Debbie Downer Mailbag
I Answer the Questions of the Skeptics and Ponderers Honestly
Hey there, Aggies fans. Hope you’re having a great week so far, and thank you, as always, for reading AGGREGATOR, the most trusted source for all things New Mexico State Aggies.
It’s kind of a slow week in Aggies land. Spring football practice is underway, but I’ll be frank with you: not a whole lot happens during spring ball. And now, with the transfer portal having more limited windows, there’s even less movement and even less real news to track during this stretch of the calendar.
To take this a step further, I also just want to be honest with you. The last few days I have been dealing with some pretty serious writer’s block. I was even talking to a couple of my favorite subscribers about it when I ran into them around town.
The ideas are there. The communication is there. My fingers work just fine. Nothing is wrong physically. But sometimes, no matter how much you have in your head, it just does not come out the way you want it to. And I have been struggling with that a bit after being so consistent, writing something almost every day during football and basketball season.
It feels like going from the Autobahn in Germany, where there is no speed limit, to a small road out in the Gila National Forest where the speed limit is 15 miles an hour. If you go any faster, you are risking going off the road or hitting something.
That is what this transition feels like right now. It is a sharp change in pace and focus for AGGREGATOR, and it took me a few days to get back on track.
Basketball season is over. We haven’t yet seen any player movement in or out. Tuesday’s softball game against UNM was canceled. And New Mexico State baseball went to Fort Worth for a one-off against TCU and got mercy ruled.
So with all of that in mind, I figured this was the perfect time for a mailbag.
What makes this one a little different is that there are a lot of questions right now about the state of New Mexico State athletics, and not all of them are positive. Some of them are speculative. Some of them are uncomfortable. And one thing I’ve learned over the last four or five months is that while the stated mission of AGGREGATOR is to focus on the positive around New Mexico State, that does not mean ignoring things that deserve to be talked about.
Over the last two and a half years, I’ve covered plenty of positive stories, and that will always remain the heart of what I do. But I also want to make sure that journalistically and ethically, if there are real stories to address or real opinions to share, I do not shy away from them, so long as I do it professionally and honestly.
That brings us to what I’m calling the Debbie Downer Mailbag.
We’re going to talk about some things that always cause a debate between different factions of NM State
So hang on for the ride, my friends, because I want to be blunt with you.
And while I’m being blunt, let me also remind you that AGGREGATOR is a reader-supported publication. Without the support of fans like you who care deeply about New Mexico State, this publication does not survive. It would be on the ropes just like so many local newspapers across this country.
For just $5 a month or $50 a year, you can support independent journalism in southern New Mexico. You can become a better-informed Aggies fan. And more importantly, by supporting coverage of this university, you are indirectly supporting New Mexico State itself, because schools want visibility, conversation, and a stronger public-facing presence.
That is what AGGREGATOR provides.
So please subscribe today.
So these questions have been submitted by AGGREGATOR readers, whether through normal conversation, direct messages, email, or just chatter across social media, and they’re centered on the not-so-positive things this time around.
I really think once we get this out of our system, we can shift back to focusing on more positive things moving forward. But these topics do need to be addressed, and I’d rather do it in this one-on-one mailbag format than in a general commentary without context.
So the first question involves the recent arrest of two New Mexico State football players.
The first question has been sent to me about 30 times because I didn’t mention it in one of my original columns.
“James, what is your opinion about the New Mexico State football players who were charged in separate cases over the past week? Do you think they should be kicked off the team immediately, have their scholarships revoked, and be sent packing? Or what do you think should happen as a result of this? This is a black eye to New Mexico State University, right? And more importantly, we don’t want a repeat of what happened in the past under previous leadership.”
So in case you didn’t know, this is what has happened…
Two New Mexico State football players were arrested last week on misdemeanor charges.
Drake Williams, a freshman linebacker, was arrested Friday on two misdemeanor counts of battery against a household member. He was arraigned Monday afternoon in Doña Ana County Magistrate Court and released with conditions. His pretrial hearing is scheduled for May 13.
