LAS CRUCES, N.M. New Mexico State Athletics Director Dr. McKinley Boston announced Thursday, May 10, that the school has reached a contract restructuring with head men’s basketball coach Reggie Theus.
Theus, whose Aggies are the most improved team in NCAA Division I men’s basketball over the last two seasons (6-24 in 2004-05 to 25-9 in 2006-07; 19-win improvement), has agreed in principle on a contract restructuring that makes him one of the highest paid men’s basketball coach in the Western Athletic Conference.
The new contract, which includes $100,000 from the private sector, provides a continuation of the five-year roll over term and a buyout clause of two times Theus’ base salary if he leaves for another position in the next two years. The financial package of the new contract is worth $466,000 per season and includes bonus opportunities that exist in current contract.
In 2006-07, Theus earned incentive bonuses totaling $80,000. The bonuses were designed to reward Theus when the program reached set goals -- winning 20 games, winning the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, an NCAA tournament berth, reaching a 5,000 threshold for season ticket holders and reducing the number of academically at-risk student-athletes in the program.
“From President (Michael) Martin to the Board of Regents to our community, we are all proud of the job that coach Theus has done with the men’s basketball program and we believe that the long-term future of Aggie basketball is in good hands,” Boston said. “The road map for success is there, the quality of the student-athletes is there and with the recruits we have coming in, it will position us to be competitive for a long time.
“We’ve talked about excellence across the board in our athletic department and coach Theus had done a great job,” Boston said. “Our goal is to have him be a member of the Aggie family for a long time.”
The Aggies are 41-25 (.621) in two seasons under Theus, including an impressive 29-5 (.854) record at the Pan American Center. Theus is the second fastest coach in program history to 40 wins and led the program back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999. NMSU’s 25 wins this season are 19 more victories than the team had the year before Theus arrived and nine more wins than last season’s 16-14 effort.
In just its second season in the league, NMSU proved itself to be a dominant player in the conference. The Aggies led the WAC in scoring, averaging 78 points per game and ranked among the top three in scoring margin (+5.6), field goal percentage (.479) and 3-point field goal percentage (.388).
The Aggies ended the season with series sweeps over four conference opponents, including three wins over Boise State, and had winning records against two other league foes; Louisiana Tech (2-1) and Utah State (2-1). NMSU won at least one game against every WAC team except Fresno State, including an 80-73 win over No. 13 Nevada at the Pan American Center Jan. 20.
Individually, the Aggies had several standout performances this year, led by junior Justin Hawkins’ inaugural season with NMSU. In his first season in Las Cruces, Hawkins (Anaheim, Calif.) led the team in scoring (15.6) and rebounding (6.4) while being named first team All-WAC and to the All-WAC Newcomer Team. Hawkins, who scored in double-figures 28 times and led the team in scoring 12 times, was also named an All-District selection by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the United State Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) while also being named MVP of the WAC Tournament.
Junior Fred Peete (Memphis, Tenn.), who was also named to the All-WAC Newcomer Team this season, was also named to the All-WAC Defensive Team after leading the team in steals with 45. Peete finished the season ranked fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 9.5 points per game, and tied for the team lead with 81 assists.
Senior Elijah Ingram (East Orange, N.J.), who played the majority of the season with a foot injury, came alive late in the season and was named to the All-WAC Tournament team after leading the Aggies to the tournament title. Ingram finished his final college season third on the team in scoring, averaging 10.6 points per game, while tying for the team lead with 81 assists.
Despite the Aggies’ great success over Theus’ first two seasons, it may pale in comparison to what lies ahead for Theus and NMSU basketball. In 2007-08, the Aggies return four of five starters and have signed one the best recruiting class in program history.
Theus and his staff have signed six student-athletes to this year’s class, including high school star Herb Pope, who was rated as the 17th-best senior recruit in the country by several scouting services. Pope, who was named a fourth team Parade All-American as a senior, averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds as a senior while leading Aliquippa High School to the Class AA PIAA state championship game.
Theus also signed Las Cruces High star Aaron “Gordo” Castillo, Seattle native DeAngelo Jones and prep sharpshooter Jahmar Young last fall. Castillo, a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year, is the only player to ever win the award twice in the state of New Mexico. Castillo averaged 25 points, seven rebounds and six assists as a senior.
