NMSU to launch national search for new athletic director. Here's what to know

New Mexico State will launch a national search for its next athletic director, a school spokesman confirmed to the Journal on Tuesday.

NMSU spokesman Justin Bannister said the hiring process should conclude by the end of the summer.

Acting athletic director Amber Burdge, who replaced fired athletic director Mario Moccia in January, is expected to be a candidate for the permanent position and will remain as the acting AD throughout the search.

NMSU will contract a search firm and assemble a search committee with “representation from students, faculty, staff, coaches, university administrators and community members,” Bannister wrote in an email to the Journal. The committee has not been finalized as of Tuesday afternoon.

The Las Cruces Sun-News was the first to report the search.

The midyear search aligns with NMSU President Valerio Ferme’s plans to evaluate Burdge’s first six months on the job.

Burdge, previously NMSU’s deputy athletic director for strategic initiatives and leadership, was elevated into the acting AD post after Ferme fired Moccia with cause on Jan. 2 — Ferme’s first day on the job.

“Dr. Burdge has my confidence,” Ferme said during a news conference Jan. 3. “In six months, I want to see where we’re at. She owns the position right now.”

Ferme said a report commissioned by the New Mexico attorney general detailing the New Mexico Department of Justice’s investigation into misconduct under former Aggie basketball coach Greg Heiar was a “big factor” in his decision to part ways with Moccia, the 57-year-old NMSU graduate.

Heiar’s lone season with the program was cancelled in February 2023 after a police report detailed allegations of multiple basketball players taking part in locker room hazing and sexual assault. NMSU eventually settled a civil lawsuit for $8 million with two former players in June 2023.

In the ensuing 69-page NMDOJ report, Moccia was criticized for not doing enough after reporting allegations of misconduct to NMSU’s Office of Institutional Equity; the school was also faulted in the report for not providing transparency in how Moccia’s salary was paid out.

With previous experience as NMSU’s deputy Title IX coordinator, Burdge was immediately tasked with helping implement a number of hazing reform efforts recommended by the NMDOJ. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez reported in May that NMSU had completed “nearly two-thirds” of those recommendations .

Under Burdge’s watch, NMSU also opted into the House v. NCAA settlement. The landmark class-action settlement opens the door for schools such as NMSU to directly pay its student-athletes through revenue sharing. Burdge told the Journal earlier this month that NMSU was “reviewing our revenues, budget capacity, and benchmarking against peer institutions to shape our approach” to the post-House world of college sports.