Forde Minutes: New Mexico State Needs a True Hard Reset, Starting With Greg Heiar

After a tumultuous season was abruptly shut down, the program should waste little time imparting change, starting with its leadership.

Editor’s note: This story contains alleged accounts of sexual assault. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or at https://www.rainn.org

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college basketball, where 23–4 Oral Roberts and scoring dynamo Max Abmas are back in the mix two years after a Cinderella Sweet Sixteen run:

FIRST HALF: February Stress Test

Second half

The mess in Las Cruces

New Mexico State (21) took the extraordinary step of shutting down its men’s basketball program for the rest of the season Sunday, an acknowledgment of a program that has lost its way. The headlines surrounding the Aggies have been disturbing, and they have nothing to do with the proud program’s 9–15 record. If first-year coach Greg Heiar (22) ever coaches NMSU in another game it would come as a profound shock.

There have been two separate news events leading to the program’s shutdown. The first came in November, when an NMSU road trip to play rival New Mexico ended in a shooting death. Aggies player Mike Peake allegedly shot and killed a New Mexico student in what was characterized as self defense, in an exchange of gunfire early on the morning of the day of the game. Peake was wounded in the leg, but police say video surveillance showed him approach a yellow Camaro and place items in the trunk of the car. Three teammates were in the car, according to police.

Beyond the sheer tragedy of the situation, the fact that Peake had a gun on a road trip and that as many as four of the Aggies skipped curfew and were out at 3 a.m. raised significant doubts about the leadership of the program. Those doubts were heightened when, police said, New Mexico State assistant coaches wound up in possession of Peake’s gun and tablet—Dominique Taylor had the gun in an Albuquerque hotel, and Lorenzo Jenkins produced the tablet when the team bus was met by state police on the way back to Las Cruces after the game was canceled.

With that episode hanging over the team, New Mexico State abruptly suspended play last week, 24 games into the season. Shortly thereafter the school shut down the season altogether, citing an allegation of hazing that was made by at least one of the Aggies players. According to a university police report, an unnamed player alleged that he’d been subjected to repeated hazing in the locker room that included being held down by three teammates, removing his clothing and slapping his buttocks, and touching his scrotum.

In announcing the shutdown of the program, New Mexico State chancellor Dan Arvizu released a statement saying, "This action is clearly needed, especially after receiving additional facts and reviewing investigation reports related to the hazing allegations involving student-athletes on the team. Hazing has no place on our campus, and those found responsible will be held accountable for their actions. We must uphold the safety of our students and the integrity of our university. It’s time for this program to reset.”

Heiar has done little to help a program that has seen more than its fair share of off-court issues this season :: Gaby Velasquez/USA TODAY Network

The reset should involve no current members of the coaching staff and the dismissal of several players. The fate of athletic director Mario Moccia (23) will have to be considered as well. He chose to hire Heiar, who had been the coach for a season at Northwest Florida State Junior College and for five seasons at Chipola Junior College from 2004 to ’09. Between those two stints, Heiar worked as an assistant for three head coaches who won a lot of games—and were forced out of their jobs for non-basketball reasons.

From 2009 to ’11, Heiar worked for Larry Eustachy (24) at Southern Mississippi. Before and after his time at Southern Miss, Eustachy lost his job at Iowa State for off-court comportment and at Colorado State for allegedly abusive behavior toward players and staff.

From 2011 to ’17, Heiar worked for Gregg Marshall (25) at Wichita State. Marshall won a ton of games with the Shockers but resigned in November 2020 after allegations of verbal and physical abuse by multiple players. Marshall was given a settlement of more than $7 million as part of his resignation.

From 2017 to ’20, Heiar worked for Will Wade (26) at LSU. Wade won the Southeastern Conference in 2019 and kept his job for several years throughout an investigation into alleged payments to players that began shortly after he took the job in 2017. Wade was fired in March 2022 after being charged with major NCAA violations.

There is no evidence that suggests Heiar learned from those three coaches how to run a renegade program. But if a person’s reputation is in part accrued by the company he keeps, well, Heiar’s arrival at New Mexico State should have come with warning signs flashing. His inevitable departure will come after two police investigations in a single season shut down his program.

Hot seat roundup

With Heiar’s departure all but assured, New Mexico State would join Texas, Notre Dame and Green Bay in the coaching market. Others will follow. A quick Minutes look at which seats are hottest in the top conferences as we head into the final weeks of the season:

ACC (27): In addition to Mike Brey’s announced resignation, Georgia Tech would seem to be at the end of the road with Josh Pastner. He’s working on a second straight losing season (9–16, 2–13 in the league) and has made just one NCAA tournament in seven seasons.

There are intriguing questions beyond those two, starting with a couple of legends. Jim Boeheim made headlines earlier this month by declaring that he will “probably” be back at Syracuse and that the decision is his, but that bears monitoring. Similarly, Leonard Hamilton said Monday that there “is more work to be done” at Florida State, but he’s 74 years old and about to miss the NCAA tourney for the season straight season.

Then there is the Kenny Payne situation at Louisville. It remains likely that Payne will get a second season on the job, but his debut has been a debacle: The Cardinals are the worst Power 6 team in the nation, with a 3–22 record and one conference win.

American (28): Most of the teams in the bottom half of the league are in the early stages of coaching transitions, so there might not be a lot of movement. One job, though, seems likely to come open: Brian Gregory is in 10–15 at South Florida, 3–9 in the league, and well on his way to a fourth straight losing season and fifth total in his six-year tenure at USF. He’s gone 13 straight seasons as a head coach without an NCAA berth, dating back to tenures at Georgia Tech and Dayton.

