One of Durango High School’s most beloved teachers and longest tenured coaches is retiring from coaching the Demons’ boys basketball team.
Alan Batiste has been the head coach of Durango boys basketball since the 2010-2011 season, leading the Demons to 176 wins and to the playoffs in 12 of his 16 seasons.
Batiste, a gym teacher at Durango High School, is retiring from coaching Demons boys basketball to focus on his health and his family. Batiste had unexpected complications from a surgery in the summer that has impacted his health. He feels like his body is running on 60-65%, and he wants to feel 100% physically, which would be hard to do while coaching.
After juggling being a dad and a coach, Batiste wants to step away to focus on being a dad to his daughter, Tiana, and his son, Taj, who will be a junior on the high school basketball team next season.
“I can’t even picture basketball season without him here,” Durango School District Athletic Director Ryan Knorr said. “He’s one of our most tenured coaches … that consistency is huge … A lot of alumni come back, and I’ll get a few questions, but one of the consistent ones, if it’s a game or something, is, ‘Where’s Mr. Batiste?’”
Batiste won a state championship in 1999 as a student-athlete playing for Santa Rita High School in Tucson, Arizona. It was there, playing under head coach Jim Ferguson, that he realized he wanted to be a counselor and a coach.
After transferring from Saddleback Community College to Fort Lewis College to continue his college basketball journey, Batiste’s friend’s dad was an educator, and Batiste realized he enjoyed teaching basketball at summer camps and teaching kids.
“I thought I’d be good at coaching because … I would always dissect the game first,” Batiste said. “My challenge was to know whoever I was guarding, what their tendencies were in the first five minutes of the game. I got good at that, and it helped me succeed, play college basketball and have a good career in basketball.”
Batiste credits former Durango athletic director Tim Fitzpatrick with hiring Batiste and Jerry Martinez for the community support in his career. Batiste started his coaching career at Durango High School with a four-win season, but quickly got the program going and established Durango as a winning program in the 2010s.
From the 2011-2012 season to the 2016-2017 season, the Demons finished with 10+ wins each year with only one losing season, made the playoffs every year and had a 64% winning percentage. Highlights during that time include the 2016-2017 season, when the Demons finished 21-5 overall. They got the No. 4 seed in the 4A state playoffs, but lost 52-51 in overtime to Evergreen in the 4A Sweet 16.
After the 2016-2017 season, Batiste resigned to spend more time with his family, but after his assistant coach, Dalon Parker, didn’t accept the job, Batiste got the green light from his wife, Rhita, to return to the sidelines the next season, with Rhita reaffirming how much he means to the kids.
One of the highlights of Batiste’s “second stint” as head coach was the 2024-2025 season, when the Demons made it back to the Sweet 16 of the state playoffs.
Putting the wins and losses aside, what matters to Batiste is the relationships he’s made with his players. He can recall, like it was yesterday, his first squad consisting of guys like Jared Blake, Joe Keresey, Ethan Garcia and Danny Rowley.
Batiste emotionally credited Willy Frownfelter, who passed away in a car crash on March 14, with challenging Batiste as a coach, but coming back to tell Batiste how much he appreciates him. Batiste also credited another former player, Isiah Mayberry, who passed away in 2025, with setting the bar for the program’s work ethic.
“This year I'm going to my second wedding in June from a former player,” Batiste said. “Those are those things that resonate with me a little bit, thinking about life in general now, a lot more than I did in the past when you were on your deathbed, and you could have died.”
“The appreciation that the boys show through all those hard times and through tears. These kids go through a lot in the world … they need mentors, teachers, and coaches, so that's my biggest highlight.”
Despite a tough final season in the win and loss columns, at 4-17 overall, Batiste is excited to see the young squad mature and get better next season. He thought it was one of his best seasons as a coach in terms of his approach and attitude. He’ll miss the competition of coaching, but Batiste still plans on helping out with the local youth, youths basketball community.
Batiste credits assistant coach Viki Thyfault with supporting him throughout his coaching journey and helping him grow as a man and a coach. He also credits assistant coach Orlando Griego with helping him through his health issues on the sideline. Batiste credits Parker with helping him become a better X’s and O’s coach.
The boys basketball head coaching position is posted with an internal candidate, Griego, under consideration.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
