Columnist Steve Carp: McCarthy era comes to end in Las Cruces

Steve Carp's college basketball notebook appears on Friday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4087.

DALLAS -- McCarthyism, as they know it in the Southwest, died Tuesday. And what a bizarre death it was.

When former New Mexico State coach Neil McCarthy finally settled his lawsuit with the school for $835,000, it marked the end of a stormy, bittersweet 12-year relationship. McCarthy won 248 games with the Aggies and took the school to the NCAA Tournament five times.

But when former athletic director Jim Paul decided to remove McCarthy in the aftermath of an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations and poor graduation rates two years ago, McCarthy sued. There have been verbal bombs launched back and forth, most of them from McCarthy. And it has been acrimonious, right to the bitter end.

"I've never been one to back off from a bully," said McCarthy, who was seeking damages four times greater than what he settled for. "Someone tries to bully me and I see red."

He has even had a run-in with current coach Lou Henson. The two recently bumped into each other at the El Paso airport and exchanged words. McCarthy has accused Henson, who coached at NMSU in the early 1970s before returning after his lengthy stint at Illinois, of stabbing him in the back.

But McCarthy will be leaving Las Cruces soon. He will receive his settlement Feb. 1 in a lump sum and said he will relocate to either San Diego or Salt Lake City.

"It's over for me," he said. "I really appreciate the support I've gotten here from the community. I had 12 very good years here."

Whether you liked him or loathed him -- and McCarthy made more than his share of enemies over the years in college basketball -- you can't dispute how hard McCarthy's teams played, how they competed and how he was able to get kids to come from the inner city to an outpost like Las Cruces and succeed on the court.

Off the court? That's another story. He wasn't close to being successful in the academic arena. And from time to time, his players would have brushes with the law. Ultimately, that's what led to McCarthyism dying. He couldn't get his kids to compete in the classroom the way they did on the court.

Does that make him a bad guy? Not necessarily.

I always enjoyed McCarthy's candor and certainly respected his ability to teach and coach the game of basketball. I always sensed he was a combination of Jerry Tarkanian, Abe Lemons and Billy Tubbs. He had Tark's compassion for giving kids no one else wanted a chance, Lemons' wit and sarcasm and Tubbs' killer instinct to put a team down, then put them away.

For a dozen years, it worked in Las Cruces. And whether you were for him or against him, McCarthy left an indelible mark at New Mexico State.

* LOU-DO DOING OK: As if McCarthy's out-of-court settlement wasn't enough excitement for one day in Las Cruces, Tuesday's 76-55 thrashing of in-state rival New Mexico put the capper on one of the most memorable days in school history.

New Mexico shot just 34 percent from the field and New Mexico State pressured freshman point guard John Robinson Jr. into a 2-for-10 shooting night while fouling him out.

His airport skirmish with McCarthy aside, Henson is doing just fine with the current New Mexico State team. The Aggies are 12-5 and coming off one of the program's biggest wins in years when they beat the 12th-ranked Lobos at the Pan Am Center.

The Aggies are battling Boise State for first place in the Big West's Eastern Division. The teams are 4-0 and meet twice in early February to decide who will go to Reno as the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament.

* MORE TUBBS THUMPING: Billy Tubbs is at it again.

The TCU coach drew the wrath of first-year Colorado State coach Richie McKay in the aftermath of the Horned Frogs' 92-89 overtime win in Fort Collins last Saturday.

As TCU celebrated the hard-fought win, Tubbs, who had been hearing it from the crowd all day at Moby Arena, thrust his arms in the arm and pointed both of his index fingers to the stands. McKay, who was waiting to shake hands while this was going on, told Tubbs he didn't appreciate the antics.

The two exchanged words, Tubbs claiming McKay cursed at him, something McKay vehemently denies.

"As a Christian man, I deeply take exception to that," he said. "I never used profanity, but I wasn't going to shake his hand after what he did."

