Jason Groves

Las Cruces Sun-News

LAS CRUCES – Tanveer Bhullar said when Paul Weir puts the New Mexico State basketball team through a practice session, players know they're in for a tough day and need to bring their "A" game.

Weir became the 25th Aggies basketball coach on Tuesday, replacing Marvin Menzies, his boss for the past nine years. Bhullar and Aggies players joined a vocal majority supporting Weir for head coach in the week and a half since Menzies left the program to become the head coach for UNLV.

Weir landed his first Division I head coaching position at the age of 36 and is believed to be the first Canadian born Division I head basketball coach.

"It meant a lot but I never went out and actively sought it," Weir said. "Some people have even apologized to me for doing it, but they couldn't help it. I think that in nine years, anyone who really knows me, believes in me. I'm humbled by it, just like I'm humbled being here today."

Menzies hired Weir as the director of operations in 2007. He has been the associate head coach for the past five years and coached a pair of Top 10 scoring defenses, but Weir proved to NMSU athletics director Mario Moccia that he has his own vision for the program.

"At the end of the day, my loyalty was to Marvin and he was the external part of our program," said Weir, who last month was a finalist for the top job at Texas-Rio Grande Valley. "I don't think I was hiding but it wasn't my job. When it was time to interview, it was time to show what I would look like externally, not anything for or against Marvin, but just kind of show who I am."

Moccia interviewed four candidates for the job, insisting on conducting a search rather than hand the job to the longest tenured assistant coach.

"Fans are passionate and that's what we need," said Moccia, who made his first hire at NMSU on Tuesday. "If we were doing this search and people didn't care who we hired, I would be very concerned."

The Aggies have reached the NCAA Tournament in four of the past five seasons, winning the regular season Western Athletic Conference title in 2016. But like Menzies before him, Weir is a first-time head coach taking over a program with a certain level of expectations.

"I love passionate people and it's a passionate business," Moccia said. "Paul displayed a tremendous amount of passion. He had a vision of how to increase our toughness and taking on everyone."

Under contract

Weir's contract is a four-year deal worth $250,000 per year. He made $104,660 as Menzies associate head coach last season. The contract has been approved but NMSU President Garrey Carruthers was out of town over the weekend and has yet to sign it.

There is a university option for a fifth year if Weir guides the Aggies to a WAC Tournament or regular season championship within the first two years. The buyout is 50 percent of the remaining salary at the time Weir departs.

While on-court success remains an expectation, increasing attendance is a must for whomever the Aggies new coach was going to be. Moccia said there were three additional candidates who interviewed for the job and they all needed to display a plan to fill the Pan American Center.

There are $340,000 in incentives in Weir's deal, including $10,000 for winning a WAC regular season championship, $10,000 for a NCAA Tournament appearance, and $5,000 for being named the WAC Coach of the Year.

Weir's contract includes a ticket revenue incentive that is based on a five-year average of single game and season ticket sales. If Year 1 revenue exceeds $535,390 in 2016-17, there is a 10 percent bonus with a $50,000 cap. The number will be recalculated each year, Moccia said.

Pack the Pan Am

"Attendance has to improve," Moccia said. "That is going to be a big part of Paul's focus; not fundraising, but getting people into the stands."

Weir has a a master's degree in physical education from Northwestern State in 2005, a master's degree in business administration from NMSU in 2007 and is currently in the educational leadership doctoral program at NMSU.

"Students, I'm coming for you," Weir said during his news conference inside the Pan American Center.

Weir cited the brief Reggie Theus era as his vision for increasing attendance.

"(Theus) got with the band, the Sun Dancers and the students," Weir said. "As much as he was a personality that everyone liked, I don't think anyone knows how hard he worked on attendance. It was a major job for him and I'm going to look at it the same way. I'm hopeful that my age, my degree and a few other things will connect with different parts of who can come to games and hopefully they will respond."

Looking ahead

In addition to attendance, Weir's top priority is filling his staff. Division I head coaching experience with an eye for the offensive end of the court will be attractive.

There is currently one bench assistant job to fill but the contract status of assistants Keith Brown and Aerick Sanders was not made clear. Weir did say he plans to include former Aggies coach Lou Henson in an advising role.

"There are some contractual things with the staff here," Weir said. "With Coach Menzies at UNLV, there are a lot of staff members going between those two destinations. I think in the next 24 to 48 hours, we will sit down with all of them and figure out who fits best where."

Weir said former Aggie player, Chicago native and special assistant to the head coach Brandon Mason will at least receive a phone call after Mason took what is believed to be a similar position on Menzies' staff at UNLV.

Weir's Canadian recruiting ties are well known but he said he is open to recruiting Division I transfers, junior college transfers and the midwestern region of the United States. He wants to play faster offensively and increase the team's toughness on both ends of the court.

"I want to get more American players," Weir said. "I think that all Canada did was replace those cities in a different way. What Toronto did was similar to what Chicago did here in the past."

One thing Weir does not have to immediately address is filling a roster. Leading scorers Pascal Siakam and Ian Baker have announced their intentions to test the NBA Draft waters, but could return to the team for their junior and senior seasons, respectively. All other underclassmen from last year's team have said they'll return.

"I'm going to be here 100 percent," Bhullar said. "I wanted (Weir) to get the job and he got the job. We know how good we can be and we know that he can lead us there. It's huge having a relationship with him because he is Canadian. I don't think he will have much trouble as a first-year head coach because over the past 12 years he has enough relationships that he can call on."

Sports Editor Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves or email jgroves@lcsun-news.com.