Mandy Montoya is coming home again, but this time she’s the one in charge.
Montoya, 39, was recently tapped as the new Northern New Mexico College women’s basketball coach.
It’s her second go-round at the school, after she was the associate head coach from 2015-19.
Montoya, who is from Española, earned an undergrad degree from New Mexico Highlands University and a master’s at Eastern New Mexico University.
She attended Coronado High School, leading the Lady Leopards to their only state championship in 2003 and got her start as a coach at Pojoaque Valley as an assistant under legendary prep coach Ron Drake.
After leaving Northern the first time, she took over the Peñasco program, taking the Lady Panthers to the Class 2A state finals in her first season, and then guiding them to the program’s first state championship in 2024.
While she enjoyed her time at Peñasco — where she also taught history, was an assistant principal and even assistant athletic director — the chance to move up the coaching ladder was too good to pass up, Montoya said.
“I think when you have the opportunity to coach at the next level, it’s a huge opportunity,” she said. “I’ve always believed you don’t pass up a basketball opportunity. When I got the call and was offered the position, it was a no-brainer.”
To achieve success, Montoya said, the idea is to stock the program with as many top New Mexico players as possible.
“I want to bring in players who can play and definitely want to get kids from New Mexico,” she said. “That was something we prided ourselves on when we were there before.”
The Lady Eagles’ roster during Montoya’s first go-round was 90%-95% New Mexicans and there is no reason the program can’t win by doing so again, Montoya said, especially since she has a solid cadre of contacts across the state.
“I think this time around is going to be way different just because of the networking aspect of it,” she said. “Even though I was head recruiter, it was a little bit different trying to get to know coaches and players and athletic directors. Now, I know the majority of everybody, as an assistant athletic director and a member of the (New Mexico Activities Association) commission.”
Her record at Peñasco certainly did not go unnoticed around the state and that will work to Montoya’s benefit, as well.
“Through my experience and success at Peñasco helped me to develop a lot of those relationships in the basketball world in New Mexico. That’s going to be huge,” she said.
During her first experience with collegiate coaching, Montoya was tossed into the mix, getting an almost daily education.
“I learned a lot,” she said. “I was responsible for a lot of things. I was the head recruiter. I handled most of the scouting. All the summer stuff like camps, practices. You name it, I did it.”
Even a return to the high school ranks had a positive impact on the evolution of her career.
“I think it was big as far as going back into high school,” Montoya said. “It really helped me develop the kids more, as far as what it took to play at the next level. I was really able to establish more of an elite program.”
Likewise, that is the goal for Northern, which is actually in a pretty good spot at the moment, coming off a Continental Athletic Conference regular season championship and reaching the conference’s tournament championship game. The team is losing five seniors, but four of them were starters so there will be some work to do.
Montoya would like to establish the team’s identity as a fast-paced unit that will get up and down the floor.
“I think we’re going to press quite a bit,” she said. “When you press with a shot clock, you’re talking about 15 to 20 seconds that they have to set something up. That’s huge. We’re going to push the ball and shoot a lot of threes and get to the rim. We want our kids to be as versatile as possible, by pushing the ball and trying to put as much pressure on the other team as possible. And with the shot clock, when the play breaks down, you’ve got to have kids who can score. We want everybody to be able to do that.”
Montoya is actively seeking an assistant coach and wants somebody who thinks along the same lines.
“It will happen here in the next couple of weeks,” she said. “I’m looking for somebody loyal. Obviously, that’s always a big thing. And somebody who just loves basketball and wants to teach the game because I’m big on player development.”