Ex-Española coach adjusts from championship to exile
Martinez finds himself a spectator for first state tournament in more than a decade
The coach in Richard Martinez can’t stop coaching, even from the stands.
As he leans on the railing at the south end of Española Valley High School’s Edward Medina Gymnasium during the recent District 2-5A girls basketball championship game between the Lady Sundevils and Capital, he barks orders as if he still roams the sidelines.
His exhortations primarily are aimed at his daughter, junior Kaylinn Martinez, a starter for the Lady Sundevils — when to shoot, when to attack the basket, when to hold on to the ball and run the offense.
It is a voice that pierces the growing rumble of cheers as Española Valley rallies from a five-point deficit in the final 90 seconds to beat the Lady Jaguars, and it resonates with his daughter, much as it echoed throughout Northern New Mexico through a bewitched career that saw Richard Martinez face the prospect of losing his post as the Sundevils’ boys basketball coach four times before surviving each threat.
Now in an odd basketball (and educational) exile, Martinez enters this time of year with trepidation — struggling with his inner conflict between being simply a parent and a parent who knows what it’s like to be a coach.
“Talk about the stress in life for me: It’s watching other coaches coach,” Martinez says as he takes a bite out of his salad at a local restaurant the following day. “That is probably the most stressful thing, because I don’t think I would do a lot of those things [that a coach does].”
As the excitement of the end of basketball season percolates with the start of the state tournament this weekend, Martinez is merely a spectator for the first time since 2003. He is nine months into a coaching and teaching exile that came after he settled his case with the state’s Public Education Department in May 2017. The department investigated a variety of accusations against Española Valley’s head boys coach, including allegations that he bullied and intimidated players, other students, staff members and parents during his time as a coach and teacher.
Martinez, 54, received a one-year
suspension of his teaching license, saw his coaching license revoked for the next two years and agreed never to work for Española Public Schools or work for a contractor with the school district. If he wants to regain his coaching license, he will have go through the state Public Education Department for it.
The matter reverberated into this year, as the school district in February settled a civil lawsuit for $200,000 with five families of Española Valley studentathletes who alleged Martinez retaliated against and physically and verbally abused them or their children.
While the former coach says he has moved on from the matter, he maintains that much of what came out was mostly third-party accusations regarding his conduct. He added he regrets not putting up a bigger fight against the Public Education Department and the school district.
“I felt, under the guidance of my representation, that I never stated [for] myself, and that’s what bothers me more than anything else,” Martinez says.
Though Martinez is gone, Española’s boys basketball program remains on the fast track he established in a career that saw the Sundevils win 253 games and two state titles. But his presence, even off the sidelines, remains a flashpoint for people in town. It’s hard for many to feel neutral about him.
Ruben Archuleta, president of the Española school board, says he felt the Martinez investigation was a drain not just on the school district, but for the community as a whole.
“That year and a half, our community suffered, and so did our kids, because we focused our energy on Richard and the case,” Archuleta says. ” Some of the other board members wanted him there and wanted to keep him there. I personally felt that we could have been focusing energy on our children and keeping a safe environment rather than dealing with these issues that should have never happened.”
For Martinez, the past is merely prologue. He retired as a teacher after 30 years and now works as a part of a relocation team for new employees at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He says he finds his current job rewarding because he uses his hands for something other than drawing up plays. He says he did construction work when he was younger, and considered becoming a contractor before taking the teacher/coaching track.
He also uses those hands to do projects around his house in Española — consumed by hoops, he admits he didn’t realize how much work it needed — as well as the family cabin in Gallina. Martinez also has plans to rebuild the 1966 Ford truck that once belonged to his late father, Zebedeo Martinez.
“I’m going to paint it, put rims on it and I’m gonna cruise it around because that’s what I want to do,” Richard Martinez says. “And by God, I’m gonna do it.”
