Hall of Famer not done yet: Roybal to coach Pojoaque Valley girls, again

By Santiago Ramos Jr.
Special to the Times

ALBUQUERQUE – Add another honor for legendary New Mexico girls basketball head coach Cindy Roybal, who has been a pioneer for women’s basketball.
And another coaching stint.

Roybal, who has coached for 45 years, was a recent inductee to the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame last month during ceremonies at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Roybal, who joined inductees nine-time PBR world champion Ty Murray, New Mexico State kicker and former Rams/Cowboys kicker Danny Villanueva, Eastern New Mexico volleyball/basketball standout Jennifer Poyer, and APS softball player/coach Cheryl Johnson, said the latest honor humbled her.

“Tremendous honor,” the 70-year-old Roybal said before the Induction Ceremony. “You know I was inducted to the Naismith Hall of Fame almost 10 years to the date – the big one! This one is the cherry on the cake! But it’s really quite an honor, and I’m very pleased and thrilled.”

“I enjoy turning my dreams into reality,” Roybal said during her induction speech. “I dreamt about this moment being inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame, and wow, I’m finally here!”

Roybal brings over 40 years of coaching experience, including a 17-year stint at New Mexico Highlands and stops at St. Catherine, the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe Indian School (twice), Pojoaque Valley, Espanola Valley, and Santa Fe High.

At SFIS, she guided the Lady Braves to back-to-back 3A state titles in 2010 and 2011 and just missed a third straight state title in 2012 by one point.

After a four-year absence from coaching, Roybal said she’s ready to hit the court again.

“I’m going back!” Roybal said. “I’m not done.”

Roybal was hired as the new girls basketball head coach at Pojoaque Valley.

“I coached there for three years, and now I’m going back,” Roybal said. “I am thrilled because I was bored, I was depressed, and I felt like I needed a purpose again. So, I’m glad to be back (coaching). I’m going to start my 46th.”

When asked what she loved about coaching, Roybal replied: “I just love interacting with the young athletes and affording the girls the opportunity I never had. I felt like I could have done so much more if I would have been coached.”

Roybal said she just wanted to be coaching again.

“When I was going (back) to Pojoaque, I didn’t really care if I got a girls job or a boys job. I just wanted a job. I’m going to coach as long as I can.”

Roybal regrets that she stopped coaching during COVID.

“I should have kept on going,” she confessed.

Roybal, who will take on her second stint at Pojoaque Valley after coaching there from 2002 to 2005 with an appearance in the Class 3A semifinals in 2003-2004, said she has met with some of the players she will be coaching this winter.

“I told them, ‘Get ready, we’re going to start winning’ because they hadn’t been winning at all. They haven’t had a good coach in a long time.”During her early years, Roybal pushed to have New Mexico girls basketball be played at the UNM Pit for the state tournament.

Roybal was the first woman from New Mexico to play for the women’s pro basketball team, the All-American Red Heads team, equivalent to the Harlem Globetrotters.

“We only played against men, and we won 214 ballgames and had only 14 losses,” she recalled. “I realized my calling was to become a coach. I want women to afford the opportunity that I didn’t get or could have had with the proper coaching.”

Roybal and her Red Head teammates were inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.

“You can’t accomplish anything bigger than that,” Roybal said during her induction speech. “That was so surreal. When we were called to the podium, the stage, I was looking out at the audience as I am now. And we got a standing ovation. There were a lot of professionals there, the likes of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Charles Barkley, to name a few.

“I had a tear in my eye, and I realized what a special moment that was – just like now. What an honor for me from a small town like Pecos, New Mexico.”

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