N Mexico St AD gets vote of confidence after hoops shutdown

By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer

The chancellor at New Mexico State expressed his confidence in athletic director Mario Moccia less than a week after the men’s basketball team was shut down for what the chancellor said was a culture of bad behavior, egregious violations of the student code of conduct and other “despicable acts.” In addition to professing his full confidence in Moccia, chancellor Dan Arvizu said at a news conference that he was confident the behavior that led to the cancellation of the season and firing of head coach Greg Heiar was not reflective of the athletic department or the school overall. Arvizu was speaking less than 24 hours after firing Heiar, whose program was sunk by hazing allegations that surfaced over the weekend.