Given the choice of two candidates for high-school volleyball coach, the Española School District chose a local candidate with virtually no experience over a veteran coach from farther afield.
District Superintendent Janette Archuleta confirmed Monday that Damon Salazar, of San Pedro, has been hired as head volleyball coach at Española Valley High School.
Salazar has never held a coaching position at the high school level, but since 1999 he has coached younger players through the Arriba Volleyball Club in Española.
“Pretty much every player that has passed through Española, I’ve coached,” Salazar said.
Those players include Salazar’s daughter Kristi, a 2007 Española graduate who played volleyball for the Sundevils. His younger daughter, Karli, will be a junior on this year’s varsity team.
Archuleta said in hiring Salazar she followed the recommendation of athletic director Theresa Flores.
Flores said there is interest at the elementary level for volleyball programs, and she would like to start a competitive youth league.
“The feeling of the committee was that (Salazar) was fully committed to the program all the way from the elementary level,” Flores said.
Flores said she headed a three-member committee that interviewed Salazar, which included parents Luann Cordova and Gilbert Serrano. Serrano also belongs to Española’s booster club. Salazar was one of two applicants for the position, Archuleta confirmed. The other applicant was David Scott, a Tohatchi native with experience as head volleyball coach at three New Mexico high schools: Tohatchi, Thoreau and Wingate. According to Scott, he was originally interviewed by former Española athletic director David Fontaine, who retired June 30.
Scott said after making three trips to Española and being interviewed by Fontaine, Fontaine told him that he would be recommended for the head volleyball position. Coaching is not a full-time job, and Fontaine also told him he would be recommended for an administrative-assistant job at the high school, Scott said.
So Scott resigned from his position at the Central School District, in Kirtland. He made his last trip to Española in June for a drug test, and began making plans to relocate to the area. But then things changed.
“Fontaine called me and told me to hold on, that something had come up and they needed to redo the interview,” Scott said. “There was another candidate they needed to interview.”
It was a time of transition at the District’s central office. Fontaine’s hiring recommendations technically went to then-superintendent David Cockerham, whose last day on the job was also June 30. But toward the end of his tenure, Cockerham deferred major decisions to Archuleta’s judgment. In turn, Archuleta relied upon Flores, who was hired June 15 to replace Fontaine.
Fontaine declined to comment Monday.
Salazar said he had a three-hour interview with Flores June 19. He did not know that Scott had been interviewed and recommended by Fontaine, Salazar said.
Salazar said he applied for the job because of his ties to the program and the community.
“I wanted to make sure that we had someone there who knew the program and knew the girls,” Salazar said. “We’re going to need a lot of support from the community.”
Scott, who said he had a phone interview June 24 with Flores, was not sympathetic.
“I just think I did my part fair and square and ended up getting it in the end,” he said.
Bad Blood
It’s not surprising that Fontaine would choose Scott over Salazar.
Salazar and Fontaine locked horns in fall 2008, when Fontaine barred Salazar from attending all Española Middle School athletic events. Fontaine accused Salazar of slandering the District’s coaching staff and acting in an unacceptable manner.
Salazar fired back publicly at a school board meeting in September 2008, accusing Fontaine of using force to discipline Salazar’s daughter.
Salazar had applied for the volleyball coaching position in May 2008 but was not hired. During the fall dispute, Fontaine said Salazar had begun making inflammatory statements after he was passed over.
Salazar tangled with other District officials during a long process to renovate the high school’s baseball diamond, from 2007 to 2009. Salazar was a member of a parents’ group which spearheaded the project and began doing renovations. Concerned about permits and safety issues, District staff eventually took over the project.
Earlier this year, School Board member Floyd Archuleta defended the parents’ group and said the District hadn’t upheld its end of the bargain.
Archuleta said Monday that he often fields calls from Salazar, who has been an involved parent for some time, but he played no role in interviewing or recommending Salazar for the coaching job.
Storied History
The Sundevil volleyball program grew considerably in stature from 2001 to 2007 under the steady hand of coach Sam Estrada, who also led the squad from 1987 to 1991. After three consecutive trips to the Class AAAA state tournament, Estrada resigned in March 2008, citing the rising cost of his commute from Santa Fe.
Garry Maskaly coached Española for one season before defecting to District 2AAAA rival Los Alamos, the city where he lives and works.
The Sundevils were 7-13 overall last season and 5-3 in district play.