Williams is alleged to have been involved in two altercations with a woman he has been in a relationship with since last fall. Both incidents allegedly occurred in a women’s dormitory on campus. On March 8, he is alleged to have forced the woman out of her room by grabbing the collar of her shirt, leaving bruising on the back of her neck. Then on March 12, after returning to retrieve a debit card, an argument ensued, and he allegedly grabbed the woman by the throat and left arm, causing bruising and cuts.
Williams was arrested by NMSU Police and booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center. The Houston native is entering his second season with the Aggies after appearing in four games last year.
The second case involves Vic Shaw, a redshirt junior defensive end and recent transfer from UTSA. Shaw was arrested early March 8 on misdemeanor charges of negligent use of a deadly weapon while intoxicated, concealing identity, and resisting, evading, or obstructing an officer. He pleaded not guilty at his March 9 arraignment and was released with conditions. His pretrial hearing is scheduled for May 6.
According to the complaint, officers responded to a suspicious activity call near Cactus Street around 1 a.m. They observed Shaw in an argument with another individual before he ran into a nearby house. He is alleged to have come back out holding an AR-style rifle, then re-entered and returned without it. Officers noted the odor of alcohol and stated he resisted being detained, pulled away from police, obstructed officers while being placed in a vehicle, and refused to provide identification until his wallet was located.
Shaw has been suspended indefinitely and is cooperating with law enforcement and university processes.
Now for the question at hand.
Do I think these players should be kicked off the team immediately, have their scholarships revoked, and be sent packing?
You know, this is one of those situations where if I say yes, I’m siding with the angry mob that leans toward vigilante justice. And if I say no, then people are going to say I’m too soft, especially considering the seriousness of what’s alleged.
And this is where it gets complicated.
If you’ve ever been a manager, or someone who has had to make real-time decisions based on limited information, you know it’s not easy. There’s a reason there is a process when it comes to removing someone from a school or an organization. If you act too quickly, and you’re wrong—or even partially wrong—you open yourself up to major consequences legally. I knew a person who sued my former company for putting on her LexisNexis report that she was fired from there, citing “privacy reasons” and got a settlement!
If you send someone packing and it turns out there were inaccuracies in what actually happened, those players can absolutely come back and sue. And even if they don’t win, you’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for New Mexico State’s general counsel and outside attorneys.
That eats into the university’s resources, and it creates reputational risk when decisions are made impulsively instead of prudently.
Now, am I going to sit here and say athletes never get leniency? No. That would be naive.
Athletes—whether here, in high school, or at the professional level—sometimes get a break. A police officer might say, “Hey, get out of here,” instead of writing something up. That happens. It’s part of the reality of celebrity culture. The “hey, can I get a selfie” culture is real, and it exists everywhere. Don’t think it doesn’t happen here, because if you don’t think that, I have oceanfront property in Mesilla to sell you.
But in these cases, that didn’t happen. These situations escalated to the point where there was police involvement, arrests, and charges.
Now comes the process.
Process matters.
In America, you have due process. You have the right to defend yourself in a court of law. These two players have that right. And if they are found not guilty by a jury of their peers—whether people agree with it or not—that is the system working as designed. And if that happens, they should absolutely have the opportunity to return.
The challenge is that the wheels of justice move slowly. If this plays out in court, there’s a very real chance they don’t see the field this season regardless.
So no, I don’t believe you automatically kick someone off the team the moment an arrest happens—unless we’re talking about something truly egregious, a major felony-level situation with severe penalties.
Misdemeanors are different. They have to be treated differently. That’s why they’re classified that way.
Because if you don’t, you create chaos. You create a system where anyone can weaponize accusations to damage someone else. And we live in a time where people absolutely know how to manipulate situations to get others in trouble.
Believe me on that.
What I propose—and especially now that we’re in a culture where athletes are getting paid, and for all intents and purposes are employees of the university—I propose something very similar to what Major League Baseball uses when a player is going through a legal matter: the restricted list.
In MLB, the restricted list is a designation for players who are unavailable to their team for non-baseball reasons—unexpected personal issues, legal trouble, or even situations like contemplating retirement while still under contract.
The NFL has something similar with the commissioner’s exempt list. It’s essentially a situation where a player is required to remain away from all team activities while they handle their business outside of football. It’s very case-by-case. And in the NFL, players still get paid while they’re on that list.
