Pojoaque, Eldorado coaches honored
Martinez, Sanchez inducted into NMHSCA Hall of Honor
Matt Martinez never thought that his career at Pojoaque Valley would define his legacy.
Roy Sanchez only knew that basketball was his salvation from a different kind of life. Both were part of this year’s Hall of Honor class for the New Mexico High School Coaches Association, which wrapped up its coaches’ clinic Wednesday with its awards banquet at the Crowne Plaza Albuquerque.
Martinez was honored on the strength of his 32-year career at Pojoaque, where he coached girls basketball for 14 seasons and won the Class 3A state title in 1998, coached the boys basketball program for a year, and was the school’s athletic director for 19 years before retiring in 2017.
Sanchez, a 1982 Los Alamos graduate, used his love for basketball to fashion a 25-year coaching career at Albuquerque Eldorado that includes three state titles. Joining them was Texico’s Richard Luscombe, who coached boys and girls basketball and baseball, and helped guide those programs to a combined eight state titles in a 29-year career.
Martinez, a Mora graduate, actually thought he would return home and coach, and everything appeared to head that way after he came to Pojoaque as the junior varsity girls basketball coach in 1984. However, Martinez made an impression on his athletic director, and he was handed the reins of the girls program the following year.
“My style of play was different from [the varsity head coach], and John Rivera liked it,” Martinez said.
Over the next 14 years, Martinez compiled a 281-76 record and set the tone for one of the most successful programs in Northern New Mexico.
“I never thought this would ever happen,” Martinez said. “I just worked hard every day and this is something nice to be recognized by your peers, to get an award like this.”
Pojoaque cross-country head coach Allan Lockridge was Martinez’s presenter, and he was a logical choice — the two worked together for 30 years. Lockridge joked that he had three “pleasant” years during their time together, but he also learned some things from Martinez that helped him as a coach.
Martinez left a large imprint on athletics at Pojoaque. During his tenure as
a coach and AD, the school won 22 state titles, finished runner-up 19 times and brought home 45 district titles.
“He said, ‘If you wanna have fun, fun is when you walk down that Pit ramp for a state championship,’ ” Lockridge said. “I used that line with my kids over the years.”
Sanchez knows that walk down The Pit ramp very well. Four times he led his Eagles down The Pit ramp for a state championship game. Three times they walked up with a blue trophy. He’s also helped the program win seven district titles since he took over the program in 1993.
Sanchez’s roots, though, took him back to Los Alamos, where he spent the first 19 years of his life. He tried plenty of sports, but it was basketball that made an impression on him.
“What kept me out of trouble was staying in the gym,” Sanchez said. “So that got me into coaching. We talk about keeping kids out of trouble, but it really kept me out of trouble because I was in the gym all the time. That’s really the lesson for a guy like me. If I wasn’t coaching, I’d be starting trouble somewhere.”
While he was a Hilltopper, his family’s legacy truly belonged at Eldorado. His sister, University of Michigan assistant women’s basketball coach Yvonne Sanchez, was a standout basketball player in the mid-1980s under legendary head coach Don Flanagan, who played collegiately at U.S. International University.
Former Los Alamos coach Jerry Brown recruited Roy Sanchez via Yvonne to assist him with the girls program at Albuquerque Del Norte, setting the stage for her brother’s career.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, he wants to coach,’ ” Yvonne Sanchez said during her presentation of Roy. “So I told Roy, and he was all fired up.”
The two moved on to Eldorado and Sanchez succeeded him, slowly building his legacy there. Since 2000, Sanchez has a 321-154 mark, led the Eagles to seven state semifinal appearances and four games on the final Saturday of the season.
The past two years, he had his sister alongside him on the bench before she took the job at Michigan. That coincided with Sanchez’s new duties as the school’s athletic director, although he made it clear he was not going to give up his coaching duties.
Sanchez said he does not know when he’ll stop coaching, but gets the question all the time.
“I must be getting older, so it reminds you that you’re having fun in the gym,” Sanchez said. “I mean, things like this get you thinking about it, but I like working.”
NMHSCA honors coaches: The NMHSCA honored its member coaches for achievements during the 2017-18 season. Among the Northern coaches honored for leading their teams to state championships were: Pecos’ Patrick Ortiz (boys cross-country), Ira Harge Jr. (boys basketball) and Jessica Flores (cheer); Taos’ Benny Mitchell (boys and girls track and field), Bruce Gomez (girls crosscountry), Lisa Abeyta-Valerio (cheer); West Las Vegas’ Isabel Cavazos (coed cheer); Santa Fe Prep’s Tove Shere (girls track); and Robin Martinez of St. Michael’s (girls golf).
Taos’ Ernest Martinez won the track and field assistant coach of the year, while Ortiz, Harge and Mitchell were named head coaches of the year in their respective sports.
Earning milestone recognition were Las Vegas Robertson head football coach Leroy Gonzalez (Level I), Gomez (Level III for boys cross-country, Level IV for girls) and Monte del Sol boys basketball coach Alfredo Lujan (Level III).