Blue Griffin girls may not have wins, but they do have passion
Mark Rodriguez measures progress by the laughter he hears at practice.
When he embarked on one of the more challenging situations in the state — head girls basketball coach at Santa Fe Prep — Rodriguez heard plenty of laughs from his players.
“In the beginning [of the season], when the girls made mistakes, they laughed it off,” Rodriguez said. “Now, when they make mistakes, they get mad. The difference is, I told them, is that you’re really starting to care about what’s going on here. Or else, why would you get mad?”
That the Blue Griffins have yet to throw in the towel despite an 0-13 record this year and a 35-game losing streak is a testament to their spirit. Even though Prep has been outscored by an average of 39-13 this season, Rodriguez can’t find fault in the effort his band of eight players give him night in, night out.
“They could be down by 30, and they’re diving for loose balls,” Rodriguez said. “They give it all they got. They’re very respectful kids. Great attitudes. No drama. They work as a unit. I am probably the happiest winless coach on Earth right now.”
Of course, when your head coach is a double lung transplant twice over, every day brings equal parts perspective and inspiration.
The Blue Griffins’ best had them knocking on the door of success on Jan. 30. They led 18-14 at the half of a District 2-3A game against Monte del Sol, and the score was tied at 22-all heading into the final minute. But the Lady Dragons scored the last seven points to pull out a 29-22 win in Prep Gymnasium. It was a step forward in what seems like a perpetual backpedal recently.
The program struggled over the past two season with roster size and skilled players, and the results bore that out. Prep caught the attention of the state early on in the 2016-17 season, but its 83-0 loss to Escalante on Nov. 29, 2016, reverberated throughout the state — and not in a good way.
The fall was sudden considering Prep won 48 games from 2012-15 and reached the state tournament twice, but the problem was that the feeder system — from no junior varsity to a struggling middle school program — didn’t develop adequate replacements as the better players graduated. So, Rodriguez inherited a team this year that learning as it plays.
This year’s team has nary a senior, and many of them played different sports and activities. Rodriguez spends his time teaching the game as much as he is coaching and implementing his system, but he sees improvement.
“The goals I had set for us at this point in the season, they’ve far exceeded them,” Rodriguez said. “They’re handling the press for the majority of a game, and they are starting to get into it and run the sets.”
Rodriguez said participation at the middle school level has increased, giving him hope that the program can find some much needed traction for an uncertain future.
Prep stays in Class 3A next year, but its opponents will be St. Michael’s, Santa Fe Indian School, Las Vegas Robertson, West Las Vegas and Raton. Three of those programs are ranked in the Top 10 in 4A, but Rodriguez expects the program to compete in the district next year.
After all, he’s not one to give up hope.
“We’ve learned a lot in those games where we might be on the short end of the scoreboard,” Rodriguez said. “But we’re not losing because they don’t give up. They don’t quit. To me, not so much in a game as it is in life, you lose when you quit or give up.”