Pojoaque Valley High School has found its new athletic director, hiring local after an extended search process.
Mark Mutz will officially take over as Pojoaque Valley High School’s athletic director on July 18.
Mutz graduated from Capital High School and played football at New Mexico Highlands University.
He had been an assistant principal at Santa Fe High School until 2021, working there for about 10 years.
Mutz said that during the pandemic he decided to get a master’s degree in construction management, and he worked for a year for a Santa Fe home builder. After about a year, he decided he wanted to return to education.
Pojoaque superintendent Sondra Adams said the decision was finalized in the week of July 1.
Mutz’s application came late in the process — his application was not included by Pojoaque in a response to a public records request sent by the SUN on June 13 to which Pojoaque responded on June 21.
“He’s a consummate administrator,” Adams said. “He understands athletics, he understands students, he understands processes.”
Adams said the selection process hit a snag after the job opening was posted in the winter and after several rounds of interviews. She said applicants from outside of the area had trouble finding housing, and multiple candidates turned down job offers.
The superintendent said that Mutz interviewed for the position and accepted a job offer within a week.
Mutz replaces Elvira Kieyoomia-Crockett, who announced her retirement in January effective June 30 after two years with Pojoaque. She oversaw a controversy last fall when six football players were given school suspensions for locker room incidents, and the players took the fight to court, with the district eventually giving them slightly shorter suspensions.
“There were some bad choices made,” Mutz said. “That was just more education, so it doesn’t happen again.”
Mutz’s father, Hoyt Mutz, was previously a principal at Pojoaque, and would talk about how much he enjoyed the community enough to where his son decided he wanted to join.
Mutz had not been looking for a return to education for much of the year, he said, but he eventually came across the Pojoaque opening and quickly submitted an application.
The new athletic director wants to “stabilize the position” after the position has seen a rotating cast since the departure of Matt Martinez.
He said he has a passion for athletics, but working with children is what he most wanted in his return.
“I’m a former athlete, I love athletics, and it was just fitting for me,” Mutz said.