Clovis, Portales filling coach slots

It’s the time of year when high school coaches come and high school coaches go.

And there have been plenty of comings and goings at Portales High this spring, which will make the Rams’ varsity coaching landscape look a bit different next season.

Portales will head into the 2019-20 school year with new baseball and softball head coaches, a new boys soccer head coach, a new cross country head coach and a new golf head coach.

Yet, some of the resignations were expected and the replacements seem natural fits.

Nathan Dodge had to step down as Portales’ boys soccer coach last year because of his busy assistant principal duties, and his successor Juan Mendez left after just one season. Enter Michael Aunan, the Rams head cross country coach.

“We knew we were going to have to hire a new boys soccer coach,” Portales High Athletic Director Mark Gallegos said, “and Michael Aunan wanted to move from cross country to soccer, so that move was pretty simple. He enjoys cross country, but he also has a passion for soccer. After we talked to him he felt like that would be a good move for him.”

Aunan’s hiring as the new boys soccer coach means he’ll have to step away from cross country. In comes Laura McNeil.

“She has a cross country background,” Gallegos said, “so we decided to put her in that position.”

Dodge resigned his softball position at the end of this past season due to his assistant principal job. Stepping in to replace him as head coach is Amanda Bonner, who played for Portales and nearby Eastern New Mexico University, and has been an assistant in Portales programs for nearly a decade.

“So Amanda just moved over, made it easy,” Gallegos said. “From the beginning of the year we wanted to transition Amanda to that head job. It’s gone well, it’s been an easy transition.”

Hunton’s resignation was not terribly surprising for Gallegos, either.

“Matt’s a contract coach for us,” Gallegos said. “He has a business; Matt has a lot on his plate. He’s been really good to us the last five years, but he has a lot of outside interests. So he just felt time-wise it was time to get out.”

But not all the Portales coaching changes were expected.

“The one that came as a surprise was Dusty Nusser,” Gallegos acknowledged. “Dusty’s going to stay an assistant football coach, but he decided it was time for a change and he’s going to do something different in the spring.”

That’s it for the head coaching changes, but Gallegos says there will be more hiring beyond those jobs.

“We’re going to need some assistant positions,” he said, “but first you fill those head coaching positions. We’re pretty much fully staffed except in those areas where we’ve moved people around.”

Clovis changes

Unlike Portales, Clovis High won’t have as much varsity head coaching turnover, which is great news for athletic director Lonnie Baca.

“Compared to last year when I came in, we’re in good shape as far as coaches,” Baca said.

Baca and Clovis High are fairly lucky that there is just one varsity head coaching position to be filled for next school year. According to Baca, girls varsity head golf coach Steve Speck turned in his resignation Friday morning.

“Everybody else has indicated that they’re returning for next season,” Baca said. “We did hire a new (varsity) head cheerleading coach, Becky Jones. Becky was our Freshman Academy cheerleading coach and she’ll be moving up. And other than that, all our (varsity) head coaches are back for next season.”

Clovis coaching positions that remained open as of Memorial Day weekend were: two for freshman football; one for freshman boys track; one for freshman drill team; one for freshman cheerleading; one for girls junior varsity basketball; and one assistant baseball coaching job.

“People move around at the assistant level,” Baca said. “Maybe some of them are moving into head coaching jobs and looking to do other things.”

Baca says that interviews will be conducted this coming week, so some of the above vacancies could be filled soon.

Several Clovis High coaching jobs that came open have already been filled.

Logan Turnbow, head coach of Elida’s boys varsity basketball team, will become the Wildcats’ boys junior varsity coach and serve as an assistant football coach. As for the latter, Baca said, “we haven’t determined whether he’ll coach at the sophomore or JV level.”

Amanda Boydstun has been hired as junior varsity cheerleading coach; Joseph Dvozenja from North Carolina will be an assistant varsity football coach; Levi Lynch has been hired as a girls soccer assistant; and Francisco Trujillo will be a boys soccer assistant.