Neil McCarthy (basketball)

Neil McCarthy (born May 18, 1940) is a retired college basketball coach. He was head coach of the Weber State Wildcats team from 1974 to 1985 and at the New Mexico State Aggies from 1985 to 1997.

At Weber State, McCarthy led the Wildcats to four NCAA Tournaments, including the school's first NCAA Tournament win since reaching the Sweet 16 in 1972. He remained Weber State's winningest coach until Randy Rahe broke his wins record in 2016.

During most of McCarthy's tenure at New Mexico State, the Aggies were the second-best team in what became the Big West Conference, behind UNLV. After UNLV hit the skids, McCarthy took advantage and led the Aggies to four straight Big West tournament titles and four straight NCAA Tournaments from 1990 to 1994. His best team was the 1991-1992 unit, which advanced all the way to the Sweet 16—the Aggies' deepest run in the tournament since the 1970 Final Four unit.

McCarthy was abruptly fired just weeks before the start of practice for the 1997-1998 season. Athletic director Jim Paul cited a number of factors, principally the basketball team's poor performance in the classroom. McCarthy only graduated nine players in his 12 years at the school (an 11 percent graduation rate), including only one in his last four years. In Paul's view, this meant that McCarthy emphasized winning over academics. He left New Mexico State as the school's winningest coach, but has since been passed by Lou Henson.

Officially, McCarthy was reassigned as an assistant athletic director for the balance of his contract. However, he resigned rather than assume that post.

Despite McCarthy's success in building two regional powers, two major academic scandals forced his departure from the coaching profession.

In early 1995, it emerged that six players had received help from one of McCarthy's assistants on their work at correspondence courses, including answers on their exams. After this came to light, New Mexico State withdrew from postseason consideration for the 1995-96 season. In July 1996, the NCAA placed New Mexico State on three years' probation and stripped the Aggies of their NCAA tournament appearances in 1992, 1993 and 1994. Although McCarthy was not involved in the violations, the NCAA severely criticized him for not properly controlling the program. It slapped him with a two-year "show-cause" order, meaning that if he ever left New Mexico State, any penalties imposed on him would have followed him to his new employer unless that school demonstrated that he had served his punishment.

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