So I suggest something along those lines.
Because think about it—people get paid to work all the time, and sometimes they call in sick. Sometimes they’re unavailable. Employers absorb those losses. It happens after the Super Bowl, during March Madness, whatever the case may be.
So telling someone who has been charged, “Hey, you can’t be around the team until you get your situation handled,” I think that’s fair.
Then, if they are convicted of a crime—whether it’s a misdemeanor or a felony—and it violates whatever code of conduct or ethics is in place, then at that point, you dismiss them.
Either way, there’s a ton of paperwork involved. There’s no easy path here.
And I understand that what’s being alleged in these cases is frustrating. It’s serious. But at the same time, I believe everyone deserves their day in court. Everyone deserves their opportunity to go through the legal process and, frankly, their day in front of public opinion as well.
I’m going to be direct with you. There was a family member in my life who was the victim of a crime in the last week, and when you step back and look at everything from afar, you start to see how the police handle it, how the victim handles it, how the alleged criminal handles it.
From that 30,000-foot view, you begin asking yourself what should happen, what you believe is right or wrong, whether the court system is being fair or not, and whether people are telling the truth or not. The reality is, it’s really hard to say.
So for people to throw out the baby, the bathwater, and the bathtub every time there’s an arrest—that’s naive at best.
But at the same time, for all the heat that Mario Moccia took during the 2022–23 basketball scandal, and the implication that new leadership would operate with a zero-tolerance policy, I find it very notable that we’re getting the same “no comment,” the same lack of transparency that so many people accused past administrations of before. In fact, I don’t like that. NM State is being even more less transparent about all this, And to me, that’s very telling about the new administration and it also tells me there ARE protocols in place that they are following, and we should just let the court case play out and go from there.
And we also have another question from an Aggies fan who noticed the same thing I did last week about men’s basketball coach Jason Hooten.
“Hey James, I saw that not a lot of people, besides some of those old message board guys, were talking about Jason Hooten’s name coming up for the head coaching job at his alma mater Tarleton State after Billy Clyde Gillespie stepped down with health issues. I know someone else got the job by the time I read it, but does this mean Coach Hooten might be looking to leave sometime soon?”
Note: That’s the only photo I could find of Coach Hooten at Tarleton as an assistant coach.
Answer: Not without a couple of million dollars coming his way.
So this comes from an ESPN Article that mentioned Hooten as a possibility at his alma mater Tarleton. Since that news popped up, Eric Haut took the job Hooten was linked to.
According to a February 25, 2026 article, the current amount that Jason Hooten is owed is $2.06 million. Period. A recent conversation in private with the coach validated that number, and I told him, and I am going to tell you now, I hate talking about people’s money. It is just something I am tired of after all the years of working at the bank. But it is $2 million.
Because of the termination of Mario Moccia and Braun Cartwright, if Jason Hooten voluntarily left New Mexico State, he does not have to pay liquidated damages if he chooses to move on all on his own. And those would have totaled, at this point in time, $1.7 million.
Now, Coach Jason Hooten very well could be the most famous Tarleton State athlete or coach in history, but they are not going to pay nearly $2 million to bring someone in to what is essentially a conference situation that is a lower level than Conference USA. And even with the voluntary exit and not having to pay damages, why would you give up $2 million of salary?
There is an episode of Seinfeld, and I know I have a lot of older folks in my readership that may know this one, where George Costanza is being recruited to go work for the New York Mets while he is working for the New York Yankees.
Because of tampering rules, the Mets cannot say it outright, so they hint that if he gets fired, then they can talk and the job will be there.
So the whole episode is George Costanza trying to get fired. He wears Babe Ruth’s jersey, eats strawberries at his desk, drags the World Series trophy behind his car, all of it, just trying to get terminated so he can move on.
But it is a little more complicated than that now. With contract language today, you have to be terminated without cause to get your full buyout.
So when you look at someone like Coach Jason Hooten, who is in his mid 50s and closer to the end of his coaching career than the beginning, he is looking at that and saying this $2 million is my nest egg.
Why would I walk away from that for a similar salary at the place where I went to school and started my coaching career?
