1-04-2025 3:03pm

NMSU Hazing Investigation Fallout Continues with Firing of Athletic Director Mario Moccia

Chris Edwards Editor

The fallout from the AG investigation of the scandal around hazing concerns at NMSU continues. As recently reported by AlamogordoTownNews.org the New Mexico Attorney General released a new report on lessons learned of failures wothin NMSU related to hazing incidents with recommendations to the state's colleges and the state legislature.

This is the same incident which resulted in an $8 Million payout for damages. New Mexico State agreed to pay $8 million to settle a lawsuit involving two basketball players who said they were sexually assaulted by teammates.

Terms of the settlement were released on the state's open-records. Deuce Benjamin and and his father, William, who was a co-defendant, will receive $4.125 million, while the other plaintiff, Shak Odunewu, will receive $3.875 million.

Deuce Benjamin transferred to the Mexico Junior College Thunderbirds as a result of fallout from the incident. Concerning his transfer he stated: "Due to the actions of others (which I will not go into here) that dream changed into a nightmare. Adding insult to injury, Coach Hooten recently informed me that it would be in my best interest to continue my education and basketball career elsewhere."

Shakiru Odunewu has moved back into Division I basketball after spending last season with West Valley Community College for the 2023-24 season. He appeared in 32 games, starting 31 averaging 16.8 points and 10.0 rebounds per contest for the Vikings. Set a season high 31 points versus Foothill in a 100-82 victory, shooting 92.9% (13-14) from the field. Recorded 319 rebounds in his one year at West Valley CC, while scoring 539 points. While at West Valley CC, he earned First Team All-State, First Team All-Conference, NorCal Freshman of the year, and 2023-24 NABC CCCAA All-America Team.

Now this week, New Mexico State University President Valerio Ferme announced that Mario Moccia will depart NMSU as the university’s athletics director. As part of the announcement, Ferme also stated that Amber Burdge, NMSU’s deputy athletic director for strategic initiatives and leadership, would be promoted to the role of acting athletics director, effective immediately.

“After carefully reviewing the recent report issued by the New Mexico Department of Justice, I felt we needed a fresh start in our athletics program,” Ferme said. “I have utter confidence in Dr. Burdge’s ability to lead our Athletic Department, and look forward to working with her in the coming months.”

Burdge had served as NMSU’s deputy athletic director for strategic initiatives and leadership, as well as the senior woman administrator and deputy Title IX coordinator for the athletics department. Ferme said she is highly regarded for having a student-first mindset and has helped work on NMSU’s strategic response to hazing prevention.

Before coming to NMSU, she was the associate athletic director for student-athlete success services at Louisiana Tech University for eight years, overseeing significant academic improvement and community service initiatives. Before that, she served as the athletic director for Neosho County Community College, where she oversaw 16 sports programs that won six national titles and produced 36 NJCAA All-American accolades and honors.

Her experience also includes leadership roles at Stephen F. Austin and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, with a strong focus on academic and leadership development. She holds a bachelor’s in health and a master’s degree in counseling from Oklahoma State. She also earned a Doctor of Education at Louisiana Tech.

Former New Mexico State University Athletic Director Mario Moccio addressed his firing through a social media post per KVIA.com

"Aggies Nation, I will have more to say soon. A massive thank you. Over 500 texts and calls from current and former student-athletes, staff, AD's around the nation, media, and friends. Given our family an 'It's a Wonderful Life' movie ending," Moccia wrote.

NMSU President Ferme also reiterated that the New Mexico Department of Justice’s report was a key factor in deciding to move on from Moccia. At the prompting of several questions from news media, Ferme said that he did not receive pressure from the governor or her office to fire Moccia.

“I spent a couple of weeks looking at (the NMDOJ Report), and obviously, during that time, I also looked at other documents, but that was a decision that I made based on my reading of these materials. So, I've had no contact with government during that period,” Ferme said during a press conference of which AlamogordoTownNews.org was represented.

The New Mexico Department of Justice released a scathing report on Dec. 19 that found systemic failures and oversights contributed to three basketball players sexually assaulting teammates as part of ritual hazing during the 2022-23 season.

In 2022, another player shot and killed a University of New Mexico student days before a game between the in-state rivals.

The report found that the assaults occurred in an environment characterized by a toxic culture that permeated the basketball program, opportunities to observe and intervene were missed by those close to the team and institutional safeguards were insufficient to prevent or address misconduct.

Ultimately, then-Chancellor Dan Arvizu suspended the men’s basketball program for a year following the revelations. Shortly after, criminal charges and civil lawsuits followed.

But Arvizu also moved to give Moccia a five-year contract extension despite the swirling controversies at the time.

Ferme was somewhat noncommittal about what would happen with the remaining money owed to Moccia. He declined to discuss what he called “personnel matters” about Moccia but pointed reporters to the contract.

“We'll see what the next couple of weeks bring for anything that develops on these things, but we are not providing a buyout at this point,” Ferme said.

Public records show Moccia signed a five-year extension in 2023 with a salary of $371,800 in 2024. He was set to receive yearly increases that would have bumped his salary to $391,800 in 2025, $400,000 in 2026 and $425,000 in 2027. The ultimate settlement will become public record and will be released as a settlement is announced.