New Mexico State University Athletics

Mario Moccia returned to his alma mater on Jan. 5, 2015, as the 23rd Director of Athletics at New Mexico State University after serving for nine years as the Director of Athletics at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., and eight years as the senior associate athletic director at the University of Missouri.
 
The 1989 graduate of NM State enters his eighth season at the helm of Aggie Athletics in 2021-22. Since returning to Las Cruces, Moccia has already created an immediate impact in his years as Director of Athletics. From a national standpoint, he has guided New Mexico State to its top five finishes in the Learfield Director’s Cup standings – including four years with 100-plus points (2014-15, 2015-16, 2017-18 and 2018-19).

Under his direction, the Aggies have won 54 championships (regular season and/or tournament) through 2020-21, including three-consecutive Western Athletic Conference Commissioner’s Cups (2014-17). Moccia was rewarded for guiding the Aggies during a time of unprecedented success in July of 2019 earning a five-year contract extension that’ll keep him at his alma mater through the 2023-24 athletic season.

Navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Moccia spearheaded various licensing opportunities for NM State Athletics including the Aggies partnership with Cantera Negra, the first tequila partnership between a university and a tequila brand in the nation, and helped the Aggies compete in 15 of the 16 sponsored D-I sports. NM State now is the only university in the country to have an officially licensed beer, coffee, tequila, wine and whiskey, giving NM State a multitude of unique revenue streams which directly benefit the Aggies’ group of student-athletes.

Despite the challenges that 2020-21 brought, the Aggies again excelled inside the Western Athletic Conference as both Aggies golf programs took home a WAC title. In addition to men’s and women’s golf returning to the NCAA Tournament, NM State’s volleyball and softball programs won Regular Season WAC titles and five programs (men’s basketball, men’s tennis, softball, volleyball and women’s tennis) advanced to a WAC Championship game. The Aggies track and swimming programs also excelled in WAC Championships.

In total, 124 student-athletes earned All-WAC Academic honors, 49 student-athletes posted a perfect 4.0 GPA and all 16 Aggie teams earned a team GPA of at least 3.0. NM State student-athletes held a cumulative 3.29 GPA during the 2020-21 season.

The 2019-20 academic saw no shortage of high point for Aggie athletics under Moccia's leadership. NM State's volleyball team continued its dominance in the Western Athletic Conference by amassing an impressive 27-4 record which included a perfect 16-0 run through WAC play. In addition to winning the WAC regular season, the Aggies also earned the 2019 WAC Tournament crown to advance to the NCAA Tournament. A non-conference victory at Auburn out of the SEC helped the Aggies maintain their reputation as one of the nation's premier volleyball teams. The Aggie men's basketball team produced the first 16-0 record in WAC play in the history of the league en route to its third-consecutive WAC regular season title. Those 16 wins represented a large part of the program's 19-game winning streak to close out the 2019-20 season (a campaign which was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and the Aggies scored another victory over a Power Five opponent by taking down Mississippi State in Jackson, Miss., on Dec. 22, 2019.

Perhaps the biggest athletic accomplishment came courtesy of the Aggies' women's indoor track & field squad. NM State snapped Grand Canyon's five-year WAC championship run in dominant fashion in order to lock down the program's first WAC Indoor Track & Field Title on Feb. 29, 2020. On the diamond, NM State's baseball team was led by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Player of the Year Nick Gonzales who became the highest draft pick in program history when the Pittsburgh Pirates selected the infielder with the seventh overall pick of the 2020 MLB Draft. Gonzales excelled academically as well, becoming one of two Aggie baseball players to collect CoSIDA Academic All-American honors in the summer of 2020. Moccia also worked with longtime Aggie donors Mike and Judy Johnson, who donated $900,000 for the construction of a 4,500 square foot hitting facility.

In 2018-19, men’s and women’s basketball both had historic years in the win column amongst other things while both programs swept the regular-season and conference tournament and made appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Volleyball captured the conference tournament championship and took Oregon to the brink in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Women’s tennis returned to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in program history under the direction of second-year head coach Emily Wang. Women’s golf also reclaimed its spot at the top, advancing to the NCAA Regionals while taking home both WAC Coach of the Year and Player of the Year. Baseball wrapped up another stellar season, earning a share of the regular-season title while Joey Ortiz became the program’s highest draft pick ever after being selected in the fourth-round (108th overall) by the Baltimore Orioles. Sophomore sensation Nick Gonzales was nearly a unanimous All-American, earning first-team All-America accolades in in four of six publications.
 
The 2017-18 campaign was arguably the best athletic year in NM State history with the football team not only earning a bowl bid, but also bringing home the first bowl victory in 57 years when the Aggies defeated Utah State 26-20 in overtime to claim the 2017 NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl. Aggie fans came in full force to support their team to the tune of 25,000-plus Aggies in Tucson on Dec. 29.
 
In addition, New Mexico State joined Duke, Michigan State and Purdue as the only athletic departments that won a bowl game and had a men’s basketball program that won 28 or more games. Heading into the spring championships, NM State was only one of 15 schools that sent its team to an FBS bowl game, NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and NCAA Baseball Regional. Of those 15 schools, NM State, Houston and San Diego State were the only teams from a Group of 5 conference.
 
