Pojoaque gets new athletic director
Elks’ ex-AD gets Hall of Fame nod; St. Michael’s hires wrestling coach
A familiar face with a familiar name has landed the top sports job at Pojoaque Valley High School.
Matt Martinez, who previously had stops as the baseball coach at Capital, as well as serving as athletic director at Capital and Santa Fe Indian School, was named Pojoaque’s new AD earlier this week.
He did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Martinez has worked as a game official in football, basketball and baseball the last several years. He served most recently as the SFIS athletic director until February 2015. He was with the school for three years.
He was Capital’s AD from 2001-05 and has been a teacher and administrator at several schools over the years.
Martinez takes over for Kevin Garcia. A St. Michael’s grad who later coached and taught at his alma mater, he served as Pojoaque’s AD for one year before stepping aside just recently.
Matt, but no relation
Another year, another honor for Matt Martinez.
No, not the Matt Martinez listed above. This version is — and this is the confusing part — the former athletic director at Pojoaque Valley who gained enshrinement into the New Mexico Activities Association’s Hall of Fame earlier this year. He spent more than three decades at the school, serving as
its athletic director for nearly 20 years before retiring.
He found out this week that he is now part of the newest class entering the New Mexico High School Coaches Association’s Hall of Honor. He will be inducted later this year alongside Roy Sanchez and Richard Luscombe.
Sanchez is from Los Alamos and has been one of the state’s top boys basketball coaches at Albuquerque Eldorado. Luscombe is the longtime girls basketball coach at Texico.
Martinez most notably coached girls basketball at Pojoaque, winning the 1998 state title. He led the Elkettes to the state finals three years in a row between 1996-98.
He joins longtime friend Tom McReynolds of McCurdy and current Pojoaque cross-country coach Allan Lockridge in the NMHSCA Hall of Honor. Other notables in recent years include girls basketball coach Cindy Roybal and boys hoops coaches Bobby Rodriguez and Ron Geyer.
Martinez said he will be part of a ceremony scheduled for the annual coaches’ convention in July in Albuquerque.
“Obviously it’s an honor to be a part of it,” he said. “One year I’m recognized as an [administrator] and now it’s for my time as a coach.”
Grappling
St. Michael’s has hired Christopher Montoya as its new varsity wrestling coach. The 29-year-old was named to the position earlier this week.
A 2007 graduate of the school, Montoya was the state champion at 145 pounds during his senior year with the Horsemen. He later wrestled in college at New Mexico Highlands and spent most of the last decade as a personal trainer.
“The first goal is to build a feeder program in the junior high so we can have kids coming up through the system to help the varsity,” Montoya said. “I know the potential is there to be pretty good. We just need to build it up from within.”
Montoya also played football for the Horsemen, transferring to the school from Santa Fe High after a former Demons assistant left that program to take over at St. Michael’s. It started a long-term relationship with the school that Montoya hopes leads to something bigger and better.
“Well, my first meeting with [the team] had 20 kids in there,” he said. “That’s a great start.”