Mike Dominguez didn’t sound like a coach looking for another job.
Except he is.
Dominguez and the school agreed to part ways when his contract expired Monday, according to a news release.
However, when the statement was read to Dominguez, who spent the past eight years at New Mexico Highlands University and the last six as head coach, he hesitated to agree.
“If that is how they want to release it, that’s fine,” Dominguez said.
Regardless of the circumstances, which Dominguez and NMHU president Neil Woolf declined to discuss, Dominguez is a coach looking for a school. The Cowboys were 66-74 during Dominguez’s tenure, which included a year away from the court in 2020-21 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
His best years were the first two, when NMHU reached the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in 2020 and 2022 and won 33 games. The program struggled over the last three years, however, winning just 33 games during that stretch and failing to reach the conference tournament.
Dominguez defended his tenure, pointing out that no other team sport at Highlands won more than 30% of their games while he was there as an assistant (from 2017-19) as well as the head man.
“At the end of the day, no matter what happened, I can say I left this program in a better spot than when I arrived here with [then-head coach Craig Snow] in 2017. That’s from a record standpoint to recruiting more New Mexican kids.”
Dominguez also pointed out the program had 16 players earn first- or second-team or honorable mention all-conference honors, and he was a part of the program’s only RMAC title in 2019. He also touted that more than half of the Cowboys who played under him or Snow (86 of 147 players) were from New Mexico.
All the while, Dominguez added, he and his coaching staff were able to keep players in the program, even in the name, image likeness era.
“You build a strong enough relationship with the players, where they trust you and believe in you,” Dominguez said. “That’s not just on the court, but in the classroom and in life. That’s probably my strongest suit, which is why we were able to keep so many guys around and play for New Mexico Highlands.”
Dominguez is also a native New Mexican, having played at Española Valley and Capital from 2001-05. He was a part of the Jaguars’ first state championship squad in any sport in 2004 and helped them to a runner-up finish in 2005. He also was a three-time first-team Class 4A All-State selection.
After playing two years at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colo., Dominguez spent a year with Division I program Florida International and averaged 10 points per game in 33 games. He then spent his last season at Colorado Mesa (then called Mesa State College) and was named the RMAC Player of the Year in 2009-10 while becoming the program’s first All-American at the Division II level.
Dominguez started his coaching career at Colorado Mesa, spending six years there as an assistant.
Dominguez said he does not know what the future has in store for him. Still, he is looking at finding a coaching job either in the state or the region so he can be around his daughter, who he shares with his ex-wife and current NMHU athletic director Shanna Halalilo.
“She is a big part of my life and staying close to her is going to play into my decisions, whatever they might be,” Dominguez said of his daughter.
