Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
STAFF WRITER
ELIDA — It’s been a long time coming, but Elida volleyball coach Darrell Chenault has been named the 2015-16 New Mexico High School Coaches Association Volleyball Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Tigers to their sixth-straight small school volleyball state title.
Last season the Lady Tigers went 22-3 en route to their title. Chenault had known about the award since the beginning of the year, but didn’t officially get it until last week in Albuquerque.
“It’s just exciting to get it,” Chenault said. “It’s a great honor because there are so many great coaches in New Mexico. It’s fun and exciting to get recognized. Very humbling.”
Fellow Elida coach Jaden Isler has led his girls basketball team in the last two of their six-straight state titles as well and knows just how difficult it is to keep up such a high level of play for so long.
“The biggest thing is it’s really tough when you’ve won that many in a row to not expect that you’re going to win the next one because you’ve won so many before,” Isler said. “It’s easy to get into that mindset that you’ve won all these titles before you’re not going to get beat. It’s very tough to stay on the top of your game whenever you’ve had that much success.
“I try to get through to my girls that you’ve got to put in the work or you won’t get the same outcome. Everyone has to play and work as hard as the last group.”
When asked if he had a favorite team during his six championships, Chenault couldn’t pick one.
“I can’t pick a favorite,” he said. “The first one you ever win is always special. We went undefeated another year and once we had to come back in the fifth set and fought back to win.”
Isler agrees that Chenault’s award was well-deserved.
“He puts in a lot of time into what he does,” Isler said. “His success speaks for itself. With all the titles in volleyball he’s been able to win at Elida I think it’s his character and integrity he puts into his program is where all the success comes from.”
