Dominguez takes step toward job

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“He’s from our region, he’s played here and had a lot of success in our conference,” Snow said. “As a coach in our conference, and from a recruiting and a coaching perspective, he is as guy who can hit the ground running. I couldn’t be more excited.”

Snow and Dominguez got to know each other over the past three years, as they coached against each other and saw each other a lot on the recruiting trail. Snow said he respected Dominguez’s acumen as a coach and a recruiter whenever the two talked about their jobs and their teams.

“Number one, he is somebody with high character and has a basketball-first mindset,” Snow said. “As we got to know each other, we would talk throughout the season and I respected his opinion about opponents and recruiting as our paths crossed from time to time. I think he brings a lot to the table just from that aspect.”

Dominguez feels he brings a level of discipline and toughness that he helped instill with the Mavericks coaching under Andy Shantz.

“He’s been there for 21 years and this is his fifth year as head coach,” Dominguez said. “If you stay that long at one program, you’re doing things well. The toughness, the discipline, everyone knew that when you played Mesa. You were going against, tough, hard-nosed kids who are going to play hard.”

The added benefit is that he is only 90 minutes away from his dad, Rai Dominguez, in Alcalde, and his sister, Stefani Dominguez, who lives in Albuquerque and is an assistant coach at Volcano Vista under aunt Lisa Villareal.

“Getting closer to home and closer to family and friends is never a bad thing,” Dominguez said. “With Highlands being where it is and being just an hour and a half from Española and Albuquerque, where my family lives, made things the decision to come back that much easier.”