LAS CRUCES – Former New Mexico state basketball coach Neil McCarthy died on Saturday at his Utah home. He was 81 years old.
McCarthy was inducted into the New Mexico State University’s Athletics Hall of Fame last year.
His tenure in the state of New Mexico from 1985-97 will be remembered for producing the second-best record in the program’s history. However, 22 of its 248 wins and the team’s Sweet 16 appearance in 1992 were evicted by the NCAA for academic fraud.
McCarthy was fired in 1997 and stopped training.
“I think Coach should be remembered for all the success the Aggies have had,” said former Aggies and NBA guard Randy Brown. “The Big West was a pretty good conference back then.
“He often talked about how we would win games because we were defending. We had a few people who said they couldn’t shoot or score, but we kept the games close and we ended up winning them because we were He trusted me at the head of his “zone defense and I think that got me thinking about defending and making myself a better defender and I have to thank him from the bottom of my heart for that.”
Brown said former teammate and current Las Cruces High basketball coach William Benjamin informed him of McCarthy’s death.
“(McCarthy’s wife Vivian) called me last night (Saturday) and I didn’t answer because if someone calls you after 10 am you know it won’t be okay,” said Benjamin. “I didn’t want to deal with it, but she called me (Sunday). We talked. We cried. She said he died peacefully in his sleep.
“Neil was Neil the whole time. He wanted to smoke his cigarettes and drink his drinks.”
Benjamin joined NMSU from Los Angeles in 1988. Benjamin is a special education teacher at LCHS and was a special education student before high school.
“Neil stayed with me,” said Benjamin. “I was a child with special education who couldn’t pass regular class, but I could play basketball. I didn’t get into regular class until I was in high school.
“You had to pass the SAT and it took me four tries. Everyone who recruited me left me. When I passed, everyone jumped up again. I stayed loyal to (McCarthy) and eventually signed with New Mexico State.”
McCarthy put small schools like Weber State and New Mexico State on the map. His signature with NMSU was the matchup zone, where he used high IQ players like Brown, Benjamin and Michael New to make up for athletic or talented deficiencies in the Big West against national might UNLV or Long Beach State.
“He could take 15 guys with 15 different egos and mold us into one,” Brown said. “He really liked junior college players. They were a little bit polished and he could train them a little bit harder.
“It was a perfect situation for me. I could have gone to a bigger university, but New Mexico State was obviously the right choice for me.”
Brown credits McCarthy with his defensive skills, a big reason why he had a 12-year NBA career and a prominent role on championship teams for the Chicago Bulls.
But it wasn’t easy for Brown, a native of Chicago, who joined NMSU as a transfer from Houston in 1989.
“New Mexico state wasn’t high on my list when I wanted to get changed,” Brown said. “I just felt it was a good choice. (McCarthy) treated me with the greatest respect and I saw a picture of where this was going. After visiting campus and sitting with Coach, it was easy for me To choose New Mexico state. “
McCarthy is the runner-up NMSU basketball coach with the most wins after Lou Henson. Henson died in 2020.
The two men were polar opposites in their personalities, but are currently the two best coaches in the program’s history and are synonymous with NMSU basketball.
“My relationship with (McCarthy) after my game was just as good, if not better, than with him as a player because I’m more mature,” said Benjamin. “I understand that some of the things he did he didn’t have to do for me, but that’s just my experience. Neil wasn’t Lou Henson. He was probably the opposite of people and I’m one of them. “
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