The first thing he did was tear up the old mail. Reggie Theus wasn't going to send recruits that flimsy junk used by the previous coaching staff. Recruiting is all in the presentation, and the old flyers were ridiculous. Theus is selling New Mexico State basketball, not a garage sale.
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| Reggie Theus left Louisville after three seasons as an assistant. (AP) |
So begins Reggie Theus' stamp on New Mexico State. Mergers don't get much more promising than this one. New Mexico State basketball is a sleeping giant, and Theus is a jolt of coaching caffeine. Put them together, add $25 million and a new membership in the WAC, and the Aggies are in for a wake-up call that could ring throughout the West.
"We got the perfect guy for the job," says NMSU president Michael Martin, "at exactly the right time."
The timing is critical. Kept out of the WAC for years by New Mexico and then UTEP, New Mexico State joins the conference in 2005-06 after years as a nomad -- an independent, then a member of the Missouri Valley, Big West and Sun Belt. At the same time the Aggies join the WAC, the basketball program is getting a $25 million facelift, including a new practice gym and upgrades to the 13,071-capacity Pan American Center.
"It's all about the future," says Theus, 47. "Every move that's been made here will help New Mexico State basketball toward a better place."
The WAC membership and $25 million makeover were in place already, but Theus brings plenty of juice himself. Thanks to his connections through Rick Pitino, Adidas will become the Aggies' basketball supplier. An all-sports agreement is possible.
It's a smart move by Adidas, getting in on the Aggies while they're on the ground floor. In the past year the school has hired a new president, athletics director, football coach and basketball coach. In basketball the Aggies went 6-24 last season and have had one NCAA Tournament appearance since 1994.
The top four scorers from last season return, and they will be bolstered by three transfers: guard Elijah Ingram, center Tyrone Nelson and forward David Fisher. Ingram, a former McDonald's All-American, averaged 12 points in two seasons at St. John's. Nelson, a onetime Baylor signee who was released after the Patrick Dennehy murder, was the SWAC Freshman of the Year last season at Prairie View A&M (15.1 ppg, 8.4 rebounds). The 6-6, 230-pound Fisher was a junior college star at Arkansas-Fort Smith.
The Aggies will be moving into a better neighborhood in the WAC, and Theus has weeds to pull outside his own house. New Mexico State's RPI last season was 292. With Henson sidelined by a preseason illness, the Aggies started 3-2 under interim coach Tony Stubblefield. They finished 3-22.
"When I look back on last season, by no means do I think they were a good team -- but they were better than 6-24," Theus says. "So many things happened when Coach Henson got sick. They didn't show maturity or work ethic. There's been very little accountability recently, and that's something we have to change."
Theus is giving more than New Mexico State, which reached the 1970 Final Four and five straight NCAA Tournaments from 1990-94, a chance at redemption. He's doing the same for associate head coach Glynn Cyprien, the former UNLV and Oklahoma State assistant who was fired last summer for inaccuracies on his resume at Louisiana-Lafayette. Theus' staff also includes ex-Louisville graduate assistant Gus Hauser.
Theus and Co. inherited a 2005-06 roster without a single player from California, which brings up two thoughts: One, no wonder the Aggies haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1999. Two, that will change. Theus, a Los Angeles native, was a West Coast recruiting force at Louisville; the Cards' No. 1 recruiting class this year features three players from Southern California and another from Seattle -- all pursued by Theus.