The time away from court has helped the former coach reconnect with his family. He says he spends more time with his wife, Annette; sons Jozzeb and Richie; and daughters Annalynn and Kaylinn. Martinez says he has hunted and fished with his sons, has gone dancing with Annette and has hardly missed his daughter’s games. He is especially fond of the newest member of the Martinez household — grandson Santos.
But coaching still calls. Martinez coaches a few city and Amateur Athletic Union girls teams made up of players from around Northern New Mexico, including Kaylinn. Close friend and Coronado High School head boys basketball coach Walter Bustos says coaching will always be in Martinez’s blood, but he adds that it’s not what truly defines him.
“I talked to him last weekend, and the guy has so many things going on,” Bustos says. “I’m sure it hurts. … I am sure it’s hard on him, but it’s not affecting him. I can tell you that.”
Martinez still draws a crowd wherever he goes, whether it’s at a girls game, hanging out at a barber shop or walking through a restaurant where he shakes a few hands and talks for a few minutes as he walks toward his table. What he learned over the past two years, though, is that he knows who his friends are now.
“My father used to tell me, ‘There are very few friends you can pick,’ ” Martinez says. “I thought I had many friends, but when it come down to it, it divided into thirds — a third that were great, a third that were really good and a third that were really bad.
“People who were shaking my hand were stabbing me in the back, and that is sad to say. But I am going to move forward and I am very confident in who I am and we’ll see what happens.”
Yet, the former coach still feels misunderstood by the public. He points to his teaching record overall, which he says is filled with good evaluations, as well as the coaching acumen that helped him guide three teams to state title — at Mora in 1995 and at Española Valley in 2011 and 2016.
“The media many times … put me in a position of jeopardy,” Martinez says. “They only stated one side. That’s where I get hurt the most. You know what? I know who I am. My history and my accomplishments, those are the reflection of who I am.”
However, it wasn’t as if controversy swirled about Martinez for just the past few years. Lenny Roybal, who co-coached with Martinez at Española Valley for the 2003-04 season and was
Española’s AD from 2004-06 and 201012, says he recommended firing him twice for reasons similar to those that eventually led to his departure. The school board rejected his recommendation the first time, while then-Superintendent Art Blea overruled Roybal in the spring of 2012.
“I suppose a lot of times his desire to win overtook following the rules and being a nice person,” Roybal says. “I got fired a few times probably for the same reasons that he got fired, but I always seem to be able to adjust to the [player] I was chewing out.”
Blea, who held the superintendent post from 2012-13, recalls a group of parents coming to him in early 2012 with complaints about coach Martinez. When Blea asked for written statements and names of witnesses, he never heard from them again. He sat down with Martinez a short time later to talk about the matter and put him on an improvement plan, to which the coach did not object. The issue never arose again during Blea’s tenure.
“He was very accepting and said, ‘I’m going to do my best,’ ” Blea says. “He had his side of the story, that these parents think they have an All-American at home and they didn’t get enough playing time. So they’re blaming [him].”
Martinez acknowledges he isn’t perfect, but he says some of the stories made him out to be a villain.
“Have I made mistakes?” he says. “Yes I have. Am I willing to say that I am free of mistakes? I’m wrong. I get on my knees on a weekly basis, and I thank the Lord for everything and I tell him to help me every day. I make a lot of mistakes, and I will continue to make a lot of mistakes.”
As for the next chapter, Martinez admits he doesn’t know what it entails. He doesn’t rule out a return to coaching, but he feels he already accomplished a lot. He’s on to the next challenge, and it could lead him in a different direction. Besides, he feels he’s made his mark in his community, as well as in the state.
“I’m 54. I’m on the other side,” Martinez says. “Whatever I do have left, those are my years. And if I want work around, if I want to go fishing, if I want to go to the cabin with my grandson and go camping and fishing, I can do that.
“If I am here today and gone tomorrow, people are going to talk about me around the campfires. What else can I ask for, coach?”