Lobos hire Aggie coach

Tuesday morning, April 11, the home page of the University of New Mexico athletics department had a giant graphic announcing: “Join us in welcoming Paul Weir, head coach, New Mexico men’s basketball.”

Someone even found a photo of Weir wearing a Lobo red tie to accompany the graphic.

UNM hired Weir after he had just finished a successful first season as head coach at New Mexico State University, leading the Aggies to the Western Athletic Conference championship, an NCAA tournament appearance and a team record 28 victories. Weir previously served as associate head coach at NMSU under Marvin Menzies and had been with the Aggies since 2007.

Weir, a Canadian, is largely credited for recruiting several outstanding players from Canada to NMSU.

Many of the details of the hiring were unavailable at press time, but portions of a UNM press release follow:

Vice President for UNM Athletics Paul Krebs has announced Paul Weir has been named as the new head men's basketball coach at UNM

The hire is pending human resources approval and associated paperwork.

"I'm very excited to name Paul Weir as our 21st head men's basketball coach," said Krebs. "In conducting this search, his was a name that was on our radar from the beginning. I was able to see many of their games this season, and Paul is a bright young mind in the game. His teams play with tremendous passion and energy. They are tenacious defensively and on the glass and his student-athletes have been great citizens and representatives. I have no doubt that those qualities will translate to our program and will resonate with our fan base.

"The fact that Paul has been in New Mexico for the past 11 years gives him an incredible knowledge of our state and the significance of Lobo Basketball throughout our state," said Krebs. "We welcome his lovely wife Alma, a New Mexico native, and his son, Theodore, to the Lobo Family."

Weir becomes the first basketball coach to serve as the head man for both of New Mexico's Division I institutions. Named as the head coach of the Aggies in April 2016, Weir led New Mexico State to unprecedented success in his lone season. The Aggies went 28-6 overall and 11-3 in the Western Athletic Conference. The Aggies defeated Cal State Bakersfield to win the WAC Tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

Weir came to NM State in 2007 after two seasons as the director of basketball operations at Iowa, where he served under former Lobo head coach Steve Alford. In 2005-06, his first season at Iowa City, the Hawkeyes won 25 games on their way to a Big Ten Tournament Championship.

(Photo by Christopher Belarde)