ALAMOSA – Rick Lovato, Alamosa High School’s new athletics director, brings in many years of administrative experience, mainly as a school superintendent.
But he also has experience as an AD.
“When I was in Cheraw, I was also the athletic director,” Lovato said. “I was there for nine years, but mostly I was a superintendent for 19 years.”
He spent the last 10 years as the superintendent at the East Otero School District in La Junta.
“I liked the superintendent job,” Lovato said. “Post pandemic employee management was tough. I’m getting into the twilight of my career and being closer to the students was a draw to get out of that and kind of to move back down to being more of a worker than a manager.”
Lovato started as a student-athlete at Swink High School where he played basketball.
He then attended and played basketball at Otero College in La Junta.
After completing his academics at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, he returned to Swink as a coach where he helped the Lions to a Class 2A state championship in 1996. He then coached at Cheraw and helped lead the Wolverines to Class 1A championships in 2001 and 2002.
“I coached with the 1996 state championship team at Swink,” Lovato said. “I then coached with my dad at Cheraw in 2001 and 2002.”
Lovato says he is looking forward to meeting with the community as he begins his new position.
“Right now, I really just want to meet the staff, the coaches, the community and kids,” Lovato said. “I also want to do my part to not mess up any tradition. There are pretty high expectations here for athletics and I want to be part of that and just getting to meet the people and learn the expectations.
“I come in with a pretty good spot right now,” Lovato continued. “Coach (Greg) King has stepped in since Mr. (Erik) Melgoza’s passing and kind of carried on what Erik had started. I just hope to keep the momentum moving in a positive direction. I would like to be able to work as long as I can. I am getting close to that retirement age and I’m doing this for my livelihood. It’s what I want to do and I it’s what I enjoy doing. I just want to keep enjoying the job and enjoying the kids.”
Lovato is the father of four children. His son, Treyce, will attend Alamosa and look to play basketball and baseball.
“My daughter, Brooklyn, is staying in La Junta with her mom, and my son, Treyce, will be coming with me as a junior. He plays basketball and baseball. He can shoot it a little bit. He’s not a physical yet as I think he could be, but he likes to shoot it from the outside and can handle the ball pretty well. So he’s kind of a bigger guard about 6-2 or 6-3.”
Lovato had a chance to meet with the coaches and staff when he accepted the position.
“When I first accepted the position, they had a day that I came and I met the staff,” Lovato said. “Then the first week of June, I came for an admin retreat to close out the year and I met the administrative staff. The superintendent, the department heads, maintenance, transportation, and those folks. I’ve met just about everybody I’ll work pretty closely with.”