Sentiment is not worth $2 million in this world. I do not care who you are. And Coach Hooten, as loyal and honest as he is, is not doing that.
So where does that ESPN story that linked him to the Tarleton State job come from?
Well, let me give you a little inside scoop on how some of this reporting and insider stuff works. People see the story, Gillespie is leaving Tarleton, and the first thing they do is start building a list.
Who has ties to the school? Who could come home again? Is there a young assistant ready to get his first shot, like Richard Pitino at Florida International? Or is there a coach trying to rebuild his name, like former NM State Coach Greg Heiar, who might win another NJCAA title this year and could be looking for a Division I opportunity as an assistant after this year?
Where does that list come from? It comes from reporters who are not always picking up the phone and calling people to ask if there is real interest. It is easy to sit there, look at connections, look at resumes, and just start putting names together based on what you know or what you can find.
That is just how it works now. And honestly, it is lazy.
Me personally, I would call Coach Hooten. I would text him, email him, whatever it takes. He is an honest person. He would respond. We have talked before about random things, and I know you would get a straight answer from him.
Now, could his agent be floating his name out there? Absolutely. That is part of the business. You want your client to look like they are in demand. Because if they are making money, you are making money.
Let’s just be honest about things. If a coach like Jason Hooten was willing to walk away from $2 million to go make roughly the same money at a school with a lesser level of competition, then that probably says more about the day to day at New Mexico State than it does about his decision making.
It is very easy to question someone’s choices when you do not factor in the reality of his situation. Coach Hooten built a house here in the Mesilla area of Las Cruces. He has put time, effort, and energy into being here. And he has also made it clear that he respects the tradition at New Mexico State and wants to be a part of carrying that forward.
For him to just walk away from all of that, he would have to be really burned or really affected in a major way. Most people do not walk away from money. They just do not.
And I do not know his full financial picture, but I know this. If you are going to give me $2 million to do something I love, in a place that I enjoy being, I am taking that every single time unless you are paying me to go somewhere else.
So I would not pay this much attention.
Like I said, a lot of this is about WME, who represents Hooten, doing their job and making their client look in demand, which he is. And it is also about reporters making assumptions based on past ties instead of actual conversations.
As much as Jason Hooten may love Tarleton State, he respects and values what New Mexico State represents
And I will be totally frank. There is a lot of negative commentary about Coach Jason Hooten on Twitter, and that is one of the reasons I do not even want to be on there this summer while we are getting ready for football and basketball.
It is a cesspool. It is just depressing people.
You have folks using the hashtag #fireHooten, and you have fake accounts that exist only to pile on the team and on Coach Hooten when they lose. Some of these are located in SHSU’s fandom, some are made by a couple of knuckleheads here… and there’s one younger kid from Missouri State who piles on with negativity online.
Then they go completely quiet when the Aggies win. In fact, that same account that is quiet during wins popped up after the Aggies made the Conference USA tournament and said,
"Wow, congrats Coach Hooten on being the 10th team in.” and it was said in a Totally sarcastic way.
Never mind that the sixth team in the league, Kennesaw State, made the NCAA tournament. Never mind that the ninth team, Missouri State, was just a couple of points away from playing for the conference title. I have said it many times, this league is full of parity, and 10th place and 3rd place are not that far apart.
So when you see all that negativity, I will tell you exactly what it is. It is a couple of people running multiple accounts, pretending to be a whole group that wants Coach Hooten gone. It is not a movement. It is not a fan base. It is two people acting like 15.
And one of these days, when I finish writing my book, I will lay it all out. Who they are, what they are doing, and how that kind of constant negativity actually hurts New Mexico State for no good reason.
There was an implication in a recent podcast that AD Joe Fields did where he was talking about coaches, contracts, and not letting someone sit there as a lame duck.
And you saw that play out with the decision to move on from WBB Coach Jody Adams a couple of weeks ago. That was a bold move by Fields. It upset a lot of Adams supporters, and you had people saying, well, how do we have the money to pay someone not to coach?
Coach Jody Adams was making around $175,000. And yes, that is real money. I would love to have $175,000. But in the bigger picture, that is a drop in the bucket.
If you were to make that same move with Coach Jason Hooten today, you are talking about roughly 11 times that amount to buy him out.
