something we simply will not tolerate.”
Arvizu suspended the program Friday and canceled the remainder of the season Sunday. But his actions, if not words, are far too little, far too late.
The irony is inescapable.
A year ago, New Mexico State had incredible basketball success, upsetting No. 5-seed Connecticut in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The team’s coach, Chris Jans, left for a better job at Mississippi State, and the school brought on Greg Heiar, a junior college coach who had never been a Division I head coach.
Heiar kept his job after the fatal shooting of UNM student Brandon Travis — though it appeared he and other coaches were less than cooperative with police investigating the incident. His judgment was at best suspect and should have prompted university administrators to take a much harder look at the basketball program, much more quickly.
In December, following the Albuquerque shooting, we asked: “Should some of the people wearing crimson and white be affiliated with New Mexico State anymore?”
The answer for the coaching staff is clear — no. Now the question is just how far up the rot goes.