New Mexico State has decided to dismiss its athletic director Mario Moccia in the wake of an investigation into a sexual abuse scandal.
Revelations from that investigation found fault with how Moccia and the school handled the alleged misconduct that temporarily shut down the Aggies men’s basketball program.
Valerio Ferme, who took over as university president to start the year, yesterday announced Moccia’s firing.
NMSU’s deputy athletic director for strategic initiatives and leadership, Amber Burdge, will transition into an acting athletic director.
The assault allegations forced New Mexico State to shut down its 2022-23 season.
In 2023, the school paid out $8 million to settle a lawsuit brought by two of the victims, former players Deuce Benjamin and Shak Odunewu, who went public with the stories of their abuse.
Two former basketball players have agreed to plea deals in the assault cases brought against them while a third is due for trial next month.
The same year the abuse scandal blew up, 2023, was also the year that New Mexico State gave Moccia a five-year contract extension.
That deal included a $72,000 pay bump, raising Moccia’s annual salary to $351,000 in the first year of the new deal, which was scheduled to end in 2028.
That contract was signed by chancellor Dan Arvizu on the same day he stepped down from his post — timing the school said was a coincidence.
The state Department of Justice review of the sexual assaults found that they were part of a quote “pervasive toxic culture” in New Mexico State’s basketball program.
Among the report's criticisms of Moccia were that he didn’t do enough upon learning about the assaults. He told the DOJ that he believed that once staff reported the case to the school's Office of Institutional Equity, he and colleagues had satisfied their responsibility.
But the DOJ also found that there was more evidence that hadn’t been immediately turned in. Then-director Moccia reportedly watched two videos relating to the incidents after that initial report was filed.
This piece was adapted from an Associated Press story by Eddie Pells.
