PICKING UP THE PIECES
Miguel Medina left an athletic program that was crumbling. Now he’s back for a fresh start.
When Española Valley last saw Miguel Medina, the former football coach of the Sundevils was handing in his resignation.
Disgusted with the politics that swirled around the athletic department, the school board and the revolving door that served as the supervisor’s office, Medina left a program that he helped reach its zenith.
That was in 2015, when the Sundevils put on a run the likes of which had never before been seen by the red and yellow.
Española had just won the District 2-5A championship — it’s first ever — and earned the first home playoff game in school history. It was just the second playoff appearance for the Sundevils.
But that offseason, shortly after the boys basketball team won a state championship, the athletic program imploded amid issues with the Sundevils hoops program.
It cost supervisor Bobbie Gutierrez her job — one that she recently got back.
And Medina couldn’t take it anymore.
“I’m a businessman,” he said recently. “If this were a business, it would have folded years ago. There were too many egos involved and it was the kids who were paying the price.”
And that’s the shame of it, Medina said.
“The product is the kids,” he said. “They suffer because for the needs of a few people. A lot of them are in it for themselves and don’t see the big picture. The people in education are not in for the money. They’re not in to get rich.”
Well, Medina is back after two seasons, during which the program fell into the morass from which it had seemingly escaped, going 3-17 and having a coach replaced in midseason.
“It was one of those things, the job came open and I still live in the area,” he said. “When the job came open, one of my assistant coaches was still in the program and he asked me to think about it. I talked to my wife about it.”
With Gutierrez back in the supervisor’s office, “after two years, a lot of the mess that caused me to leave has been cleaned up.”
Indeed, there have been some significant changes as a search is on for a new athletic director.
Medina has a brand new field and a revamped stadium for his players.
But there is still so much more that needs to be done, he said.
“You’re here to help kids, to guide kids, to mentor kids,” he said. “I was lucky to have had good coaches, coaches who were mentors to me. I grew up in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and Española is a lot like Las Vegas. Kids get caught up in the streets and drugs, but we’ve got to show them there’s always an alternative to the streets and drugs.”