Overall, the athletic department finished 124th in the 2017-18 Learfield Director’s Cup standings with 145.00 points, the second-highest in school history. The Aggies also finished second in the WAC Commissioner’s cup standing with 81.25 points despite only sponsoring 15 of the 19 sports that qualify for points.
 
Excellence on the field continued to shine under Moccia’s direction with four student-athletes taking home seven All-America honors in 2017-18. Current Washington Wizards forward Jemerrio Jones of men’s basketball became just the ninth All-American in program history and fifth Aggie to earn Associated Press All-American distinction. Baseball had three players take home All-America honors in Kyle Bradish, Johnathan Groff and Nick Gonzales – who arguably had the best freshman season in program history after hauling in All-America honors from four different organizations.
 
In addition to the football’s bowl championship, New Mexico State hauled in nine conference regular-season and tournament titles while sending women’s cross country, men’s basketball, men’s tennis, softball and baseball to NCAA postseason play. NM State also had nine WAC Players of the Year with Jones (men’s basketball) and Kelsey Horton (softball) being named the 2017-18 Joe Kearney Award recipients, which are given to the top male and female student-athletes in the WAC.
 
Moccia led NM State into a multi-million dollar multimedia rights agreement with Learfield in 2015, a first in the history of the University. He followed that up in 2016 as he obtained a new exclusive five-year footwear and apparel contract with Under Armor. This new agreement more than doubled the University’s previous agreement.
 
With Moccia at the helm, the Aggies made several facility upgrades. Presley Askew Field installed a state-of-the-art synthetic grass infield. In addition, the baseball stadium saw renovations to its bullpens and batting cages as well as construction of a new press box and field turf. The swimming and diving team is enjoying the new Wanda Glass Swimming and Diving Locker Room as well as new coaches offices, while Aggie Memorial Stadium received a major upgrade with the addition of Club 27. In addition, football team locker room was renovated thanks to the generous donation of the Allen Family.

More facility upgrades for the Aggies are in the works for 2020 and beyond with new lights for the Aggie women's soccer team's field, a new video board for the Pan American Center (home of NM State men's and women's basketball), a major resurfacing project for the Aggie women's track & field squads and a training facility for NM State baseball all underway. 
 
NM State has also continued to excel in the classroom since Moccia took the reigns as all athletics teams surpassed an Academic Progress Rate of 930. Three teams, women’s tennis, men’s tennis and men’s basketball, achieved a perfect 1,000 single-year APR while the women’s tennis team recorded its eight-straight perfect 1,000 multi-year APR. The Aggies also registered a 3.0 GPA or better in 28-consecutive semesters through the spring semester of 2019.
 
Since taking over the reins of his alma mater, the Aggie Athletic Club has made tremendous strides. The AAC started at $168,623 in 2014-15 with just 671 members before jumping to 1,302 members with $802,198 raised in 2019-20 - an increase of 375%.
 
In May of 2015, members of the Minority Opportunities Athletic Association (MOAA) elected Moccia the President of the Association for a two-year term. MOAA includes 1,000-plus minority athletic administrators nationwide and advocates for increased participation and administrative opportunities for minorities in athletics. Moccia recently received the 2019 Distinguished Service Award, the highest award given to individuals by the association. He also spent time serving as the Sun Belt Conference representative on the Lead1 Board of Directors.
 
Moccia was named an Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year in 2013 by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) at SIU as he directed the program to new heights.
 
He played an important role in a $90 million dollar fundraising/capital improvement project to build a new football stadium, a new athletic support building and to renovate the university’s basketball arena. He also negotiated media rights, footwear and apparel contracts.
 
Additionally, the Salukis were successful across the board during Moccia’s tenure, winning conference championships in football, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s golf, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s tennis, softball, men’s and women’s track, and women’s swimming and diving.
 
He has also served on the NCAA Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet, was the FCS representative for the NCAA’s Administration Committee and served as liaison to Men’s Basketball Committee.
 
Moccia was previously the Associate Athletic Director for External Operations and then Senior Associate Director of Athletics at the University of Missouri from 1998-2006. He also worked as the Associate Athletics Director for External Operations at Texas State University from 1997-1998 and Director of Sales/Lobo Club assistant director at the University of New Mexico from 1993-1997.
 
A member of the US Bank New Mexico State Hall of Fame inducted in 1998, Moccia was the captain of the Aggie baseball team. He was twice honored as the Aggies MVP and won a team triple crown (leader in batting average, home runs and RBI). He was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 1989 Major League Baseball draft, and played two seasons in the Tigers minor league system before entering athletic administration.
 
In addition to his bachelor’s degree in psychology from NM State, Moccia was awarded a master’s degree in sports administration from the University of New Mexico in 1993.
 
Moccia and his wife, Heidi – a former All-American women’s soccer player at UMass and current color analyst for the USL’s El Paso Locomotive – are the parents of two children, Addie (14) and Gemma (8).