Michael Dominguez begins his sixth season as the head coach of the New Mexico Highlands men's basketball program. Dominguez was an assistant to the program for two years before taking the position of Head Coach in 2019.
Dominguez earned his 50th career win at the helm of the Cowboys on January 6th at Westminster as NMHU beat the Griffins 76-69.
In his two seasons with the Cowboys as an associate head coach, NMHU amassed a 37-23 overall record and won its first-ever RMAC Tournament title in 2019 while winning a program-best 22 games.
Dominguez came to New Mexico Highlands from Colorado Mesa University where he served as an assistant for six years. He began his coaching career in 2011 and was made head assistant/recruiting coordinator at CMU in 2013. As an assistant coach at CMU, Dominguez helped the Mavericks win the Rocky Division Championship in 2016 with a record of 21-9. The Mavericks made the RMAC playoffs five of the six years Dominguez was on the staff.
Dominguez also made significant contributions on the recruiting side of the Mavericks program. In his four years as head assistant/recruiting coordinator he helped sign seven All-RMAC players and in 2016 Dominguez recruited and helped develop Ryan Stephan who was both the RMAC Player of the Year and CCA D2 National Player of the Year.
During his playing career, Dominguez helped lead Colorado Mesa University to the most wins ever at CMU (23-6) and a berth in the 2010 NCAA Tournament leading the Mavericks to the first NCAA Tournament victory in program history. His performance that season earned Dominguez All-American status - the first All-American at CMU since the school joined NCAA Div. II. He was also named the RMAC Player of the Year after averaging 21.6 points and 4.6 rebounds during that historic senior season.
In 2010-11, Dominguez played professional basketball in Mexico’s top league the LNBP for the Toros De Nuevo Laredo with his team winning the LNBP Championship title his rookie season.
Prior to his time at CMU, Dominguez played at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado, where he started every game for the Plainsman. During his two years at NJC they had a record of 64-6 and were ranked as high as second in the NJCAA. His team qualified for the national tournament in 2007, placing seventh. After NJC, Dominguez played one year at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. While there Dominguez started 30 of 33 games, led the team in minutes, steals and 3-pointers made while averaging 10.0 points per game.
A native of Espanola, New Mexico, Dominguez attended Espanola Valley High School and Capital High School in Santa Fe. Dominguez was a three-time, first-team all-state selection and helped Capital win the 4A State Championship in 2004.
Since Coach Dominguez's arrival at NMHU in 2017; He has recruited/developed 11 All-Conference RMAC players. Six of those players were First Team All-Conference selections and the CO-Freshman of the year in TJ Sanchez 22-23 seasonÂ
In the 19-20 season Dominguez had the highest scoring duo in the country from DI, DII, and DIII in Raquan Mitchell and Sammy Barnes-Thompkins. As of July of 2023, seven former players from Dominguez's time at NMHU are playing at the pro level.
Dominguez earned his bachelor of arts degree in Kinesiology from CMU and has a master’s degree in coaching and athletic administration from Concordia University.
