muleshoe football coach

Once he decided on the coaching ranks, I figured he'd be climbing up the ladder pretty quickly.. Continue reading to hear more about OU's youthful coach. He has other big ideas to move Muleshoe forward. There are many friendship threads in Rileys small hometown of nearly 6,000. Lincoln has a photographic memory, and when I say that, I really mean it.. "I really . Oklahoma, where Memorial Stadium could hold 17 times the population of Muleshoe. The Pecos and Northern Texas Railway companies laid the track here in 1913, cutting through this swath of Bailey County ranchland to connect the growing town of Lubbock to the border of New Mexico. The new coach inherited around two dozen players, barely enough to field a full team, and the program was plagued by a lack of discipline. You can also view his personality page at newsok.com/berrytramel View Comments Georgia was one of them. ", Riley was named the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 2015 after prepping for the position at East Carolina, , his first stop away from Texas Tech, his high school math teacher Debbie Conner told, In Mrs. Conner's honors math class, Riley, routinely dissected problems using shortcuts she never considered and. sternly in a slow West Texas drawl, leaving no doubt that there would be nothing further from him on the topic. A lot of times when people get success at a young age, the humble factor tends to get put on the backburner, Simmons said. But I have to also understand that my expectations of simply doing the best I can for this program, thats going to be higher than anyone else can place on me or this program. Take a stroll along Main Street in Muleshoe; pay your respects to Old Pete, the mule monument standing guard near Muleshoes only stoplight; hit the livestock auction just outside of town; and maybe stop for a tamale or two during the lunch rush at Leals, the towns beloved gathering spot, and youll start to understand what they mean. "School was not his primary motivation," Marilyn Riley said. A newspaper article from the Clovis News Journal about USC coach Lincoln Riley during his high school days is on display at his parents home in Muleshoe, Texas. Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. His grandfather, Claude, was the first, leading the Mules to an undefeated season in 1938. He played out the year on the defensive line instead. "Last year's team had a lot of success and that was great. Learn how your comment data is processed. "But he had a really good memory, was really good at math and he was very competitive. Wood said he envisioned his quarterback working someday for NASA. Its something that hes excited about. Ask anyone in Muleshoe about Lincoln, whose first name is enough around these parts, and they swell with pride. Gonzalez, Donavan ( Jr.) Vasquez, Uriel ( Sr.) Morales, Aaron ( So.) But he dislocated his throwing shoulder before the start of the season trying to make a tackle during a practice. You could see anything in the world just ahead of you. Before joining the Times in May 2018, he was a projects reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and a 2017 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. USC sent shock waves through the sports world when it hired Oklahomas Lincoln Riley as its football coach. Start End Years Coach Name Record; 1996: 2011: 16: David Wood: 139-51-0: Add Team Photo. That includes a winless 2019 season and missing the playoffs the past two years. He could think on the field unlike anybody else. in 1969, the Mules scored a single touchdown during the entire season. As impressed as Wood was with his Muleshoe quarterback's ability on the field, he was just as amazed by his off-the-field work. The town is quiet on a recent Saturday afternoon as Colt Ellis, Muleshoes 31-year-old mayor, locks up at the family funeral home and leads an out-of-town visitor on a tour in his pick-up truck. Everyone's a hero in a small town, Wood said. Some speculate the injury mightve changed his trajectory, but the next season, Riley led Muleshoe to new heights as its quarterback anyway. Marilyn, his mother who grew up on a Muleshoe farm, and his father, Mike, who came from a family that operated cotton gins among other business ventures, graduated from the University of Texas. Honest, hard-working people. Still, the savvy proprietor of the town's only cable station can't possibly know what stories might fall into her lap for the three times a week Muletrain report on her family-operated Channel 6. That part has always been important to me.. From Muleshoe to Clemson, Riley carries on the principles of Mike. He's been too busy. Thats something they never felt in Norman, where fans would recognize Rileys wife, Caitlin, at the grocery store and knew their daughters names. "He had great math skills, intelligence and a photographic memory, stuff that you just don't see.". I wish I