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Richard Stevens: With big money on horizon, Theus won't stay for long

By Richard Stevens
Friday, May 4, 2007

Sure, not too many people expect Reggie Theus to remain at New Mexico State very long.

There is too much basketball pedigree in Theus. The New Mexico Lobos probably will have the same issue with Steve Alford once his rehab days at UNM are over.

Theus surely is destined for fancier places than Las Cruces, bigger salaries than what NMSU can afford and better leagues than the Western Athletic Conference.

Ditto for Alford/Albuquerque/UNM/Mountain West.

But did we really expect Theus to jump right over all other Division-I destinations and land in the NBA?

Oh, Theus hasn't made that landing, yet, but the fact that the Charlotte Bobcats and Michael Jordan came calling is a testament to the type of coach the Aggies are trying to keep.

Theus' name has popped up on the short list of coaches the Bobcats are looking at to replace Bernie Bickerstaff, who was scooted up to an executive office.

Theus said he is not going to pursue the job - or run from it.

"If they want to contact me and set up a formal interview, that's one thing," Theus told The Tribune. "I was pretty impressed they wanted to talk with me. If something comes up, I'd be interested.

"It seems they are looking for someone who can relate to young players, someone who is a former player, someone they feel can have a synergy with the players. I think that's a standard thing."

The odds probably are against Theus becoming a Bobcat simply because the NBA is a predictable league with the bad habit of retreading some tired NBA coach who was fired somewhere else.

And Theus probably still needs some seasoning as a head coach.

But if Jordan and the Bobcats throw a $2 million contract at Theus, expect NMSU to be looking for a new head coach.

When the Aggies hired Theus two seasons ago, the expectations from this columnist were that Theus would be gone after three seasons - which gives him one more.

The NMSU season of 2007-08 should feature Theus' best Aggies team, a team capable of challenging Nevada for the WAC title. A team that should go NCAA dancing for the second straight year.

If, and probably when, that happens, Theus should make a dramatic leap on the wish list of any D-I hoops program looking for a proven winner.

It's not that Theus couldn't have made a move this past season when more than 40 colleges found themselves looking for a fresh face.

Theus said several search firm agents called him to gauge his interest in several jobs.

"Even though I was flattered, I'm not interested in just any job," Theus said. "My loyalty is here."

The Aggies also have shown loyalty to Theus. They have restructured his salary once to bump it to $355,000 a year. Thanks to Theus' NCAA success in 2007 - and probably thanks to Alford's annual feast of $975,000 - NMSU is restructuring again.

The problem with any bottom line the Aggies throw at Theus is that eventually it won't be enough.

The Bobcats won't add a few bucks onto what Theus makes at NMSU - they'll multiply it by, say, seven.

And eventually some hungry D-I program with BCS bucks will do some multiplication, too.