With his development of the Northern New Mexico Youth Sports League, Zeke Villegas was already a well-known name in the regional football community by 2022-2023 when he was applying to various schools in search of his first high school head coaching job. He got his shot at Pojoaque Valley, where he was hired to turn around a program that had gone winless the previous season. Fast forward three years and Villegas has the Elks in the playoffs for the second straight season with their highest-ever seed. Pojoaque landed the No. 4 seed in Class 3A to earn a first-round bye and will face the winner between No. 5 New Mexico Military Institute and No. 12 Wingate in the quarterfinals. In the latest episode of “The Sports Den,” Villegas joins Santa Fe New Mexican sports writers Will Webber and James Barron to discuss the Elks’ run this year and how he’s worked to build a winning mentality within the program. A 2001 Capital grad and former coach at a variety of levels at the school, Villegas shares what he learned from coaching legend Bill Moon that he uses with his players today. He also talks about his aggressive coaching style and his openness to listen to his players’ input during critical moments in games. In the second segment, Will and James talk a bit more about the state football tournament as well as state soccer. They then discuss the University of New Mexico’s football and men’s basketball teams, with Will bringing up the wild-sounding possibility of the football team competing for a Mountain West Conference title if it can win out.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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