Sam Houston State's Jason Hooten lead candidate for New Mexico State job

LAS CRUCES - New Mexico State appears to have identified Sam Houston State’s Jason Hooten as the leading candidate for its open men’s basketball coach position.

Although a deal is not currently in place, Hooten and members of his family will be in Las Cruces over the next two days, according to multiple sources. There is currently no planned announcement or scheduled news conference, but NM State has picked up the pace for its coaching search after numerous candidates have concluded their season the past week.

According to sources, NM State would offer the next coach a salary of over $400,000 over at least five years. Hooten currently has two years remaining on his contract at SHSU, which paid him a base salary of $232,000.

NM State athletics director Mario Moccia is looking to hire the program's third coach in the past three seasons, but the turnover is due to vastly different circumstances. Chris Jans left for Mississippi State after leading the Aggies to a NCAA Tournament win  in 2021.

The next coach will replace Greg Heiar, who was fired in February less than one year since he was hired. Heiar was fired shortly after hazing allegations involving three players against a teammate. The hazing allegations resulted in the university firing Heiar for cause, but it was the second incident in a two-month period that created what Chancellor Dan Arvizu called an "infected culture," within the men's basketball program. Last week, NMSU released an executive summary of an Albuquerque law firm’s investigation into the November shooting in Albuquerque that involved player Mike Peake, who shot and killed a University of New Mexico student in what authorities have described as self defense.

Moccia has said the school was seeking a coach with Division I head coaching experience and "a disciplinarian."

While NM State has been a proving ground for many of Moccia’s hires, Hooten would bring the experience that NMSU was looking for this time around on the heels of two scandals during the same season.

Hooten is 261-169 in 13 years as a head coach, all at Sam Houston State. He has led SHSU to the Postseason NIT twice, including this past season where he lost in the second round. Hooten won the Southland regular season in 2018-19 and his team went 27-9 since joining the Western Athletic Conference two years ago.

Sam Houston State is set to join New Mexico State as new members of Conference USA next year.

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

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Sam Houston State's Jason Hooten lead candidate for New Mexico State basketball job