Roanhaus resigns as Clovis High's football coach

CLOVIS — The longest and most successful football tenure at any New Mexico prep school came to an end Wednesday, as longtime Clovis High School coach Eric Roanhaus resigned.

"It was time," said Roanhaus, who went 343-141-5 in 39 seasons with 10 state championships as Wildcat head coach. "You can feel when the time was right."

His career games coached, wins and seasons with one school are state records. He trails only Cooper Henderson (15, Ruidoso and Artesia) in total championships and Travis Lee and Paul Parenti in total seasons (41).

According to a release from the district, Roanhaus worked with 10 superintendents, 11 CHS principals and five athletic directors in his 44 years.

Dale Fullerton, on his second stint as CHS athletic director, spent 20 years in Roanhaus' program and served mostly as defensive coordinator. Fullerton said he and Roanhaus got along, both when they butted heads on the field and when he had to discipline Roanhaus as an administrator.

"I didn't always agree with how he did things or the plays he called, and he didn't agree with the defense sometimes," Fullerton said. "But we worked it out, we hashed it out and we had a lot of success."

Roanhaus, 69, came to New Mexico from Texas via California. After graduating from Hueneme High School in Oxnard, California, in 1965, he played football and basketball and Ventura Junior College before heading to then-West Texas State in Canyon.

"I learned a lot from my coach at WT," Roanhaus said. "Coach (Joe) Kerbel was an outstanding Xs and Os guy. I'd had good coaches throughout high school, college, junior college."

He spent a year as a grad assistant with the Buffaloes, then a year as an assistant football, baseball and basketball coach at Canyon High before joining Dunny Goode's Wildcat staff.

When Goode went on to Eastern New Mexico University, Roanhaus took over and brought Clovis what would be the first of six titles in eight seasons, including a five-peat from 1981 to 1985.

Many Clovis fans believe it would have been six straight titles without the "Inadvertent Whistle," when a sure Clovis touchdown was blown dead in the 1980 state title game because the trick play fooled the officials, too. The Wildcats lost that game 14-11.

"You don't remember the state championships as much as you finish second," said Roanhaus, who went 10-9 in championship games. "They're, I don't want to say heartbreaking, but discouraging. You like your kids to go out winners, and that's what was disappointing. We've lost tough semifinal games too. That's life. One thing football teaches you is to handle adversity."

Roanhaus won 28 district titles, and had a 19-game district winning streak between 2003 and 2010. He won 25 straight first-round playoff games to start his career, and finished 29-1 overall in the first round.

He was also known for his colorful language and stories. He once nicknamed former Wildcat Rishard Matthews "Awful Knawful" to rib him for a motorcycle accident. Roanhaus also caused an interstate clash when he said a Texas district's plan to replace middle school football with soccer, "sounds like a communist plot."

He coached countless generations of kids, including two generations of the Roanhaus family. Both son Chad and grandson Sebastian played quarterback for him.

"It's pretty neat," Roanhaus said of coaching kids of former players. "The first time I experienced that was in the early '90s. That's always rewarding. I think the rewarding thing in coaching is a few years later, those kids come back and they're fathers and they're husbands, and they've become successful human beings."

Two Roanhaus players played at least one NFL game. Hank Baskett spent six years in the league for the Eagles, Colts and Vikings, and Matthews — currently with the Tennessee Titans — spent part of his high school career in Clovis before moving to California. Anthony Hall, who played on the 1984 and 1985 title teams, made the final cut with the Pittsburgh Steelers before suffering a neck injury.

Roanhaus, who has been a contract coach since leaving behind teaching in 2003, stressed he was resigning because "retirement is for old people." He plans to spend a year away from coaching and weigh his options.

"There's a lot of people that might think I'm over the hill, but I'm not ready to be put out to pasture," said Roanhaus, who denied he was pressured to resign. "I just know I'm going to lay out a year. Hell, I might lay out a year, and enjoy it so much I won't want to do anything else."

Fullerton said there is no specific date for finding a replacement, but noted there's a line between hiring too quickly and dragging your feet.

"We're setting up a plan to keep the offseason going," Fullerton said, "and have it ready for whoever gets it. We won't quit any of our lifting, any of our agility stuff."

Any hiring decision will be difficult, as Clovis will have plenty of options both inside Roanhaus' staff and outside of the city and state. Fullerton said he would not be a part of the hiring process, as his son, co-offensive coordinator Cal Fullerton, is one of several assistants expected to apply.