In fact, McKay said he regretted the confrontation.

"That was probably my inexperience," he said. "I felt he didn't need to celebrate to our crowd. I felt he could shake my hand and go on his way.

"I don't coach his team. He coaches it. My reaction is it isn't the way I want our program represented."

Tubbs, who got a shower of debris for his postgame celebration efforts, said, "I tried to shake the coach's hand and he started calling me some obscene names. He didn't want a piece of me. But you've got to realize he's just a young pup. He's just a guy learning the game. But he's got a lot to learn."

UNLV fans may recall two years ago when Tubbs and Bill Bayno got into it at halftime at the Thomas & Mack Center. Bayno thought Tubbs was trying to intimidate the officials and show Bayno up in his own building. Tubbs didn't bother to shake hands after that game, an 82-72 UNLV win.

But the two coaches have patched things up since the 1997 incident. They meet Saturday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum for the first time since that game.

* WORTH A LOOK: Miami's basketball team doesn't get large turnouts for its games at the downtown Miami Arena, which is a shame, because the Hurricanes have been playing some pretty good ball this year in the Big East.

But when No. 1 Connecticut rolled into town Wednesday, so did the fans. A record 15,147 packed the arena and with the newfound support behind it, Leonard Hamilton's team nearly knocked off the top-rated Huskies, falling 70-68 in overtime.

The Hurricanes had a chance to win it but John Salmon's jumper from the right side rimmed out.

Miami (11-4) figures to have a say as to how things go in the Big East. Perhaps that will encourage more fans to show up. Miami had been averaging just over 3,000 before the Connecticut game.

As for UConn, it remains Division I's lone undefeated team with Auburn having lost to Kentucky later Wednesday night.

Will Jim Calhoun's team stay unblemished? Find out Feb. 6 when the Huskies play No. 4 Stanford at Maples Pavilion in what will be the latest in what already has been a long line of memorable matchups this season. And we're not even to March yet.

* THE FRAUD FIVE: OK Bruiser Flint. You earned a reprieve. Because your UMass Minutemen knocked off Kansas, you get to leave the Fraud Five. But lose to Fordham and you'll be right back in the mix.

Meanwhile, form continues to hold up as New Mexico can't win on the road. Neither can Syracuse. And South Carolina has totally gone into the tank. Anyone on this week's list has truly earned their rightful place.

1. Syracuse (13-5) -- Sorry, falling to Rutgers on the road is still a bad loss for the talented Orangemen.

2. New Mexico (16-3) -- Think Lute Olson wouldn't like a rematch -- in Tucson?

3. Rhode Island (10-8) -- The roller-coaster ride continues.

4. South Carolina (5-12) -- Latest setback a loss to Vanderbilt.

5. Washington (9-6) -- The Pac-10's biggest disappointment.

* HOOP DU JOUR: Things started out so well for Larry Shyatt in his return to Clemson. But times are tough right now as the team has hit the skids in the ACC. Shyatt announced Wednesday he was suspending guard Johnny Miller and forward Vincent Whitt indefinitely for violating team rules. ... Pittsburgh's Ralph Willard, who is also going through some rocky times, lost two players as the school cut Fred Primus and Jason Boyd loose, Primus for charges of grand theft and Boyd for violating team rules. Two other Panthers were benched and were being questioned about possibly being connected with Primus' caper. ... North Carolina has played 300 straight games as a top-25 ranked team. The Tar Heels have a longer streak in the Associated Press poll, stretching 319 games from 1973-83. ... Must-see TV: St. John's vs. Duke Sunday at Madison Square Garden (KLAS Channel 8, 9 a.m.). The Garden will be rockin' as the No. 2 Dookies come a-callin'. It's one of the better intersectional matchups of the year. ... Looking for an

RPI sleeper? How about Southwest Missouri State? The Bears are 14-3 and are No. 18 in the RPI.

archive