While the Aggie hoops squads of the late 1960s and early 1970s exemplified greatness to longtime NM State followers, Neil McCarthy helped a new generation of Aggie faithful build fond memories of their own during his highly-successful tenure as the team's leader.
Beginning with an 11-win improvement from the previous season in his inaugural 1985-86 campaign, McCarthy's ability to recruit and put highly competitive basketball teams on the floor of the Pan American Center was evident.
The 1988-89 season saw the Aggies rack up a 21-11 record which featured a trip to the NIT. It was NM State's first postseason bid since making the cut for the NCAA Tournament in the 1978-79 campaign and started the program's decade-long run as a dominant force both in the Big West Conference and the national scene.
Over the next nine years, McCarthy led the Aggies to four Big West Conference regular season titles, a pair of Big West Conference Tournament titles and five trips to the NCAA Tournament. The two-time Big West Coach of the Year (1989 and 1990) led the Aggies to a trio of triumphs over nationally-ranked squads during his tenure, but none of those was more memorable than the one on January 8, 1990, when NM State knocked off defending national champion and seventh-ranked UNLV 83-82 on a last-second shot inside the Pan Am Center.
Through his 12-year span at the helm of the program, McCarthy amassed 226 wins - the second-highest all-time total behind only the late Lou Henson.
