New Mexico State athletic director Mario Moccia signed a five-year contract extension earlier this month, the same day his boss and powerhouse defenseman, consultant Dan Arvizo, resigned nearly three months early than scheduled.
Moccia oversees the basketball program with the former players who are suing the school’s board of governors and two former coaches. The players claim that the administrators did nothing after they tried to tell them they had been sexually assaulted by their teammates.
AD and Arvizu signed the contract on April 7, the date of Arvizu He announced that he was leaving immediately Instead of his contract expiring on June 30.
Las Cruces Sun-News was awarded the contract, which calls for Moccia to take approximately $72,000 more than his current deal and make $351,800 in the first year of the new contract. His salary will increase to $425,000 last year, which will expire on June 30, 2028.
School spokesperson Justin Bannister told KTSM-TV that the timing of the deal was fortuitous.
“He’s been in the business for quite some time,” Bannister said. “It just so happened that the timing was on Arvizu’s last day.”
In a press conference held in February after Arvizu canceled the Aggies basketball season and fired coach Greg Heiar in the wake of gambling allegations — the details of which emerged in the lawsuit filed earlier this week — the chancellor vigorously defended Moccia’s performance in his eight years. Like AD in New Mexico.
Moccia defended his record as athletic director, saying “I made a list of every coach I’ve hired… And, you know, we have an excellent batting average. Nobody hits a thousand.”
It is alleged in the lawsuit that one of the player’s fathers tried to reach Moccia to discuss the alleged assaults, but AD did not return calls. This led to the player taking his story to the campus police, who opened an investigation.
The basketball program is also the subject of multiple investigations stemming from the fatal shooting of a University of New Mexico student by former player Mike Beck. Video of the shooting indicates that Beck was acting in self-defense. He has not been charged. Police had to stop the team’s bus on Interstate 25 to question witnesses after the team left Albuquerque the morning after the shooting.
At a meeting late last year, the NMSU Board of Governors refused to renew Arvizu’s contract, which was due to expire at the end of June. On April 7, he announced that he was leaving early to allow the school to focus on finding his replacement.
Arvizu was Previously drawn concerns In the NMSU community after a police body camera video emerged from a dispute in his home. Chancellor was accused by his wife, Cheryl, of having an affair with an NMSU employee. He denied the issue.
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