Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Clovis High is considering 10 applicants for its vacant football coaching job. Four of the applicants are former players and assistant coaches for Eric Roanhaus, who resigned in December after his 39th season leading the Wildcats.
CLOVIS - Clovis High is closing in on hiring its 11th head football coach, and first since 1978.
The school opened the application period for about a month to find the successor to Eric Roanhaus, who resigned in December after 39 seasons at the helm and a 343-141-5 record.
Thirteen applicants were received, with 10 being considered. Superintendent Jody Balch said the hope was to have the field narrowed to five or six finalists by the end of Thursday, and interviews would start on Wednesday.
Of the applicants, four both played for Roanhaus and served on his coaching staff.
The 10 applicants being considered, in alphabetical order, are:
n Stephen Castille, Albuquerque. He is currently the offensive coordinator at Eldorado High School, and previously served as head coach at Santa Fe Capital.
n Allen Cisco, Las Cruces. Cisco has been offensive coordinator at Hatch Valley for the last eight years.
n Kenny Eudy, Olton. Eudy has worked in administration for the last five years, including the last four as principal at Olton High School. Recent coaching stops include Petersburg as head coach and Spearman and Memphis in assistant roles.
n Cal Fullerton, Clovis. Fullerton has been employed with Clovis schools since 2004, and has spent the last two seasons as co-offensive coordinator with Roanhaus. He is the son of CHS Athletic Director Dale Fullerton, who has removed himself from the selection process due to the conflict of interest.
n John Gallegos, Clovis. Gallegos is chief of security at El Rocky Management Services with a lengthy career in public safety and security, but wants to get back to teaching and coaching as he did in his first few years out of college. He was a football coach with Texico High from 1987 to 1990.
n Bob Gilbreath, Weatherford, Texas. Gilbreath is the assistant head football coach and defensive coordinator at Azle, Texas, and has been there since 2010. He has been an assistant at Hebron and Lewisville in Texas, and was an assistant at Clovis High from 1991 to 1997.
n Drew Hatley, Clovis. Hatley has been employed with Clovis schools since 2007, and has been on the Clovis varsity staff since 2008. He serves as the Wildcats' co-defensive coordinator with Darrell Davis.
n Dale Hooper, Alamogordo. Hooper resigned last week after four seasons coaching the Tigers. He was head coach for six seasons at Grants, his alma mater. He also served as head coach at Cuba, Laguna-Acoma and Morenci, Arizona.
n Paul Lopez, Artesia. Lopez is a former Wildcats assistant, and has also coached in assistant positions at Carlsbad, Rio Rancho, Hatch Valley, West Las Vegas and McAllen, Texas.
n Jeff Willingham, Artesia. Willingham is the defensive coordinator for Artesia, and has been an assistant since 2003. He was also an assistant with Portales and taught a year of sixth grade at Clovis' Mesa Elementary.
The three applications that aren't being considered, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Kerry Parker said, included two that didn't turn in complete applications and a grocery store employee with no coaching experience who apparently applied for the wrong job.
The job pay is the successful applicant's teaching salary, plus a $15,000 coaching stipend. Roanhaus' stipend was $13,975, set at that level in order to not interfere with his teaching retirement benefits.
