With just over a month to go in the prep sports season, Española Valley High School is looking for a new athletic director after Matthew Abeyta was reassigned as dean of students at Carlos F. Vigil Middle School.
District Superintendent Eric Spencer, who was brought on board about six months ago, said he has spent that time evaluating the needs of the district.
“I’ve been looking where it is we need to prioritize our resources to best serve the students,” he said. “I’ve been observing people in action and identifying what people’s strengths are and what the needs in the district are and who we have with the skills to align to those needs.”
There has been a vacancy at the middle school for some time, Spencer said, and he felt that Abeyta would be the best person to fill that slot.
“We had a need at the middle school so I made the decision because we had a vacant dean position and that needed some attention,” Spencer said.
Abeyta was finishing his fourth school year as athletic director and presided over a renaissance in Sundevils sports programs, particularly the football team, which went from a traditional doormat to a Class 4A semifinalist.
Tylon Wilder, the coach who led that transformation, left for Albuquerque’s Sandia High and his replacement not only is yet to be found, that search is now somewhat up in the air.
Abeyta has been replaced on an interim basis by Ricardo Suarez.
Abeyta is an Española alum who has spent more than 20 years working with the district in a variety of capacities and serving as athletic director was a dream job, he said.
“Serving as athletic director at Española Valley High School was a goal I had established for myself a long time ago, so I am grateful I had the opportunity to fulfill that goal these last four years,” he said. “We accomplished a lot. I learned a lot. I developed some very fruitful relationships through networking across the state and I’m grateful for those relationships.”
Abeyta said he’s proud of what the Española Valley athletic department has achieved in his tenure.
“I wanted to bring some stability to the position and being there for four years, I felt like I did that,” he said. “It was important to me to try and develop all of our programs and numerous programs achieved success on and off the court or field.”
Abeyta noted the football program, but also pointed out the baseball program is making strides and numerous facilities received upgrades. The gym underwent a significant renovation in 2022 following a fire in November 2021. The softball field was re-sodded. The baseball field got new infield grass. The football and track facility saw upgraded storage facilities, as did the tennis, baseball and softball fields.
He also pointed out that coaches’ pay was raised for all positions to make the slots more competitive with other local schools and the meal travel allowance for student athletes was nearly doubled.
“We set out to improve each and every program the best that we could,” Abeyta said. “We could not have done this without the support from coaches and the facilities department, and even other ADs across the state who I would reach out to for advice.”
While Abeyta said he would have liked to have completed lingering issues, he will give his all in his new position.
“I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to see it through for some of the goals I still had and not being able to help fill our current football vacancy, but it is what it is,” he said. “I have no ill will. I’m a proud employee of Española Valley Public Schools. I’ve worked in this district for 22 years and I plan on giving it my best in my current position.”
The athletic director’s job has already been posted and Spencer said he is encouraging qualified applicants from within the district, as well as outside it, to apply for the job. In addition, he’s still reviewing the athletic department’s coaches.
“Obviously, we’re still in the season and still in the school year and we are still continuing to assess the needs of the district at this point in time,” he said. “I have not made any other decisions yet.”