Former New Mexico State athletic director Mario Moccia served as the athletic director of his alma mater from 2015-25 before being dismissed on Jan. 2 by NMSU president Valerio Ferme.
The Aggies experienced plenty of athletic success during Moccia’s tenure, alongside many moments NM State fans would like to forget. The university saw unprecedented success in many sports and in generating money, but controversies — specifically the sexual assault allegations revealed within the 2022-23 men’s basketball team — hovered over that success.
As the Aggies move forward in a new era under acting athletic director Amber Burdge, here’s a look back at notable events during Moccia’s 10-year stint at NM State:
More: NMSU president fires Moccia with cause as new era of Aggie athletics begins
Athletic success
Aggies athletics saw much success under Moccia’s watch.
Football achieved two feats not seen in decades under Moccia. NM State won the Arizona Bowl in 2017 for its first bowl win since 1960 and the Quick Lane Bowl in 2022, and went 10-5 in 2023 with a CUSA Championship Game appearance for its first 10-win season since 1960. The latter two were achieved under former coach Jerry Kill, one of Moccia’s most successful coaching hires.
Aggies men’s basketball reached the NCAA Tournament five times under Moccia, with four coming under more successful hires such as Paul Weir and Chris Jans. Weir went 28-6 with NM State with a Western Athletic Conference tournament title in 2016-17 before departing for rival New Mexico, and Jans reached the tournament three more times with four WAC regular season titles and three WAC tournament titles. NM State defeated Connecticut in the 2022 NCAA Tournament for its first tournament win since 1993, and the Aggies remain the last team to have defeated the now back-to-back champion Huskies in the tournament.
Moccia hired current men’s basketball coach Jason Hooten in 2023, who is 9-6 and 2-0 in Conference USA play this season.
Aggies women’s basketball has reached the NCAA Tournament four times from 2015-19, winning WAC regular season and tournament championships from 2015-17 and 2019 under former coaches Mark Trakh and Brooke Atkinson. Moccia hired Jody Adams in 2022, who has yet to reach an NCAA Tournament but did reach the 2023 Women’s Basketball Invitational final.
Aggie baseball and softball reached the NCAA Tournament a combined five times as WAC Tournament champions under Moccia. NM State’s baseball team also won the 2019 WAC regular season title.
The Aggies won over 50 conference championships in the WAC and CUSA across all sports during Moccia’s tenure, most recently winning the 2023 CUSA regular season title in soccer. NM State’s volleyball team also reached the 2023 and 2024 CUSA championship games. Coaches Moccia hired collectively achieved a conference-winning percentage of over 50%.
Moccia also guided NM State to some of its highest finishes in the Learfield Director’s Cup standings, including four years with 100 or more points from 2014-17 and 2018-19.
Fundraising
Fundraising is heavily important for an athletics department with financial difficulties like NM State (the Aggies ranked 113th with a revenue of only $30,350,192 in the 2021-22 fiscal year), and Moccia was up to the task.
The Aggie Athletic Club, NM State’s official athletics fundraising arm, broke fundraising records in three consecutive academic years from 2021-24, receiving $815,000 in 2021-22, $931,181.84 in 2022-23 and $946,309.34 in 2023-24. The Aggies also never saw their athletic revenue decrease in each year reported under Moccia, except for the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Before being dismissed, he was part of ongoing efforts in pushing for a $137 million endowment from the New Mexico Legislature for NMSU women’s sports.
NM State’s move from the WAC and as a football independent to Conference USA also generated more yearly revenue for the Aggies. CUSA’s television deals with CBS and ESPN pay out approximately $800,000 to each school per year, while the WAC did not have a true TV deal for its members.
Controversies
Moccia hired Greg Heiar as NM State’s men’s basketball coach for the 2022-23 season after Jans departed for Mississippi State. The hire made little sense from a basketball standpoint, as Heiar had only ever been a head coach at junior colleges before taking the NM State job, and the Aggies went 9-15 that season.
More notably, allegations of hazing and sexual assault were unveiled in February 2023 under Heiar’s watch. The fallout led to an early cancelation of the 2022-23 season, Heiar’s firing, Moccia’s salary being paid with booster money instead of state funds, felony charges being levied against three former Aggie basketball players and a New Mexico Department of Justice Report in December 2024.
The 2022-23 season also included a fight and later self-defense shooting between former NM State basketball player Mike Peake and University of New Mexico students, which further embroiled the Aggies in controversy. Moccia’s position was also scrutinized after former football offensive coordinator Tyler Wright was investigated and later fired in October 2024 for his more than 150 racist, sexist and homophobic posts on X, formerly Twitter, that the Sun-News reported on the month prior.
New Mexico DOJ: NMSU fell short in protecting student athletes from hazing in 2022-23
The NMDOJ says Moccia and NMSU have made “significant improvements in many areas” since February 2023 in regards to anti-hazing efforts, and commends Moccia for being receptive to its suggestions. However, it criticized him and the university for their handling of the allegations and the “differing responses” to Peake’s fight with UNM students and his self-defense shooting. It also criticized Moccia for a lack of transparency on how his salary was paid, saying AAC items should’ve included statements that donations may go toward paying Moccia.
The NMDOJ believes Moccia should’ve had more enforced and consistent discipline within the men’s basketball program and could’ve provided more “supportive measures” for victims during investigations, including work schedule modifications for employees and increased security on certain areas of campus. The NMDOJ also disagrees with Moccia’s assertion that a staff member’s obligation is satisfied when a matter is reported to NMSU’s Office of Institutional Equity, believing Moccia and other athletics staff should’ve been more involved with the reporting of allegations to proper authorities and the handling of them afterward.
Ferme cited the NMDOJ’s report in a memo to NMSU employees as his primary reason for terminating Moccia, and multiple times in a Jan. 3 press conference.
“You have to have a little bit of humility as an institution to say, ‘Let’s look at what happened. Let’s take responsibility for some of it. Let’s see what we’re doing. Let’s see what we’re not doing,'” Ferme said. “And then having the courage to say, ‘You know what, we really need to move forward.’
“I think Mario has done a lot for the university, so I want to acknowledge that. But, I also feel that there are certain standards that I feel are important from my perspective on how I want to lead a university that I want to see exemplified with the people I work with.”
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Reviewing Mario Moccia’s long tenure as New Mexico State’s AD
