Santa Fe Prep loses two coaches

School looking to fill girls basketball, volleyball positions

James Barron | The New Mexican

7/3/2008 - 7/4/08

A.J. Gutierrez and Larry Petry both love their coaching jobs.

It's just that their regular jobs are more important at the moment. Because of that, Santa Fe Preparatory has two head coaching vacancies to fill.

Gutierrez, who has directed the volleyball program for the past eight years, is taking a seasonlong sabbatical from his post to focus on his job as the food and beverage manager for Pojoaque Pueblo.

Petry, who was in his second year as head girls basketball coach, resigned at the end of the 2007-08 school year, citing the birth of a grandson and his duties as physical education teacher and activities bus driver.

Santa Fe Prep athletic director Todd Kurth did not return phone messages left by The New Mexican.

Gutierrez said the preparation for the opening of a new hotel on the pueblo, the Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino, made it difficult for him to dedicate the time to prepare the volleyball team for the upcoming season. He is also responsible for food and drink services at Cities of Gold Casino Hotel. The new hotel has several different events leading up to its opening during the Labor Day weekend, and Gutierrez asked Kurth if he could take the season off to focus on his job.

"I pretty much knew the timeline as far as opening up the new resort," Gutierrez said. "I've spent the last six months trying to figure out how I can do both, but as it got closer to end of the school year, I knew I had to make a decision. There was no way of getting around it."

Gutierrez led the Blue Griffins to Class AA State Tournament for the first time since 1999 by finishing as the District 4AA runners-up and sporting a 12-10 record. Gutierrez said assistant coach Chris Chakeres, who also is the head boys basketball coach, likely will take over in his absence, although Chakeres said the decision hasn't been made official yet.

Petry also made his decision at the end of the school year, saying his full-time responsibilities hindered his ability to give the girls basketball program his complete attention. He often had to drive the other Blue Griffin teams — fencing, boys basketball and swimming — to their events, and it came at the expense of practice time with the girls.

Petry, who previously coached at Pecos and St. Catherine, led Santa Fe Prep to a 4-23 record and a spot in a semifinal of the 4AA tournament before losing to the Lady Panthers.

Petry felt the team struggled because of its overall inexperience in the game.

"The kids really haven't grown up with basketball in elementary school or junior high," Petry said. "So they're back to the ABCs in high school instead of their EFGs and sometimes it's hard to do that. But the kids are great workers and great listeners."

Petry said if the school can't fill the position, he would come back to the program.

Contact James Barron at 986-3045 or jbarron@sfnewmexican.com