So my friends, Jason Hooten is not going anywhere.
The next question I had is about something I hadn’t covered yet, mainly because I’ve been on a bit of a mini hiatus the past few days, trying to get some much-needed rest after a hectic football and basketball season.
And that is the allocation of $17 million for the press box and “executive suites” at Aggie Memorial Stadium—an investment aimed at improving the overall experience at New Mexico State’s beloved football stadium.
The question comes from Jose:
“Hey James, do you think with the building of the press box, we can get into another conference? Do you think this shows an investment that’s big enough to catch the attention of the Pac-12 or the Mountain West going forward? I’m really excited about the press box.”
Now, I’m happy that you guys are happy about the $17 million investment in the press box. I understand why there’s excitement about putting money into Aggie Memorial Stadium—our beloved stadium.
But you’ve got to understand one thing.
Ninety-nine percent of Aggies fans will never step foot inside a press box. There’s not going to be more than maybe 10 people representing the media in there at any given time. And the same goes for the executive suites—99% of fans will never walk into one, aside from maybe a tour for donors who helped support the project.
And that’s not a bad thing.
But you have to understand the bigger picture.
I have a lot of respect for AD Joe Fields and his ability to raise money, especially considering the schools he’s come from and the environments he’s worked in. The business structure of an intercollegiate athletics department requires consistently hitting financial goals. It requires a constant sales mindset.
Because at the end of the day, you’re trying to sustain an operational budget that only continues to grow year after year.
And as for joining the Mountain West, I just don’t see it either.
I really believe that if the Aggies were to move from Conference USA to the Mountain West, it would just be a more western version of what Conference USA already is—a lower-end FBS conference. Or in basketball terms, a low mid-major, if that makes sense.
When you look at the quality of opponents, whether it’s UC Davis in basketball, potentially football down the road, Northern Illinois in football—a school the Aggies played back in the Big West days—or even GCU, a program that New Mexico State used to lampoon for not being on the same level when both were in the WAC… the mindset has flipped.
Now it feels like we want them to want us.
Back then, it was, “You don’t belong with us.”
And then there’s the song and dance with UNM. There’s always been chirping that the Mountain West isn’t the ideal long-term destination for them, that they want to invest more and grow bigger. And sure—who doesn’t want that?
But the reality is, the meaning of that rivalry is more ingrained locally than it is nationally.
Yes, we’d be fortunate to have the Lobos as a conference rival. And to a lesser extent, even UTEP. But beyond that, there’s not a whole lot that truly aligns us with that conference, outside of the occasional GCU basketball matchup.
So don’t think for a second that an investment in a building is going to sway conference decision-makers one way or the other.
And I’ll put it to you like this.
When I worked in banking, helping people get mortgages, one thing was always clear—it’s not just about how much money you make, or how much you have in your account at one moment in time. Banks want consistency. They want to know your income is stable, that your financial picture holds up over time.
Because a 30-year mortgage isn’t based on one great year—it’s based on the expectation that you can sustain that level for decades.
If you made $100,000 one year and $20,000 the next, no bank is going to lend you based on the higher number.
And that’s where New Mexico State is right now.
This $17 million investment is fantastic. It’s a big win. But let’s be honest—it’s a one-time allocation. If New Mexico State were getting $17 million annually for facilities, capital improvements, and athletic investment, then yeah, maybe in three to five years you’re talking about becoming a real player in conference realignment.
But that’s not the reality today.
And here’s the other thing—joining the Mountain West in 2030 might feel a lot like joining Conference USA in 2022. Major teams left, and I bet you dollars to doughnuts that UNLV, Nevada, and Air Force are next
I’ll give you an example.
I was walking through Walmart the other day looking at clearance items, and I saw a rack of Reebok hoodies. Now back in 1990, when I was six or seven years old, Reebok was the IT brand. Now they are Walmart afterthoughts.
They had the pump basketball shoes, and I begged my parents to buy them for $100—which is like $300 today.
I loved those shoes… until I got them muddy in a ditch.
Fast forward 36 years, and I’m standing in Walmart deciding whether I want a $6 Reebok hoodie just because of what the brand used to mean.
