New Clovis football coach: 'I'm not a band-aid'

Last summer, Stan Hodges was in his pickup truck hauling from one Texas oil site to the next. Just him, his truck and the allure of oil money.

That was a foreign world for the 55-year-old Hodges: A lifelong college and high school football coach who sacrificed big paychecks for the internal reward of winning, developing young men and the camaraderie of the football world. 

His transition from the football field to the oil field started in May of 2023. But while he was making a "bunch of money" he wasn't "happy" so after six months he started looking for another coaching job. After struggling to get hired this spring, he's found an opportunity at Clovis High School.

If Hodges can succeed, he'll bolster his legacy, bring CHS back to its glory days and never question his brief, money-driven career pivot.

​​"For me to be happy, I have to get back into doing what I love and what I know and this is an opportunity for me to do just that," Hodges said.

For CHS staff, players and fans, who just witnessed Andrew McCraw unexpectedly bolt for Eastern New Mexico University after two seasons, it could be a relief to hear Hodges put a "deposit on a house."

"I don't see this as a short-term plan," Hodges said, "I'm thinking of a minimum five years. If I've got 10 years in me, I'll go 10 years."

Of course "10 years" is not entirely up to him. That will likely hinge on the success of a struggling program that's gone 11-20 its last three seasons. Fans haven't seen a state title since 2001 and they're hungry for a return of the "Beast from the East" that won 11 state championships from 1973 to 1994.

CHS Athletic Director Lonnie Baca said Hodges, like all coaches, was hired on a one-year contract. He'll receive a $16,000 stipend as head football coach. He'll also teach CHS weight training classes.

Hodges is aware of the situation he's stepping into.

Sure, CHS has shown steady improvements. It went 3-7 in Cal Fullerton's final season in 2021. Then in 2022 – McCraw's first year – it went 3-7 again before improving in 2023, going 5-6. CHS won the district championship last year before falling as the No. 9 seed in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs to rival Hobbs.

But entering this season CHS lost a slew of difference makers and will be relying upon several first-year starters. A brutal travel schedule won't help either.

Not to mention the obstacles that come with a head coach being hired after the Fourth of July. 

Somehow, Hodges has to learn each player's strengths and weaknesses and develop a scheme around that. Plus, getting familiar with the coaching staff that was retained and "looking for a defensive coordinator."

CHS' first time running plays – full speed, in pads – will be on Aug. 1. 

That's 23 days before the season kicks off against Farmington High School – over four hours away. 

"I'm not a band-aid. This is gonna be a long-term process, but I think we're going to work to get better each and every year," said Hodges, who coached running backs from 2021-22 at the prestigious Odessa Permian High School. He's coached for over a quarter century and was a part of one Texas state champion team with Judson High in 2002. 

Hodges, who recently met with Clovis players for the first time, said he wants his offense at CHS to resemble what the San Francisco 49ers have run in recent years. 

That means heavy tight-end sets with a constant flow of motioning, shifting and utter destruction through down-field blocking, he said. 

"They (49ers) don't give up, they play hard and play as a team. That's how we're going to be," Hodges said. 

Some of Hodges' plays remain in his head, most are already diagrammed on his laptop, one is even "written right now on top of a box where I've been packing the last three days," he said. 

Non-stop preparation is encouraged – no, required – if Hodges wants to make up for lost time. 

This is what he said is the key to being successful. Something he learned in two previous experiences when he took over a program on short notice. 

He did it at Texas' Kountze Independent School District in 2005 and at Hull-Daisetta Independent School District in 2013, where he coached until 2020, leading it to five playoff appearances.

"His (Hodges) resume proved to us that he had a tremendous amount of experience," Baca said when asked why Hodges was selected over six other candidates. 

"He had worked in several really good programs. Throughout his tenure, he had been successful at several of the districts that he coached at."

For so long, CHS was the embodiment of success and sustainability under legendary head coach Eric Roanhaus. 

Upon resigning in 2016 after 39 years as head coach, Roanhaus had led the Wildcats to 19 state-championship games, winning it 10 times. When he left CHS, his 343 victories were more than any New Mexico high school football coach. 

But those days are long gone.

In his five seasons, Fullerton didn't reach those Roanhaus heights. Neither did McCraw. Can Hodges?

"My preacher told me once that not everybody's born to do coaching, and not everybody's born to be in the oil field," Hodges said, "But whatever it is that you're born to do, stick with that. Because if you get out of that element, then there's something missing. How right he was about that."