Belen High girls basketball coach seeks reinstatement after resignation dispute

Belen High School’s girls basketball program entered a tense offseason after Sam Gavaldon asked to get his job back, saying he resigned under pressure and based on information he now believes was misleading. The district has stood by the resignation and is moving ahead with the hiring process, leaving the Eagles without clear leadership as summer preparation approaches.

The dispute traces back to a lengthy April 15 meeting between Gavaldon and Belen Consolidated Schools athletic coordinator Jim Collins. Gavaldon initially understood that conversation to mean his time with the program was over. Later that same day, he told the News-Bulletin it was time to part ways, and the coaching position was posted that afternoon. Gavaldon now says that after talking with players and parents, he concluded some of the concerns raised in the meeting were inaccurate and that his resignation was made under duress.

Collins has told Gavaldon he is welcome to reapply, but the district has not reversed course. Gavaldon plans to meet with Collins and Superintendent Lawrence Sanchez in hopes of getting more clarity and possibly finding a resolution. Belen Consolidated Schools lists Collins as athletic coordinator and Sanchez as superintendent, putting the issue squarely in the district’s athletics and administrative chain.

For the players, the timing matters. A coaching vacancy can disrupt offseason workouts, summer planning and the continuity a roster needs heading into the next school year. That uncertainty is especially sensitive in a program that drew more than 30 girls to try out in fall 2025, the most in recent years, a sign that interest in the team had been growing. A sudden change now could shake parent confidence just as the Eagles try to build on that momentum.

The controversy also lands in the middle of a rebuilding effort that has stretched across multiple seasons. Under Gavaldon, Belen went 34-73 over four seasons. That record followed a stretch in which the Eagles went 6-57 in the previous three seasons, including a 1-25 mark before he arrived in December 2022 after six years as head coach at Cottonwood Classical Prep School in Albuquerque. In his first season, Belen opened with a 44-26 win over East Mountain, a sharp early sign that the program could turn a corner.

New Mexico school coaching jobs also carry a formal licensure requirement, with public-school coaches needing valid coaching licensure from the New Mexico Public Education Department. That framework helps explain why the district is advancing the vacancy rather than leaving the position in limbo. For Belen, the larger question now is whether the program can stabilize quickly enough to protect the offseason, the roster and the trust of families heading into the next season.