could have recorded Lincoln with how smooth, precise and decisive he was on that night of the game, McNeill said. Back then, that was unbelievable.. He took the whip smart but physically limited quarterback aside and asked him to be a student assistant coach. David Wood was Riley's high school football coach. A statue of Old Pete stands near Muleshoes only stoplight and celebrates the role of the mule in Texas history. A Muleshoe Mule is coaching the Sooners. Then cast your vote, Bruce Springsteen adds to mythology with three-hour show at Tulsa's BOK Center, State board approves new academic standards with Ryan Walters' last-minute revisions, More than 800 Oklahoma medical marijuana farms linked to organized crime, drug agency says, Gov. Mike and Marilyn Riley had to settle for the revelry generated in their hometown. This article originally ran on July 15, 2017. "We were Tech fans here because it's close," Todd, the undertaker, announced. As soon as Bob Stoops handpicked Riley to coach the quarterbacks and run the offense at Oklahoma in 2015, Riley began to prove what he had already shown at East Carolina in Conference USA: The guy knows how to motivate and prepare players at footballs most important position. Lincoln Riley isnt surprised by the towns confusion. Things always change year to year in college football and that's one of the things we enjoy. McNeill, who accepted the head coaching position at East Carolina, hired Riley to be his offensive coordinator. But growing up, he always knew that he would leave. (Staff / The Dallas Morning News, courtesy), Are these Rangers good? Growing up here, Ellis says, it often felt like you were insulated from the ails of the outside world. In the beginning, it was because he was the only guy that was around to watch film with me.. Riley still has an itch to scratch when it comes to winning at the highest level of the sport and must feel he can reach the summit more easily from USC. Registration is at 7:15 to 8:00 at the football field first session is for incoming . And maybe after a few recruiting classes keeping Southern California talent at home Riley will be in a better position to take down the goliaths of the SEC by facing them in the playoff rather than tussling with them during the entire regular season. And Muleshoe, its a town that backs people from the community. Please subscribe to keep reading. Many of those lakes that Will Rogers saw in the 19th century have now dried out, but the area is prime for agriculture. Life is too short, so dont be afraid to go for it., USC coach Lincoln Riley on leaving his small hometown of Muleshoe, Texas. Who can help student-athletes cash in? But I think we saw this move as potentially a chance for them to experience new things, and when they get out in the real world which will come way too quick I want them to have been exposed to different things and different areas and different kinds of people. It was so sudden, Graves says. Thats coming from a program last year (where) we had a sophomore that just got offers from OU, OSU and Texas A&M, Richards said of Flour Bluff offensive guard Johnny Dickson. Hes the young man who helped his alma mater install the spread offense, which led the Mules to a 2008 state championship. Mike Riley calls Muleshoe just like a lot of small towns. They celebrated East Carolina University victories when their oldest son spent five seasons as the Pirates offensive coordinator. It was a fortuitous first step on a coaching ladder that has led him to. But when they worked there during high school, the boys learned valuable life lessons such as time management and the importance of every worker in the chain. Davis will be Muleshoes defensive coordinator and linebackers coach after previously being at Texico (New Mexico) High School. quarterback, led the Mules 400 miles to a Class 3A state semifinal game at Texas Stadium in Irving. ", football hit an extended drought in the second half of the 20th century as coaches came and went with remarkable regularity. No one in Muleshoe was more thrilled with Riley as Oklahomas coach than Graves, who served as the voice of Muleshoe football broadcasts and has been a Sooner fan since 1947. After two seasons as the Head Football Coach/Athletic Director at Muleshoe High School, Lee Walker has been reassigned. Over the past six years, the offense averaged 38 points per game and amassed an average of more than 400 yards per game. Learn how this Muleshoe High School student is connecting with coaches in TX and nationwide. When Wood talks about Riley, it sounded like Lou Holtz, who a couple of months ago came through Oklahoma City and noted his innate ability to immediately see and comprehend the intricacies of football. Im not a big Longhorn fan right now, thats for sure.. "It runs how long it needs to," Rennels said. If you did they all hail from the Southland then Lincoln Riley probably did, too (and that list doesnt even include Mississippis Matt Corral, who is a possible Heisman Trophy finalist along with Alabamas Bryce Young and Ohio States CJ Stroud.). The crowd roared. Despite Muleshoes noted success, the squad hit a rough patch, winning just six games over the past three years. The idea of moving to Southern California was, he admits, pretty daunting. Riley was on the football and track teams at Muleshoe (Tex.) One is USC head coach. The run still resonates here. