New Mexico State athletics forced to pursue other options as state responds to Regents ruling

This story was updated at 7:30 p.m., with the news that NMSU will not return to basketball practice, per Chancellor Dan Arvizu following reaction from the state. 

LAS CRUCES – The New Mexico State Board of Regents approved of a return to practice and competition for university athletics on Tuesday, but it didn't last long.

In a matter of hours, the office of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham essentially forced the Aggies to pursue other options. Chancellor Dan Arvizu, through a university spokesman, told the Sun-News, that the Aggies men's and women's basketball teams would not return to the practice court, as it is currently prohibited by the state's public health order. 

"We are not going to fly in the face of any regulations and break the law," NMSU spokesman Justin Bannister told the Sun-News Tuesday night. "We had to follow the steps. The Board approved our plan in accordance to any state health orders. The University's intention was to go to the Department of Health and see if we could get any elasticity to the rules and have still not heard back."

New Mexico State would need a whole lot of elasticity for basketball to take place in Las Cruces, though.

For any practice to occur, the state requires a university to be a county with a 14-day average daily case count of fewer than eight per 100,000 and a test positivity rate of less than five percent. The county's numbers must be below these limits 14 days prior to a scheduled contest for any competition to occur as well.

In Doña Ana County's instance, there were 57.9 cases per 100,000 and a test positivity rate of 16.6 percent from Oct. 13-26. These numbers are updated by the New Mexico Department of Health every two weeks.

"We did see what the Gov. spokesperson did say today and our intention has not been to break any laws," Bannister said. "All of the options that were outlined today during the Regents meeting are still being explored."

Those options included relocating the basketball programs out of state similar to the University of New Mexico's football program, which is currently operating in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

New Mexico State athletics director Mario Moccia listed El Paso as a possible relocation spot during Tuesday's meeting due to its close proximity, but Regents felt a move to the neighboring city was not realistic as a result of a surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks.

"The part about El Paso really concerns me because the numbers are absolutely off the charts in El Paso right now," Board member Ammu Devasthali said. "I think that might not want to be something that we keep as an option."

The regents passed a motion 5-0 to allow teams to practice and participate in competition, giving some hope to a department whose programs have been unable to practice due to state restrictions.

"We were loaded for bear from an experts standpoint," said Moccia following the near two-hour special regents meeting. "Campus leadership does not make decisions based on emotions, but based on evidence. We have been managing it well and will continue to manage it. I was glad to see that facts won the day."

But following the meeting, the state responded to the board's decision.

Press secretary Nora Meyers Sackett claimed that violations of the standing public health order will "result in consequences," and the New Mexico Higher Education Department's acting cabinet secretary, Stephanie Rodriguez, added to that with a statement of her own.

"Asking the State of New Mexico to make special accommodations for intercollegiate sports is a recipe for an outbreak and large-scale rapid response efforts in the event of a COVID-positive case," Rodriguez said.

New Mexico State's return-to-athletics plan, essentially, is to preserve a bubble for its student-athletes.

"There are a lot of things that haven't been worked out yet," Moccia said. "I am appreciative that there is a pathway to play, but there are still moving parts."

Procedures of this bubble, which are already in place for the basketball teams, include limiting campus dorms to one player per unit, moving all classes to online, delivering all meals to their rooms, installing a Geofence app on players' phones to track their movements around campus and the signing of a behavioral pledge. 

Moccia stated that it's costing New Mexico State around $2,000 per day to house the programs on campus and maintain this bubble.

New Mexico State is also receiving three PCR tests per week, which is in accordance with the state's COVID-safe practice protocol. Moccia stated that the department is now turning these results around in 24 hours thanks to a partnership with TriCore Reference Laboratories.

Each PCR test costs $65, and there are 56 people being tested between the men's and women's basketball teams. WAC commissioner Jeff Hurd, who was present on the Zoom meeting, confirmed that it's up to New Mexico State to cover these expenses.

"We do not help during the regular season," Hurd said. "We cover game officials for all sports and for conference championships, and we will cover all teams and officials."

With the college basketball season set to begin on Nov. 25, Moccia also provided a scheduling update for the men's team.

New Mexico State has dates on the books for its four rivalry games against New Mexico and UTEP, although exact details haven't been released just yet. The team is also in the finishing stages of securing a spot in a multi-team event (MTE).

New Mexico State's plan asserts that spectators are not permitted at any of these games along with practices or scrimmages.

More: College athletes make a plea to governor for restriction flexibility

Justin Martinez can be reached at (575) 541-5455, JMMartinez@lcsun-news.com or @JTheSportsDude on Twitter. Make sure to subscribe to the Las Cruces Sun-News  to stay up to date with all local sports.