Revitalized Tigers rise above coaching turmoil
On paper, it’s one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in state history.
From one win last year to 18 (and counting) this season, the Taos boys basketball team is rolling along like no one would have seen coming when all this started last spring.
Then again, last year’s win total was skewed beyond recognition thanks to eight forfeit losses and the subsequent exit of a polarizing head coach whose departure left nothing but room to grow.
“I think this team was always good,” said starting center Allen Martinez. “We just had a lot going on last year and we knew with the guys coming back that we’d be better. I guess all we needed was the right coach.”
Enter Nando Chavez, a nononsense type summoned to take the spot of departed coach Daniel “Doc” Trujillo, a native son who had his fair share of breakout success and controversial failure while coaching his alma mater.
Chavez took the leftovers of Trujillo’s young roster and added a pair of Questa transfers. The mix was the perfect launching point for a strong summer program that was designed to mend fences and instill a sense of hope. The Tigers had won just one district game the previous two years, ending with last year’s ugly string of forfeits that would have produced a winless season were it not for a late upset on the road at St. Michael’s.
“With all that stuff going on I’m not sure anyone thought we’d do this,” said guard Quinn Moon, an All-District 2-4A selection after leading Taos to both the regular season and tournament championships.
It landed the Tigers in the No. 5 seed for the Class 4A State Tournament, a seed they nearly blew in a two-point win over Santa Fe Indian School in last weekend’s first round. They advance into Wednesday’s quarterfinals in the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho to face No. 4 Moriarty, a team they lost a pair of four-point games to in the regular season.
Looking back, Chavez has to admit he’s at least a little surprised the Tigers have turned things around so quickly. It’s no secret that Trujillo’s final years in Taos were filled with drama behind the scenes involving parents and his leadership of the program, issues that clearly derailed what had been promising rosters filled with capable varsity players.
“No matter who took this job, I think the players and everyone needed a different way of doing things,” Chavez said. “I’m not try-
ing to be anyone I’m not. I just wanted to come in here and coach the boys and let everyone know I had my own way of doing things.”
With all but one player from Trujillo’s roster slated to return this season, Chavez lost three of those but added five new faces. Chief among them were Martinez and guard Justin Madrid, a pair of Questa transfers. Martinez was in the program last year but academic issues kept him off the varsity team while Madrid jumped ship in the offseason after his father was dismissed as Questa’s head coach.
“That was a long year in so many ways,” Martinez said of his failed junior year at Taos. “I can’t start to say how happy I am to be out here playing again. I never want to go through that again.”
Both he and Madrid had huge impacts. Each was named alldistrict along with returning veterans Moon and Abdul Khweis.
“I’ve said this before, but we’re a team that hasn’t peaked yet,” Chavez said. “I sit here and watch this team play and I know we have more in us. I’d love to find it at the [state] tournament.”
Moon said the team’s win at St. Michael’s early in the district race opened the players’ eyes that they were good enough to win the district, but it wasn’t until a players-only meeting following the team’s only district loss that truly got everyone’s attention.
“A lot gets said in those meetings but, really, the thing we came out of there with was the belief in working harder than we ever had,” Moon said. “It was just one loss but we knew we were better than that. Guys needed to get back in there and start working as hard as we had in the summer when all this basically started.”
Now just three wins shy of an unlikely state title, some might say Taos has taken this turnaround as far as it can. Then again, that’s just the motivation this team needs moving ahead.
“We believe we can win this whole thing,” Khweis said. “If no one else does, that’s fine. People can think what they want, but so what? We have confidence in ourselves. After last year that says a lot.”