Jones, who played his senior season at Rainier Beach High School in Seattle, Wash., helped the Vikings to a 20-9 overall record and a 13-3 mark in the southern division of the Metro League. Jones averaged a team-best 16.2 points per game this season while scoring 20 or more points 11 times. Young, who has been one of the nation’s top young shooters for several years, is rated as the 26th best prep recruit this year by hoopscooponline.com.
This spring, Theus and his staff added two more recruits to the 2007 class as they signed San Diego star JayDee Luster and JUCO All-American Paris Carter. Luster, who will join the Aggies out of Hoover High School, is San Diego’s all-time leader in career assists and career steals with 857 and 559 respectively. His 559 career steals also rank him third all-time nationally and second in the state of California.
Carter, a second team NJCAA Division II All-American, played his sophomore season at Cecil Community College in Maryland. Carter, who played in all 36 games last season, helped the Seahawks to a 33-3 overall record, tying for the most wins in school history, and a fifth place finish at the NJCAA Division II National Tournament.
The Aggie men’s basketball program will hold a series of team and individual camps this summer in Las Cruces starting at the end of the month. For more information or to register for a camp, call (505) 202-4675 or email rtcamps@nmsu.edu.
AGGIE NOTABLES FROM THE 2006-07 SEASON
The Aggies’ 25-9 overall record tied for the fourth best single-season record in school history. NMSU last won at least 25 games in a single season back in 1994-95. The school record for wins in a season is 27, set by the Aggies in 1969-70 (27-3).
The Aggies are the most improved team in Division I men’s basketball over the past two seasons. In 2004-05, NMSU went 6-24 and this year the team finished with 25 wins. The 19-win improvement is the best two-year vault for any team in the country.
Aggie head coach Reggie Theus became the second fastest NMSU head coach to win 40 games. Coach Theus won his 40th game as head coach at NMSU with an 88-69 win over Boise State in the WAC Tournament semifinals. Coach Theus’ 40th win came in his 62nd game. Former head coach Lou Henson won 40 games with the Aggies in his first 57 games.
The Aggies set a school record for home victories with 19 wins at the Pan American Center this season. The previous record was 16 wins, which NMSU set in 1989-90, when the team finished the year 16-0 at home.
The Aggies more than doubled their home attendance from the 2005-06 season as NMSU had 189,343 fans attend games at the Pan American Center this season. The Aggies averaged 9,467 fans per game this season. Last year, NMSU averaged 6,526 while a total of 91,363 fans attended home games. Prior to coach Theus’ arrival in Las Cruces, the Aggies had just 66,940 fans attend games in 2004-05, an average of 4,781.
The Aggies’ 19-game home win streak from Feb. 4, 2006, to Feb. 22, 2007, was tied for the seventh-best mark in the nation at the time.
Senior David Fisher was named WAC Player of the Week Dec. 11 after leading NMSU to wins over New Mexico and UTEP.
The Aggies swept the two-game season series with I-10 rival UTEP for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
The Aggies’ win over No. 13/15 Nevada on Jan. 20 was the team’s first win over a ranked opponent since the 1999-00 season.
NMSU’s 13-game win streak from Dec. 1, 2006 to Jan. 13, 2007 was tied for the longest win streak in the nation at the time.
Junior Justin Hawkins became the first Aggie to earn all-district accolades (NABC and USBWA) since James Moore in 2003.
Junior Justin Hawkins was the second Aggie to earn first team All-WAC honors. Last season, Tyrone Nelson was named first team All-WAC.
Junior Fred Peete was the first Aggie to earn All-WAC Defensive Team honors.
Juniors Justin Hawkins and Fred Peete were the third and fourth Aggies to earn All-WAC Newcomer honors. Last season, Elijah Ingram and Tyrone Nelson were named to the All-WAC Newcomer Team.
The Aggies won their first WAC Tournament Title and fourth conference tournament crown in school history this season.
Junior Justin Hawkins was named the WAC Tournament MVP.
Senior Elijah Ingram was named to the All-WAC Tournament Team.
The Aggies made their 17th trip to the NCAA Tournament this season; the first since the 1998-99 season.
Courtesy: Rebecca Craig
