After a verbal confrontation with someone in the stands at a recent basketball game, Española Valley boys coach Joey Trujillo was fired last week.
It was the latest in a Sundevils coaching purge as earlier last week, football coach Caleb Holbrook was not retained after his one season at the Española Valley helm, following “several instances of insubordination,” Española Public Schools Superintendent Carl Marano said.
And also last week, volleyball coach Nicole Ortiz, who gave birth in October, in the middle of the season, resigned to focus on her family.
Trujillo’s firing came after he verbally sparred with spectator Joshua Padilla during the Sundevils game against Mesa Vista on Dec. 5, during the school’s Cameron Martinez Memorial Invitational Tournament.
What exactly transpired between the two remains cloudy, as neither Trujillo nor Padilla responded to interview requests. Padilla did provide a text statement saying the coach’s words were “completely false and inappropriate,” but he did not elaborate.
Trujillo was let go “due to his actions at the basketball game” Dec. 5 against Mesa Vista, a game the Sundevils lost 55-41, according to an email from Marano to the EPS school board.
Trujillo was suspended for the Sundevils’ final game in the tournament, Dec. 6 against Hobbs, which the team lost 75-42, then was fired last Thursday.
Española, after going 24-7 last season and reaching the state playoffs semi-finals before losing 72-51 to Artesia, has struggled this season, getting off to a 1-6 start and losing six consecutive games.
Española next plays in the Alamogordo Shootout against the host team Friday. Assistant Coach Filiberto Dominguez originally agreed to coach the team for the remainder of the season, but Friday decided against it and instead resigned, Marano said.
Instead, Jordan Romero, who has been a volunteer assistant coach with the girls program, has been brought on to coach the team for the remainder of the season, he said, at which point a search will begin for a permanent replacement. Romero has experience coaching boys, as well, and several years ago, was a finalist for the position at St. Michael’s, Marano said.
Current boys assistant coaches Randy Montoya, who coaches the junior varsity team, and Frank Romero have decided to remain with the program. And Ray Romero Jr., who also is an assistant with the girls program, will help out the boys team when possible.
A veteran coach, Trujillo was hired before the 2022-23 season. Over his three-plus seasons at the helm, the Sundevils compiled a 43-50 record. They also reached the state tournament as the No. 14 seed in 2024, despite a 12-17 record, losing to Hope Christian in the opening round.
At least one EPS board member has not been happy with Trujillo for some time. Board Vice President Ruben Archuleta, whose son, Luke Archuleta, played for the Sundevils, filed a lawsuit against EPS, with Trujillo and his top assistant coach, Dominguez, named as parties to the suit, following an incident at a summer camp. The suit alleges the player then faced retaliation in the form of limited playing time and being cut from the team.
The case, originally filed in 2023 and dismissed in 2024, was refiled through the New Mexico Court of Appeals this fall.
A rookie head coach, Holbrook completed his first season with Española with a 5-5 record, but the Sundevils were left out of the playoffs this year after consecutive postseason appearances. He had previously been an assistant at Los Alamos High School.
Marano did not provide specific examples of Holbrook’s insubordination, but said the school wanted to move in a new direction.
Holbrook, who was hired in June, did not respond to an interview request.
A search for a new head coach began Monday, the superintendent said, and will focus on somebody with experience who can also step into a role within the school system.
It’s important to move quickly on the issue, Marano said, so the new coach can get going on the team’s off-season weightlifting and conditioning program that would ramp up when the spring semester begins in January.
Ortiz resigned following “a crazy season,” she said in a text. It “was much more difficult to navigate than I expected.”
The Lady Sundevils went 9-13 this season, the most wins since the 2018 season, when the program last reached the state tournament. Ortiz was hired prior to the abbreviated 2020-21 COVID season and finished with an overall record of 35-88.
“The girls had a good year considering the pregnancy and I’m very proud,” she wrote. “I resigned because I’m ready to commit my time to my family. I’ve been coaching for the last eight years and it’s time for a break.”
Altercation
The Dec. 5 boys basketball game between Española Valley and Mesa Vista was a heated affair that not only included a verbal altercation between a spectator and Sundevils coach Joey Trujillo that eventually led to his firing, but also physical confrontations between opposing fan bases in the stands.
Near the end of the game, fans in the stands got into a fight. This caused three Sundevils players to leave the bench, warranting one-game suspensions for each, Marano said. It’s an action that New Mexico Activities Association officials supported. The three players missed the game the next night against Hobbs.
Likewise, both programs were warned that “continued behavior of this nature could lead to more stringent penalties, including a possible strike,” according to letters sent to both schools from NMAA Executive Director Dusty Young.
Española took the steps of issuing suspensions for the involved fans, ranging from one game to the rest of the season, Marano said.
Two Mesa Vista fans involved were warned that similar behavior in the future could lead to more significant sanctions, including suspensions and a strike against the program.
Young also recommended that all of those involved for both Española and Mesa Vista should complete the National Federation of High Schools Sportsmanship Course.