Española Valley has officially opened applications for its girls basketball coaching position.
Española Valley Athletic Director Matt Abeyta confirmed that the district was currently seeking applicants, and that previous coach Joe Estrada will not return to the team after he was placed on leave late in the season.
Española joins a wide group of competitive northern schools opening coaching positions, including Pojoaque, Los Alamos and Santa Fe Indian. Estrada was one of the applicants for the Pojoaque position, which ultimately went to Cindy Roybal.
Abeyta said that the school district will begin interviews on Tuesday (June 6) between both internal and external candidates.
Estrada, along with assistant coach Lando Alire, were placed on leave from the team on Feb. 3. Carlos Branch stepped in to coach the team, with Sandra Gonzales assisting. They were 3-3 leading the team, but fell just short of reaching the state tournament. Abeyta declined to say why they were placed on leave or what led to the decision to not bring the two coaches back, citing a personnel matter.
“I’m not a saint, but I’ve got 27 years of coaching and helping kids,” Estrada said. “Sometimes athletics are tough. I had a program with 40 girls in it. So, I think we did something right.”
Estrada coached the Lady Sundevils for five seasons. He twice reached the final four, and in a pandemic-shortened season in 2021 they played for a state championship; the Sundevils narrowly won in the semifinals over Kirtland Central (fending off a late run after leading 27-10 at halftime), but lost to Gallup in the final.
But after the graduation of that senior class, which included college players Miranda Salazar and Destiny Valdez, the program began to crater. A 12-15 team in 2021-22 struggled to find consistency, and in another 12-15 season in 22-23, Española missed the state tournament for the first time since 2007, when the Sundevils were winless.
Whoever takes over the team should have a talented roster in hand, with a number of underclassmen making big contributions for the last Sundevils, and rising senior Alyanna Medina potentially leading the charge.
In January 2019, Estrada filed a restraining order against parents of a varsity player, and accused them of threatening him and players. The order was ultimately dismissed by a Rio Arriba court.
Estrada appears to have been put on leave following a Feb. 1 meeting between school administration and team players, according to emails obtained by the Rio Grande Sun.
Part of the allegations include a pair of anonymous letters sent to the school board from December 2022 and February 2023, addressed from “Community Fans” and “Sundevils Fans!” The letters include both team performance and personal-level complaints against Estrada. They also contain some factual errors — the first one is addressed to Ira Harge as athletic director, though Harge had left the school over a year earlier. It also referred to both Capital and Robertson as 4A opponents, while Capital plays in 5A and Robertson in 3A.
The first letter called a 36-point loss to Robertson “degrading,” and mostly had complaints about the team’s performance under Estrada.
The second letter — it is unclear if the two have the same author — accused Estrada (though largely indirectly) of emotional and verbal abuse.
“They should never be told that they are an embarrassment,” the letter reads. “The girls should never be yelled at and scolded in a tone of voice tinged with disgust ana disdain (sic). They should not be told that they would be punished for any mistakes they or their team mates make in the future.”
The board was also sent a petition, though unsigned and undated, to remove Estrada and Alire, accusing the pair of bullying and intimidation toward players.
Administration had been on the side of Estrada previously. A since-deleted Facebook post, from an individual identified as not a parent of anyone on the team, accused Estrada of “control, manipulation, division, hostility, abuse and intimidation on and off the court.” In response, district security director Christian Lopez advised that Estrada would be within his rights to seek legal representation.