Former New Mexico State coach Greg Heiar reached a settlement Friday with the varsity over his wrongful termination lawsuit, ESPN’s Myron Medcalf experiences. The settlement brings closure to one of many wildest sagas in current school basketball historical past, whereby New Mexico State fired Heiar and shut down its program amid a string of off-court points together with hazing allegations and a player-involved taking pictures.
Heiar sued New Mexico State in 2023 and mentioned the varsity made him a “sacrificial lamb” for the collection of incidents. He claimed he had no information of the hazing allegations, which included accusations of sexual assault and harrassment. He additionally alleged New Mexico State failed to tell him of a “poisonous and secretive tradition” that existed inside this system upon his hiring in 2022.
Within the now-settled lawsuit, Heiar sought a sum of cash for breach of contract and actions that had been “willful, wanton, and with reckless disregard.” New Mexico State initially denied the vast majority of his allegations and mentioned Heiar refused to cooperate with the hazing investigation.
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The bevy of points that unfolded all through Heiar’s tenure started in earnest in Nov. 2022 when former New Mexico State participant Mike Peake shot and killed a New Mexico pupil after a gaggle of males attacked him in retaliation for an earlier incident. Peake was hospitalized within the early morning hours earlier than a sport towards the rival Lobos, and he was not charged for what was decided to be an act of self-defense.
Heiar was then accused of leaving the New Mexico campus with the Aggies crew whereas authorities aimed to talk to his gamers.
The following layer of the New Mexico State saga got here later within the 2022-23 season when a sufferer of abuse went to campus police to report potential assault inside the program. What ensued was a hazing investigation that led two former gamers and one’s father to obtain a mixed $8 million. Three gamers confronted offenses — together with one depend of false imprisonment, one depend of harassment and two counts of legal sexual contact — as a part of the investigation.
New Mexico State canceled the remainder of its season and fired Heiar after the sufferer filed the report. Thus introduced an finish to the Heiar period, which lasted lower than a full marketing campaign.
Heiar returned to the sidelines the next season at Mineral Space School, a junior school in Missouri. He spent one 12 months with the varsity earlier than he moved final season to Texas‘ Trinity Valley Neighborhood School. There, he gained the NJCAA Division I nationwide championship with a 34-3 report in his debut marketing campaign.