Mark Rudi

Las Cruces Sun-News

LAS CRUCES — Paul Weir said it would have taken a great opportunity for him to leave New Mexico State. The University of New Mexico was that opportunity.

Weir, who was New Mexico State’s head men's basketball coach for one season and an assistant with the Aggies for nine seasons, was introduced as New Mexico’s new head coach Tuesday in Albuquerque. Weir becomes the first person to be a head coach of both the Aggies and Lobos men's basketball teams.

“This is an amazing opportunity for me, for my family and my own professional competencies and stimulation,” Weir said during his introductory press conference in Albuquerque on Tuesday. “I was at New Mexico State for 10 years and poured my heart and soul into the place. It was very, very successful. I started my family there, got degrees there and it would have taken a lot for me to leave. And this was that opportunity. It was simply too good to pass up for a lot of levels. I just had to come to New Mexico.”

The 37-year-old Weir said he had a very emotional meeting with Aggie players on Tuesday morning.

“There’s people back at New Mexico State that are very disappointed in me and probably will never forgive me,” Weir said. “But just being here right now, I know this was the right decision.”

Weir’s annual salary at NMSU was $250,000. According to UNM Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs, Weir will earn $625,000 in his first season in Albuquerque. Weir was under contract at NMSU through the 2020-21 season after earning an automatic one-year extension for getting the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament in his first season. The buyout from his NMSU contract is $500,000. Krebs said UNM is not involved in any buyout with NMSU, and that it is between Weir and NMSU.

Weir also earned a $10,000 bonus for getting the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament and qualifies for a bonus of 10 percent of the portion of the 2016-17 season ticket revenue, which was an incentive in his contract.

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Weir declined to talk about the NMSU buyout on Tuesday. NMSU Director of Athletics Mario Moccia has scheduled a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the Aggies' head-coaching opening, and the buyout will likely be brought up during that news conference.

Moccia told the Sun-News last week that despite Weir having led the Aggies to a program-record 28 wins and to the NCAA Tournament in his first season, NMSU would not be able to give him a raise. However, Moccia said they were looking into adding more bonus incentives into Weir’s contract. Moccia told the Sun-News on Monday that process had not yet begun.

“We had discussed it, but that process had not been formalized,” he said.



Moccia met with staff and players on Tuesday morning and said the hiring process would be similar to last season when NMSU hired Weir in late April 2016 to replace Marvin Menzies.

"I won't put a time frame on it, just like last time, but I think we can pull it off in roughly the same time frame. But, we will move as fast as we can," Moccia told the Sun-News on Tuesday. "I'm disappointed, but I do wish Paul well. I wish him all of the success in the world except two days out of the year. When you have a great program and limited finances, these things are going to happen. We have a lot to offer and we have to do our job and find the best fit for New Mexico State."

Weir led NMSU to a program-record 28 wins in 2016-17, his first season as a Division I head coach, and to a Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship and a NCAA Tournament bid. In his 10 years in Las Cruces, Weir was part of six WAC Tournament title teams, six NCAA Tournament teams, two WAC regular season championship teams and a a National Invitational Tournament team in 2015-16.

“… It’s just an opportunity of a lifetime and just one I couldn’t pass up,” Weir said of the UNM job. “I get that there are feelings hurt and for that, I apologize.”

Weir said he’s thought about what it will be like when he brings the Lobos to the Pan American Center next season for the Rio Grande Rivalry. The Lobos are scheduled to visit the Pan Am on Nov. 17.

“My wife is a little worried about that more than I am,” Weir said. “Right now, I’m worried about what recruits we are going to bring in this weekend and what practice is going to be like this week. I’m a day-by-day guy and I’m not worried about something six months away.”

Weir joins a Lobo program that went 17-14 overall and 10-8 in the Mountain West Conference last season, but has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2014.

“When you look at Coach Weir and talk to people around the state, people who have observed him closely at New Mexico State, as well as others, I think there are a couple of things that stand out,” Krebs said. “A tireless work ethic, very engaged in the community. If you watch his teams play … what I saw was a team that played hard, a team that played really good defense, a team that gave great effort every single night and strong rebounding.

"One of the things that really impressed me about Coach Weir in the interview process, and it was a pretty impressive interview, really a lot of conversation about leadership and developing a team.”

Weir was asked how long he intended on staying UNM and if he was just using UNM as a stepping stone. He said he’s been asked that a lot because he left NMSU after just one year as the Aggies’ head coach.

“I really wouldn’t want to give off that impression,” Weir said. “That was never my intent to leave New Mexico State. It was an amazing 10 years and I wanted to be there another 10 years. But when a job like this comes calling, it’s just really difficult to turn down and it’s a special place.”

Mark Rudi can be reached at 575-541-5455, mrudi@lcsun-news.com or on Twitter @mrudi19.