And even as someone who loves hoodies and loves a deal—I passed.
That’s kind of how I view the Mountain West right now.
And we can get into the TV market conversation too, because that matters. The El Paso–Las Cruces market is already tied closely to the Mountain West, and Albuquerque is as well. That creates redundancy.
It doesn’t expand reach—it just makes New Mexico State the secondary team in multiple markets.
And in a world where local sports coverage might get two and a half minutes on a newscast, being the second team in two different markets doesn’t help you.
And then just one final thing—I’m always very leery about construction timelines.
We all drive on I-10 going to El Paso, and we’ve been dealing with orange barrels for what feels like the last decade. And realistically, we’re probably going to be dealing with them into the 2030s. I’ve lived in New Mexico my whole life. I’ve seen projects in Albuquerque, Roswell where I went to school, Portales where I went to school, and here in Las Cruces—and one thing I can tell you is that expectations and construction timelines don’t always go hand in hand.
Now, according to the Conference USA schedule I gave you last week, New Mexico State’s last home game is on November 21, which is the week before Thanksgiving. You’ve got that four-day weekend, then Christmas about four weeks after that. Let’s be blunt—nothing is probably happening with shovels in the ground until the first week of 2027. Everyone takes a month off at the end of the year. Just the way the working world is.
And then you’re talking about a scheduled kickoff roughly seven months later for a $17 million project that includes multiple floors of space, plus digging into the hill at Aggie Memorial Stadium. That’s not a simple project. That’s intensive. And I think there’s a real chance it bleeds into the season
.
Now, keep this in mind—Bowers Stadium in Huntsville, Texas, home of Sam Houston, did not host games in 2025 while undergoing a $60 million renovation to build modern broadcast facilities—basically a press box and suites, among other upgrades. That project started early in 2025, meaning their entire 2025 football season was impacted. And university officials said the project was “expected to be substantially complete” in June 2026.
Notice that wording—expected to be substantially complete. Not completed.
So even there, the timeline isn’t locked in.
Now apply that to New Mexico State. You’re talking about a project that could be similar in scope, dealing with the added complication of the hill at Aggie Memorial Stadium, and trying to turn it around in roughly seven months, assuming no weather delays or other issues.
Based on everything I’ve seen in this state—including the football facility built last season—I’m very skeptical that it gets done on time.
So what does that mean for the 2027 season?
It’s hard to say.
Do the Aggies have to play at a neutral site?
Do they go to the Sun Bowl?
Field of Dreams?
University Stadium in ABQ?
Those are things I don’t even want to think about—but I have to be honest, they’re possibilities.
Do they ask Conference USA for a front-loaded road schedule—five straight road games to start the year—with the hope the project is ready by mid-October or early November?
These are the kinds of contingency plans that organizations have to think through. In my previous career, there were people whose entire job was to think about the “what-ifs.”
And I’m thinking about them here.
I’m excited to see the press box and the suites. I really am. But I’m also very skeptical that something like this can be flipped in nine months.
I look at the hotel being built on Telshor every time I go to the grocery store. It’s been about nine months, and it’s not even halfway done. And that project is probably similar in square footage—without having to deal with a hill or the complexities of a stadium build.
So yeah… just stay tuned on that.
I think the best places in the world to work, the best places in the world to experience—up to and including a university—are places that allow for debate. That’s how you get stronger.
Because the truth is, you don’t get stronger by agreeing—you get stronger by being challenged.
Having hundreds or thousands of yes people gets you nowhere. Having some cognitive dissonance about what’s going on around you is healthy, and it should only make New Mexico State University better.
I really believe we need to have frank discussions.
There are a lot of great Aggie supporters that I talk to regularly who have doubts about certain things, but they’re afraid to say them. Me? I’m not afraid to say them. I have opinions. I have beliefs. And I feel strongly about what I put out there.
Everything I write comes from the heart—and especially from the brain.
But with that, I’m glad we were able to get some of this out in the open.
Over the next couple of weeks, in between covering baseball and other Aggie athletic events, I’ll have some columns recapping both basketball seasons and reflecting on the past so we can move forward and look ahead.
So I hope you tune in for that.
Thank you very much, and I’ll talk to you soon.