Robertson basketball coach honored for long, successful career

Robertson’s James Branch has been shooting from the sideline in New Mexico High School basketball for pretty much now well over a quarter-century. 
 
On Thursday, the New Mexico High School Coaches Association presented Branch with an award representing the game 400 in his head coaching career in the 2023-24 season. In his 26 years as a head coach Branch has record 422 wins and 220 losses and two state championships. We saw the first trade at Questa in year 1994 while the second trade was observed at Robertson in year 2022. 
 
“I feel lucky to have been the coach for such period of time and have achieved what I have,” Branch said. “I enjoy the game that is why I am here that is what I wanted to do and I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t a basketball coach. ” 
 
Branch returned to Las Vegas in the Summer of 2021 after taking the Robertson head coaching position and the expectation was that this would be the last stop. 
 
Branch has been a coach to some of the most known institutions in the region. For his first coaching position, Branch started at Questa, then came back to Mora to coach from 2009-12 before landing two highly challenging positions. 
 
“Pressure, there has been pressure in every job that I have worked, but I have always enjoyed pressure,” Branch said. “I feel privileged to have coached in those kinds of arenas where there is pressure because you are the major attraction; you are going to attract a whole lot of fans in those packed halls”. 
 
Branch worked at Taos during the early 2000s and managed to take the Tigers to the state semis in the year 2000. Many followers and supporters know Branch for his performance for Espanola Valley from the year 2016 to 2018. 
 
While with the Sundevils, Branch was a mere whisker away from a state championship in the year 2018. The Sundevils, in the 4A state championship game, were defeated by Belen ending their season at 28-2. 
 
Branch was also active in his college basketball playing for NMHU during the years 1978-80 but was too small dismissing all odds, towering a mere 5’5 inches. This way Branch earned his chip on the shoulder diminished stature and love for the sport of skateboarding. Organisations’ best teams have echoed that attribute as Branch’s best teams have. 
 
“Due to my height… I had no option than to be the most hardworking and vicious player on the court,” Branch noted. “I think that just carried over into coaching, my intensity, my love for the game and I tried always to let my players feel that as well”. 
 
That chip only escalated when in Las Vegas. 
 
The very last chapter of Branch’s memoir, that perhaps could be his final coaching chapter, is his finest one to date. Before Branch who joined the Cardinals during the start of the current season which is 2021-22, the basketball team had not gotten to the level of a state championship game. Branch turned the tide for the better by the following season, that saw them gain a state championship title. 
 
‘This is rather unusual, as a start in Highlands and being able to achieve this kind of success in Las Vegas,’ Branch said. The last one can be interpreted in the following way: “I feel like it’s good karma, I feel like I’m being rewarded by being put in this situation at Robertson. ” 
 
It has been subsequent to that state championship the team has performed two consecutive seasons as 3A runners up. The story involves Robertson basketball which for over 60 seasons was without a state championship game. Ever since Branch has been part of the Cardinals team the team has always been in the game each season. 
 
In the three seasons since Branch has arrived at Robertson, the Cardinals have gone 79-14. This program had the most number of wins of any program in 3A. Branch had guided the Cardinals to two titles during the District 2-AAA contention in 2022 and 2024 and during the Stu Clark contention in Dec. 2023. 
 
Although Branch, who plays the figure of a coach onto whom retirement is surely looming, still has very much the demeanor of a man who still has many seasons to reign with a clipboard. The Cardinals do have many of their players coming back for next year’s 2024- 25 season, including twin a guards Jesse and Nathaniel Gonzales both of whom where key players on the 2021-2022 championship team as freshmen. Branch’s plan is to release them out the door as state champions. 
 
“When I got the job I told wherever I coach I want the team to win two state championships before the twins graduate,” Branch said. “This used to be a goal or an expectation that I set for myself, so here I am in year four and I want to meet this. ”