Northern New Mexico College is revamping its sports department with the hiring of new basketball coaches: Mike Dominguez for the men’s program and Mandy Montoya for the women’s team.
“We’re excited because Northern is going in a new direction in both the athletic program and the college,” Hector Balderas, NNMC president, said. “We’re getting former local superstars with roots in Española. We think they’re a great fit because we’re showing that we’re trying to grow our own, both in our students and in our athletic department. We believe we can win with New Mexico talent and leaders.”
Additionally, for the coming year, the school will go without a formal athletic director and instead has hired Gus Meyer and retained outgoing women’s basketball coach Samantha Stukes as athletic advisors.
Dominguez, who recently left D-II New Mexico Highlands University, is a local product hailing from Alcalde. He replaces Jesus Aragon, who recently resigned to take a job in Mexico.
Dominguez, who was a standout at Capital High School, started his coaching career as an assistant at Colorado Mesa for six seasons before heading to Highlands, where he was the associate head coach for three seasons and head coach for six, compiling a 66-74 mark in his tenure in the top chair.
“Growing up in Alcalde, New Mexico, and the valley has shaped me into who I am today and has taken me places with basketball that I could only dream of,” he said in a prepared statement. “I owe it to the community to give back what was given to me and is something I will take great pride in. I look forward to soaring to new heights with NNMC’s Athletic Department, Española and the surrounding communities.”
Known for recruiting locally, more than half of the players Dominguez brought to Highlands were from New Mexico.
“I really value leaders who know our community,” Balderas said. “And the fact that he was raised in Alcalde will give us a real advantage in recruiting New Mexico players.”
Likewise, Montoya, has strong local ties.
She coached the Peñasco girls to their first-ever state championship in 2024 and is a former Eagles associate head coach who grew up in Española and attended Coronado High School, leading the Leopards to their only state championship in 2003.
“Returning to Northern New Mexico College is a full-circle moment for me,” she said in a statement. “I am excited to pour my passion into a program and a community that means so much to me, and to help develop young women who are not only fierce competitors but strong leaders for the future.”
It was her local ties that caught Balderas’ eye.
“I really feel the same way about Mandy,” he said of Montoya’s area roots. “She brings a very unique perspective because she was raised in Española.”
To help with the overall running of the athletic department, in which Aragon and Stukes had been athletic director and associate athletic director respectively, Balderas said it seemed like bringing on part-time advisors was the way to go for the coming season.
“We are going to let our coaches lead, but we want to focus on the student-athlete experience and we thought it would be good to bring in someone to the fold who will provide advice to coaches and offer advice on how to go after more resources,” Balderas said. “They are definitely not athletic directors and they’re not taking full-time employment. But they are providing advice to the head coaches and the president as far as building our programs for our student athletes.”
The plan is to continue the experiment for the coming year and evaluate the outcome, he said.
Stukes delivered a 38-10 record in her two seasons at the NNMC helm and this past season, she guided the Eagles to a Continental Athletic Conference regular season championship and helped the team reach the conference finals, after which she was named the CAC coach of the year.
Meyer, who grew in Santa Fe, is the current Los Alamos High School athletic director and will retain that position while helping NNMC, Balderas said. He had stints on the coaching staffs of New Mexico State and Cochise College, where he was also athletic director.