Lady Jaguars coach steps down amid legal trouble

Former Capital standout, S.F. Prep boys assistant coach Casados named interim

Monday was the first day high school basketball teams were allowed to begin preseason workouts. At least one of them did so with a measured sense of uncertainty that, it hopes, got a little easier to deal with after an announcement late last week.

Capital’s girls program learned that Jonathan Salazar had officially stepped down as head coach and been replaced by Darren Casados. The Lady Jaguars had gone most of the offseason without a regular training program, and by Monday Casados said there was a lot of catching up to do.

“The girls didn’t do a lot at all during the summer so, really, we haven’t been running anyone’s system since last year,” he said.

A Capital graduate and one of the best all-around athletes in school history, Casados was a boys assistant for four years at Santa Fe Preparatory and a coach at Nina Otero Community School the last two years.

He was asked by Salazar to help with the Capital girls this fall, but that was before Salazar got into legal trouble regarding a domestic violence case that is still ongoing. Salazar tendered his resignation as the Lady Jaguars’ head coach last week, according to his attorney, Dan Cron.

Salazar communicated briefly through text but Cron said he would answer all questions on his client’s behalf. Cron said Salazar was not fired.

“He [Salazar] thought that it was best for him to step down so that he could work on issues surrounding his marriage and give his time and attention to that,” Cron

said. “Because it would not be fair to the players there at the school for him not to be able to give his full time and attention to his coaching duties.”

Santa Fe Public Schools officially named Casados the interim head coach last Thursday, a move Casados hopes becomes a fulltime assignment soon.

“I think it’s going to be a challenge taking over that team, but it’s something I’m looking forward to,” he said Monday afternoon. “If were easy, anybody would do it, right?”

Capital has endured seven straight losing seasons and finished at least 11 games under .500 in nine of the last 10. That includes a cumulative record of 30-155 since the start of the 2010-11 campaign. The Lady Jags have averaged a 3-23 record the last four years, going 6-22 last season in Salazar’s one and only year as head coach.

Casados becomes the program’s sixth head coach since 2012, following in the footsteps of Jeremy Newton, Tom Montoya, Veronica Lerma, Dale Lucero and then Salazar.

Casados met with the team for the first time Monday night, the first in a series of practices scheduled for this week between Capital’s gym and the facility at Nina Otero right across the street. The Lady Jaguars will not have the opportunity to take over their home gym full time until the conclusion of volleyball season.

“I know what’s coming back and a lot of the girls, yeah, I know what we’re working with,” he said. “I’m doing this because I still enjoy working with the kids. Capital’s my old school and I think we can do something there.”

Darren Casados, a former assistant coach for Santa Fe Prep, was named the Capital Lady Jaguars basketball interim head coach after Jonathan Salazar resigned amid legal troubles.