Cienega hired a good one in Ruiz
After Paul Reed coached the Cienega High School girls basketball team to a 26-2 record and the state finals last year, he accepted an assistant coaching job at Long Beach State.
It was a good move. The 49ers women’s team is 20-6 and contending for the Big West championship. But it also left a big hole, and Cienega principal Nemer Hassey filled it with 23-year-old Matt Ruiz, which initially raised a few eyebrows.
Ruiz is a former student manager at Cienega, who later became Matt Johnson’s assistant on Cienega’s state title-hopeful boys team. After suitable on-the-job training, Ruiz has been more than capable. The Bobcats (30-0) will enter the state quarterfinals this week, bidding to become just the third girls basketball team in Tucson history — joining 28-0 Santa Rita of 1984 and 28-0 CDO of 1987 — as undefeated state champions.
Ruiz showed strong instincts when he hired as his assistant coach Karl Pieroway, a former head coach at Pima College and Ironwood Ridge, who coached the 2007 Nighthawks to the boys state championship game.
