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New Mexico State chancellor Dan Arvizu announced Tuesday that basketball coach Greg Heiar has been fired after hazing allegations within the program led the school to cancel the rest of the team’s season. Heiar was in his first season with the Aggies after leading Northwest Florida State College to the junior college national title in his lone season with the program.
Incidents of abuse within the program have allegedly been taking place since summer of 2022. The victim then went to campus police on Feb. 10 to file a report for possible assault.
According to a police report obtained by KTSM-TV, three players are facing a trio of offenses, including one count of false imprisonment, one count of harassment and two counts of criminal sexual contact. The victim, a member of the basketball team, claims that three members of the team, whose names were redacted in the police report, “held him down with him facing down, removed his clothing exposing his buttocks and began to ‘slap his ass.’ He also went on to state that they also touched his scrotum.” These incidents allegedly occurred on Feb. 6.
Aside from the hazing allegations, NMSU also dealt with an off-court crisis in November when Aggies team member Mike Peake was hospitalized after a shooting on New Mexico’s campus in the early morning hours before the in-state rivals were scheduled to play. Peake was suspended for his role in the incident which left a New Mexico student dead.
The dismissal of Heiar comes less than one year after the Aggies won the WAC regular season and conference titles under former coach Chris Jans, who left for Mississippi State after guiding the Aggies to a second-round appearance in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
Heiar previously worked as an assistant at ETSU, LSU, Wichita State and Southern Miss under coaches such as Steve Forbes, Will Wade, Gregg Marshall and Larry Eustachy.
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