Girls basketball: Henderson hired as Lady Jaguars head coach

Lee Yobbi | The New Mexican

7/17/2008 - 7/18/08

The Capital girls basketball program spiked with Lisa Villareal, then dipped under Jeremy Newton, but all along, Joe Moulton was simply looking for stability.

Villareal was 40-18 as head coach of the Lady Jaguars for two seasons — both ended in quarterfinals of the Class AAAA Girls State Basketball Tournament. Newton was 7-19 last season and resigned afterward.

When Moulton, who has been the athletics manager at Capital since 2005, was searching for a replacement for Newton, one of his main criteria was finding a person that wanted the school, not just a job, for at least a few seasons.

It's part of what set Ray Henderson apart from the five other applicants, and landed him the job Thursday.

"Basically, his desire to be at Capital," said Moulton, who was on a search committee composed of parents and school administration. "I'm always looking for that."

It's not the only thing Henderson has going for him. He was an assistant under Newton last season and was the freshman volleyball coach at the school from 1990-92. He also held the head volleyball job at Roy and McCurdy School and was a boys basketball assistant at Escalante in recent years.

"I had to think about it, but yeah, I guess this is my first head basketball job," said Henderson, who has been coaching at various levels in various sports for
13 years. "It's an atmosphere that I like, the kids know me, I learned under Newton and we can keep that continuity. I want to be there for a while."

Henderson teaches for Santa Fe Public Schools at the Santa Fe Detention Center.

The lone drawback to the hire is timing. With summer quickly dwindling, there isn't much time left for an offseason program, something the Lady Jaguars haven't had the last two seasons.

"Not at all," Henderson said. "We had open gym, but that's about it."

It sets the Lady Jaguars back some, but, fortuitously, both Los Alamos and Bernalillo have hired new basketball coaches as well. Both are in District 2AAAA with Capital. Ron Drake is in his second season at Española Valley.

"We'll get in and see what all we can do and just work from here," Henderson said.

"He has some great ideas for the future," said Moulton, citing better cooperation between high and middle schools as one of them.

It's the future, and the possibility of having one at all with the same coach, that Moulton has been concerned with.