Report: Former NMSU coach says he was 'sacrificial lamb' after scandals

Former New Mexico State Aggies basketball coach Greg Heiar says he didn’t know about hazing allegations in his program and ultimately was a “sacrificial lamb” who was fired after an embarrassing year of high-profile incidents, according to arbitration documents obtained and reported on by ESPN on Wednesday.

Those documents stem from a dispute over NMSU firing Heiar in February with cause, meaning the school does not intend to pay the remaining $1.2 million on his contract ($300,000 base annual salary for each of the next four years through the 2026-27 season).

NMSU did not return a request for comment on the matter Wednesday and Heiar’s Albuquerque-based attorneys — brothers Brett and Ryan Danoff of the Danoff Law Firm — told the Journal in an email exchange they “have not released any documents nor do we intend to.” They added they would have no further comment.

ESPN’s reporting of those documents detail what seems to be a rather contentious back and forth about who knew what and when and who was really in charge of the men’s basketball program in a season that included players involved in a brawl, Aggie forward Mike Peake taking a gun on a road trip and later using in a self-defense shooting death on the UNM campus the morning of scheduled game, and hazing allegations that led to the cancelation of the season and the state of New Mexico agreeing to settle a lawsuit for $8 million filed by two Aggies players who say they told their coaches older players had been hazing and sexually assaulting them all season and it was never stopped.

While Heiar claims NMSU withheld information about the hazing allegations from him, NMSU denies that and has said part of the reason for his being fired was he refused to cooperate with an internal investigation into the hazing.

In their civil lawsuit, two young players allege they did tell coaches — Heiar included — about the hazing and sexual assault, one specifically noting an old coach of his in Texas confronted Heiar in a phone call about the matter.

Heiar’s filings now, ESPN states, indicate he “was unaware of hazing allegations with in the program, even though (NMSU) had been notified more than a month before informing him about an investigation attached to those accusations.”

ESPN’s reporting seems to indicate NMSU acknowledged it was notified of hazing allegations in December and did not inform Heiar or any Aggies coaches of the allegations “due to Title IX and school policies,” the article states.

The state’s payout of $8 million, roughly $4 million to each player, was agreed to just two months after the civil lawsuit was filed and dwarfs any other settlement the state’s Risk Management Division has paid out this year (no other settlement has reached $500,000).

Heiar, and the players accused of the wrongdoing, were dropped from that civil suit when the state settled with the two younger players.

Following an NCAA Tournament win in 2022, NMSU coach Chris Jans left for Mississippi State and the Aggies signed Heiar to his first Division I coaching gig.

In Heiar’s contract with NMSU, naturally, there were terms that afforded him the opportunity to fight back against firing with cause, which has brought the matter to arbitration. The contract from 2022 also stipulates, “The arbitration proceedings and resolution must be kept confidential to the extent permitted by law.”

Heiar was hired last month as the head coach for Mineral Area (Junior) College in Park Hills, Missouri.

His attorneys, ESPN reports, state in one of the arbitration documents: “Coach Heiar has suffered and continues to suffer monetary and/or economic damages … that have and will continue to prevent him from similar gainful employment in the coaching industry, for which he is entitled to an award of monetary damages and relief.”

The arbitration filings also apparently allege Heiar feels NMSU “failed to inform him of a ‘toxic and secretive culture’ that limited accountability for players when he was hired to succeed former head coach Chris Jans in 2022.”

Among the other allegations from Heiar written about in ESPN’s report was that he was at NMSU Athletic Director Mario Moccia’s house when both first saw the viral social video of multiple Aggie players involved in a brawl with UNM students at the Lobo-Aggie football game in Las Cruces last October.

ESPN’s report states: “Heiar said the athletic director ‘smiled’ and said the video showed NMSU players ‘whooping up on some Lobos.’ Heiar alleges that he was blocked from suspending Peake or other players for their roles in the brawl.”

A month later, Peake, in self defense, shot and killed UNM student Brandon Travis on the UNM campus when police say Travis and others plotted to attack Peake in a revenge plot for getting beat up at that October football game.

There was media scrutiny about NMSU’s handling of player discipline and suspensions from the October fight and the shooting incident as well as questions about the cooperation, or perceived lack of, with a state police investigation.

According to ESPN, “Heiar also alleges that Moccia and his superiors seized control of the program and would not allow him to discipline players who had been involved in the aftermath of a November shooting that resulted in Travis’ death.”

Ten days after the shooting, Heiar issued his first public comments.

“I’m apologetic about what happened. I take full responsibility for what happened,” Heiar said. “And we’re going to continue to get better as a basketball team and put a great product on the court and … off the court. And, just, I take full responsibility for what happened. And that’s … I can’t say anything more than that.”