Getty Image / Joe Buglewicz
New Mexico State was never going to have an easy time replacing Chris Jans as their basketball coach.
When he took over the program, there were high expectations after Marvin Menzies turned the program into an NCAA Tournament regular and Paul Weir kept that success going in his year in charge.
Then Jans did what neither of his predecessors could and won a March Madness game before heading to Mississippi State.
After he left, the Aggies hired Greg Heiar, who had spent more than a decade as an NCAA assistant before taking over the basketball program at Northwest Florida State for a year.
Unfortunately, his first year in charge at New Mexico State has been an absolute disaster.
The team hasn’t done well at all on the court. They currently have a 9-15 record overall and a 2-10 record in the WAC just a year after they won only the 3rd NCAA Tournament game in program history.
The poor play on the court was far from the program’s biggest problem this season.
Back in November, their 3rd game of the year was cancelled after one of their players was involved in a deadly shooting on The University of New Mexico’s campus the night before the schools were supposed to meet in the Rio Grande Rivalry.
The off-court issues didn’t stop there. On Friday night, it was reported that the New Mexico State basketball program would be shut down. There have since been troubling reports about the hazing on the team that led to the season being stopped.
In the aftermath of this latest issue, NMSU has decided to fire Greg Heiar.
BREAKING: New Mexico State has terminated men's basketball coach Greg Heiar.
— Colin Deaver (@ColinDeaverTV) February 15, 2023
This decision seemed inevitable for the Aggies given the allegations that have been made against the program.
He was clearly not the right guy to lead the program and now New Mexico State will have a long way to go to build its program back up after this disastrous season.