Big East (29): Georgetown has to come to grips with moving on from cherished alum Patrick Ewing (12–45 overall, 1–33 in the league the past two seasons). St. John’s is also due for a change, with Mike Anderson on track to miss the NCAAs for the fourth time in four seasons on the job.

Big Ten (30): Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts sounds willing to stick with Fred Hoiberg despite a four-year record of 36–81, citing “undeniable progress” last week by the Cornhuskers. (It also is undeniable that Alberts just spent a fortune on his football hire, Matt Rhule.) Beyond that, there are three schools where the fans are restless whether they should be or not: Ben Johnson is 5–28 in the Big Ten at Minnesota, but is in just his second season; Wisconsin’s Greg Gard has won a lot of games but might miss the NCAAs for the second time in the last five tourneys, at a school that never misses the tourney; and Chris Holtmann has surprisingly seen the bottom fall out on his 11–14 Ohio State team after five straight 20-win seasons.

Pac-12 (31): The bottom four schools in the standings have been pretty comfortable with losing for several years, but now they have some decisions to make. California is the most glaring situation, with Mark Fox flailing through a fourth straight losing season and third straight with 20 or more defeats. Since a fairytale run to the regional final in 2021, Wayne Tinkle is 13–44 at Oregon State and will miss the NCAA tourney for the fifth time in the last six. Mike Hopkins is going to miss the Big Dance for the fourth time in five tries at Washington. And Jerod Haase is about to go 0-for-7 in earning NCAA bids at Stanford.

Calipari’s tenuous situation at Kentucky seems to only be getting worse :: Dale Zanine/USA TODAY Sports

SEC (32): Kermit Davis’s trajectory flattened out immediately after earning an NCAA bid in his first year at Mississippi; he’s 54–63 in four seasons since then and the current team is 10–15. Jerry Stackhouse’s four seasons at Vanderbilt haven’t produced much traction, though the current team has rebounded to 13–12 with three straight victories. And then there is The John Calipari Situation simmering in Lexington, where he’s too expensive to buy out but increasingly intolerable for the fans.

Realignment reverberations

The Pac-12 issued what amounted to a Stay Calm statement Monday, as the conference tries to find the finish line in its media-rights negotiations while also potentially adding members. The potential additions could help the league offset the loss on UCLA and USC in basketball, with perennial Mountain West power San Diego State (33) the most likely newcomer. SMU (34) got a visit from commissioner George Kliavkoff last week, and while the Mustangs are bad this year (9–17) they’ve had eight winning seasons in the previous nine and sit on fertile talent in Dallas.

However, the one big basketball fish that seems likely to get away is Gonzaga (35). While the Zags are motivated to upgrade out of the West Coast Conference, their landing spot appears more likely to be the Big 12 or Mountain West. The question is what kind of membership package Gonzaga would get from those leagues as a non-football school. As with all things realignment, everything is fluid until the deals are done.

Roster of the week

The Minutes continues its season look-in at how various teams are built in the transient modern era. This week, let’s look at a hot team that didn’t go too deep in the transfer market this past off-season.

Creighton (36) is looking progressively more like a Final Four contender, and the arrival of one transfer has been especially helpful in making that happen. Sharpshooter Baylor Scheierman arrived from South Dakota State, but really he’s from the Bluejays’ backyard in Aurora, Neb., just a couple hours west of Omaha.

The other transfer of note is from TCU, Francisco Farabello, but he’s missed the past two games. The Argentinian guard is one of three foreign players on the Creighton roster, joining standout Canadian point guard Ryan Nembhard and reserve Bahamian big man Fredrick King—both of whom have played their college careers at Creighton. Coach Greg McDermott’s roster is largely organic.

Stat of the week

Tulane (37) is addicted to drama, having played four overtime games in the last five. Ron Hunter’s team has done well winning those close ones, with a 3–1 OT record and three straight victories (Wichita State, Memphis and Cincinnati).

Against the Shockers, the Green Wave used a late 11–0 run to get the game into the extra session. The Wave outscored Memphis 6–2 in the last 100 seconds of OT. Against Cincy, Tulane pitched a shutout for the final 2:30 of regulation and then had a 7-0 run in OT to pull away.

Coach who earned his comp car this week

Chris Collins (38), Northwestern. One of the hardest things to do in coaching is to regain program momentum after it’s been lost. Collins lost it in Evanston, following up the breakthrough 2017 NCAA tournament season with five straight losing records. Northwestern is one of the very few power programs that would give a coach a chance to right the ship after a slide like that, but it’s working this year.

Riding vigilant defense and the backcourt tandem of Boo Buie and Chase Audige (a combined 31.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 3.6 steals per contest), the Wildcats have won six of their last eight to vault up the Big Ten standings and into the tournament field (for the moment). The capper was an upset of Purdue on Sunday, the first Northwestern win ever over a No. 1 team.

Coach who should take the bus to work

Matt McMahon (39), LSU. The former Murray State coach took over a tough situation, having lost essentially the entire roster to the transfer portal. He made it look good for a couple of months, starting the season 12–1. Since then? LSU is 0-for-2023, losing 12 straight.

The next two weeks present the best opportunities to change that, with games against four teams from the lower half of the league: Georgia, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Mississippi. If the Tigers don’t win any of those, the 2023 losing streak may extend into November.

Buzzer beater

When hungry and thirsty in the balmy and beautiful Southwest Florida town of Naples, The Minutes recommends a meal at The Bay House (40). Sample the many seafood dishes and order an Islamorada Channel Marker IPA. Thank The Minutes later.

FIRST HALF: February Stress Test