Wildcats football coach heading to ENMU

Shocked.

That’s the word Clovis High School Athletic Director Lonnie Baca used Monday to describe the sudden departure of Wildcats head football coach Andrew McCraw.

McCraw told school officials last week he’s leaving for a coaching position at Eastern New Mexico University – just two months before the season begins.

“It is what it is and we just have to put our best foot forward,” said Baca, who’s looking to hire a new coach by the end of next week. 

As of Monday morning, Baca said CHS was looking at seven candidates. He wouldn’t give any names or say if CHS was looking to make an in-program hire. 

Baca said he “would prefer to have an individual who has some head coaching experience,” later adding that CHS is “open to other individuals who have had offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator roles” at the high school or college levels. 

CHS will finish taking applications today and on Thursday plans to narrow down the list of coaches it will interview. Those interviews will be conducted early next week. 

That new head coach will replace McCraw, who went 3-7 in 2022 and 5-6 in 2023, an improvement that featured a district championship. 

Early last week, McCraw told Baca there was a chance he could leave CHS for ENMU, Baca said. Late on June 19, he told him he was taking the position and later submitted a letter of resignation. Baca said McCraw was hired on a year-to-year basis therefore no contract was broken. 

McCraw told The News he couldn’t comment on the matter until July 1. The significance of that date was unclear. 

Attempts to determine McCraw’s role at ENMU were not immediately successful.

Upon hiring McCraw, Baca said he didn’t think he’d leave CHS for a third coaching stint at ENMU. 

A former Greyhound, McCraw spent the 2012-14 seasons as ENMU’s graduate assistant offensive line, tight ends coach and academic coordinator. He then left and was a head football coach at Socorro High School in 2016 before returning to ENMU from 2017-21 where he was offensive line coach, academic coordinator and assistant head coach to current ENMU head coach Kelley Lee. 

The following year, McCraw coached Belen High School to a 7-4 record and a brief playoff run before being hired by CHS in June 2022 to take over for Cal Fullerton, who resigned. 

Two years later CHS and Baca find themselves having to make another summer hire. 

While opponents are establishing starters and fine-tuning plays, CHS won’t know what offensive or defensive scheme it’ll utilize until after July. This means players will have a short time to understand assignments and may not fully grasp them when the season kicks off. At the moment, Baca said players are still practicing, but it’s more focused on conditioning. 

Baca said he’s not opposed to hiring someone with a different style than McCraw even though it may hinder continuity and create a rocky transition period. 

“We have to give this program grace and understanding,” Baca said, “… but obviously it takes time to build a program.”

On June 10, McCraw spoke to The News about the upcoming season, giving no indication he was considering leaving. 

With several first-year starters, he knew the 2024 season could be difficult. Nonetheless, he said “(W)e’re going to figure out ways for our kids to be successful. … Maybe we can take advantage of some of our kids’ quickness.”

And now it will be someone else’s job to do that. 

“I met with the football kids this (Monday) morning and asked them what they wanted in a new football coach,” Baca said. “And one of their top priorities was somebody who was going to be a guy who would stay here for a while and build the program up,” Baca said.