Almost six years ago, on March 30, 2001, Rio Rancho High School basketball coach Rick Sleeter resigned his position, citing the desire to spend more time with his family.

"I can always coach, but now I need to be a good father," he said at the time.

It seems he's back to doing both: Sleeter, who led the Rams through their first four seasons and an overall record of 32-63 as the team struggled for respectability, is coaching both of his sons' teams and assisting head coach Roy Sanchez at his alma mater, Eldorado High School. And that's where his one-time assistant will be seeing him Saturday evening when - barring a snowstorm - second-year Rams coach Brian Smith and his team face the Golden Eagles.

Smith said he's happy to see his former "boss" stay in the game.

"We've talked a little bit; he's kind of in a volunteer role right now, 3-4 days a week when he can," Smith said. "He's coaching kids individually; he'll make suggestions to Roy; he likes that better than making all the decisions."

"I am what they call a varsity assistant and Roy (Sanchez) has graciously given me a lot of room to be in a volunteer position," Sleeter said. "(And) I can still coach my two sons' teams.

Sleeter's 9-year-old son, Gavin, plays on an Albuquerque Youth Basketball League team. "They call themselves the Eagles; Gavin's a big (Eldorado) Eagles fan. He's the (EHS) water boy," Sleeter said.

Kyle Sleeter, is on a team in a church-sponsored league, called the "Upward League."

"Like I said, the reason that I stepped down before was for my sons," Sleeter said. "I have gone hog-wild into coaching them."

He said he hasn't had any regrets about leaving his varsity position, his third in the metro area. "It was a good decision - I'm so glad I did," he said.

Sleeter played at Eldorado, from where he graduated in 1981, and was a court teammate of former star Karl Willock, who later played at the University of Texas, and Jim Everett, who became better known as an NFL quarterback.

The Eagles got to the 1981 AAAA state tournament at The Pit, where Sleeter remembers he got to guard Clovis standout Bubba Jennings. "I kept him in the 20s; that was fun," he said. "Clovis beat us; but we got there - we got to The Pit."

Former Lobo Rich Pokorski was the Eagles' head coach; current EHS girls varsity coach Mike Huston was an assistant.

Despite his Eagles heritage, Sleeter said he still feel a bit like a Ram.

"It's funny because it is really hard for me. When I was coaching at Rio Rancho, I put my heart and soul into it - so that school will always be in my heart," he said. "Now, having Brian there as the head coach and a successful coach, I want to see him do real well."

Although Sanchez uses Sleeter on occasion to scout upcoming opponents, Sleeter said he vowed he wouldn't scout the Rams.

"I want to coach the Eldorado basketball kids to the best of my ability, (but) I will never scout his team;" Sleeter said. "There's just some things that he deserves; he doesn't need me scouting against him. I will keep that promise.

"He knows when his boys step out there, I will do everything to make those Eldorado boys the best I can," he said.

After graduation, Sleeter was an assistant at St. Pius, back when the school was located just north of Winrock in Albuquerque's Northeast Heights, and then at Del Norte and La Cueva before getting his first head-coaching job at St. Pius X. Although Eldorado met and beat the Sartans this season, Sleeter said he didn't have the same feelings for St. Pius that he does for the Rams.

"It's been so long since I was the St. Pius basketball coach," he said. "The only thing that was familiar was the colors. I was at Pius twice; I started my career there as the girls C team coach, (and later) a couple years at the new school for (head coach) George McAfee."

Huston gave him an opportunity when he was the Del Norte head coach; long-time coach Frank Castillo gave Sleeter a chance to be on his staff at La Cueva.

Sleeter said he's sure four seasons' worth of memories at Rio Rancho will come to mind Saturday evening.

"I'll never forget the rivalry (with Cibola). We had worked so hard; what stands out in my mind is the time we beat Cibola. The first time, we had them beat in our gym. A guy hit a 3 to take it away from us. There were some great games played back then in what I thought was a great district."

Sleeter said he has stayed in contact with a handful of Rams who played for him: "Guys like Preston Wilhite, Nick Gerard - they still call me today. That's another wonderful thing," he said. "Preston will call me every Father's Day. I just have the greatest memories in the world."

Gerard's success has had special meaning for Sleeter. Gerard (Class of 2000) was the first Ram to play basketball in college (Eastern New Mexico University) and the first to return to the RRHS campus as a coach; he is the Rams junior varsity coach and an assistant to Smith during varsity games.

"To see him come back has done my heart so good," Sleeter said. "As a sophomore, he was the biggest pest, he was immature - to see how far he has come is awesome. It's why you do what you do."

Gerard said he wasn't offended by Sleeter's remarks; yeah, he was immature back then.

"I remember a lot of things (from then)," he said recently. "Him being a great teacher of the game. I try to take different things (from all my coaches). He coached with passion and he still does it.

"You could criticize those early years but he did a great job; we basically had a JV team for those first two or three years," Gerard said.

The Rams own a slight edge in their all-time meetings with Eldorado, having won eight of 15 previous contests. The Rams and Eagles were together in 5AAAA from 1997-2000, when the Rams were 4-3 against the Eagles, and members of 1-5A in 2004-05, when the Eagles beat them twice en route to a state title.

The Rams beat the visiting Eagles 61-52 last season.