Mora grad takes reins of men’s basketball program at Bakersfield College
Aaron Chávez didn’t see his accomplishment as just a celebration of his hard work.
The 2000 Mora High School graduate saw his promotion this week to interim head men’s basketball coach at Bakersfield (Calif.) College as a celebration for all of Northern New Mexico. Chávez took over the position from Rich Hughes, who announced last week he was stepping away from the program for a year. And who better to fill in than his trusted assistant who has been by his side for the past 15 years?
Chávez, though, said his hire wasn’t just about him.
“This isn’t about what I’ve done,” Chávez said. “This is what the Norte has done. It’s not my accomplishment. It’s our accomplishment.”
It is Chávez’s first head coaching job, and he said he is the first Mora grad to land a head coaching position in college basketball. It also fulfilled a lifelong goal that he has dreamed about since the days when he was wearing the Rangers’ green and white.
“I just always wanted to coach,” Chávez said. “I’ve always enjoyed it. It’s funny, because I’ve always enjoyed practices more than coaching a game. Every one judges you on 40 minutes [the length of a college game], but I do believe that if you want to see how good a person is at coaching, go to their practice.”
Chávez had some good mentors to start. His dad coached a number of sports at a variety of levels, including track and cross country at Mora. Chávez played basketball for Manuel Romero, who won two state titles while with the Rangers. His first coaching opportunity out of high school came at West Las Vegas, where David Bustos hired him as a 19-year-old to his staff in 2001. He stayed with the program for three seasons.
“He might not have won a state championship, but without him giving me my first job, I would have never done this,” Chávez said, holding back tears. “He gave me my first job as a 19-year-old, and he’s letting you coach a little bit. He did something for me that I will always remember.”
The dream moved from the prep level to the collegiate realm in 2004, when just one school responded out of the nearly 700 letters Chávez sent out. Only head coach Chris Wood from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., responded, and Chávez made a quick first impression.
After taking a cellphone call from Wood while on the side of a Colorado road, he had a co-worker email the coach his résumé. It was on Wood’s desk within minutes after their conversation.
“Coach Wood told me, ‘That’s when I knew you were my guy,’ ” Chávez said. “‘I was upstairs talking to my [athletic director], and by the time I got back, your résumé was on my desk.’ ”
The partnership lasted a year before Chávez went from the East Coast to the West Coast in Bakersfield to be with Hughes, who had just been hired at the
school. In their time together, the school went 267-172, won three Western State Conference junior college titles and sent 59 players to four-year programs.
Chávez, though, has a chance to put his stamp on the program and is excited to give it a norteño flavor.
“I just want to be me,” Chavez said. “I want to keep the things he did well, but other things I’ve learned from coaches, I want