James Miller and Other NMSU Basketball Head Coach Candidates

It should not come as a surprise to anyone that James Miller is getting lots of love from the Aggie Nation. The associate head coach has spent four years in Las Cruces working under Chris Jans and now hopes to fill his seat on the NMSU bench next season.

With Jans heading to Mississippi State, NMSU Director of Athletics Mario Moccia has already elevated Miller to a finalist for the head coaching vacancy as long as he wants it.

Players like Sir Jabari Rice have already taken to Twitter to voice their support for Miller.

In addition to working with Jans, Miller spent a pair of seasons with Grant McCasland at Arkansas State and North Texas. He also won 77 games in three seasons as head coach of New Mexico Junior College, including three trips to the postseason. If Moccia elects to keep things in house with Miller, the Aggies could continue right where they left off this past season. However, here are three other names that could surface during the coaching search.

Dedrique Taylor - Cal State Fullerton Head Coach
Taylor has spent the last nine seasons as head coach of the Titans and he has taken them to a pair of NCAA Tournaments, including last week's 78-61 first round loss to Duke. He is the winningest coach in CSFU's history, but he has had just three winning seasons since he arrived in 2013 and he owns a 121-147 record. Part of that is due to the number of money games they take each season and the rebuild he undertook. Prior to his time in Fullerton, Taylor spent seven seasons at Arizona State and also coached at Nevada, Portland State, Loyola Marymount, and UC Davis.

Greg Heiar- Northwest Florida State Head Coach
Heiar is not a known name, but he is essentially Chris Jans 2.0. He worked with Jans and Steve Forbes at Wichita State and he also spent three seasons at LSU and a pair of seasons at Southern Miss. Heiar just won the National Junior College (NJCAA) National Championship after knocking off top seed Salt Lake City Community College 83-67 on Saturday. When he was hired at Northwest Florida State, he said his team would "play angry". Sound familiar?

Gregg Marshall - Former Head Coach
Most Athletic Directors would not touch Marshall after his departure from Wichita State, but Moccia is not most ADs. He gambled on Jans and hit a home run with that hire. Marshall is a proven winner, and that's all Aggies fans care about. Especially since NMSU will be moving into Conference USA next season, they need someone who can raise championship banners and take them back to the NCAA Tournament. Marshall is that guy.