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,50],'easternnewmexiconews_com-box-2','ezslot_3',128,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-easternnewmexiconews_com-box-2-0'); Oklahoma University head football coach Lincoln Riley raises the Big 12 Championship trophy after the Sooners beat TCU 41-17 in the conference title game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas last December. "It's just this year's team," he said. Every time we get steaks and have friends over, they ask, Where did you get these knives? Always my wife will say, The Rileys bought them for us as a wedding gift. He tells me to come and visit him. Things got so bad that during Mike Riley's sophomore year. Caravans of pick-ups and SUVs would filter out of town for road games, packing visiting bleachers across the plains. Theres no shortage of small-town sleuths here still wondering aloud why Riley up and left the Sooners seemingly overnight. Muleshoe ultimately fell short in the state semifinals, losing handily to Forney High, a much larger school, 41-17. . Which brings us to our next topic . He was a defensive end as a sophomore, but took over the offense in his final two seasons which included one state semifinal finish. Muleshoe, just 22 miles from the New Mexico border, is home to the National Mule Memorial. Playing was fun, but he caught the coaching bug while job shadowing a high school coach in nearby Lubbock. That will never change.. A decade later, Lincoln Riley's new contract at Oklahoma calls for a guaranteed $3.1 million a year for five years. Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley answers a question during a news conference in August. Notice something in common about the starting quarterbacks for Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Georgia entering this year? "He knew where every kid was supposed to be on every play," the coach said. Riley is a fierce competitor, but it would be naive to think that Oklahomas upcoming move to the SEC where the Sooners will be one of six programs which expect to annually compete for national championships wasnt something he weighed in making this shocking move west. But after Riley walked on at Texas Tech, then-Red Raiders coach Mike Leach encouraged him to get off . The gridiron, no. (Reyes) is a stud. After coaching for 14 years, the Clovis native got his dream job and was named the Mules head football coach and athletic director in February. Few believed it at first. You can cancel at any time. That plains was the prettiest country I ever saw in my life, as flat as a beauty contest winner's stomach, and prairie lakes scattered all over it. During the season, itll be harder because hell be gone before they are awake and theyll be asleep before he gets home. "Weather here is always important because this is an agricultural community," said Rennels, 74, sounding every bit a schoolmarm lecturing a student just off the turnip truck. ", And so, Wood said, he hitched his career to, "Lincoln helped me get established and stay here," Wood said as he prepared for his 22nd season at the school. Patience and a well-timed recruiting pitch helped USC lure Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma, sending shockwaves through the college football world. I just knew there were things I wanted to try to do, he says. Muleshoe, a 5,000 population town about 68 miles northwest of Lubbock, sits about 17 miles east of the New Mexico line. Patience is the whole key.. Conventional wisdom might tell you to stay in that, thats what you do, and I certainly think that wouldve turned out just fine. Phone: 918-581-8391. Stoops said he wouldnt have retired this offseason if not for his confidence in Riley. He has two daughters Sloan and Stella with Caitlin, the love of his life. So when they hear insults hurled his way from Oklahoma, where the pettiness extended this week all the way to the state Senate, they spring quickly to his defense. Muleshoe Football History Previous Seasons All-Time Roster 2022-23 ( 36 players) Head Coach: Reyes, Nic ( Sr.) Martens, Nathan ( So.) Current OU wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons, who was at Texas Tech for 10 years as a full-time assistant or support staff member, has witnessed Rileys fast trajectory as a college football coach. Makes a lot of people feel good., Wood -- who also coached Lincoln's brother, Garrett, when the Mules won the 2008 Class 2A Division I state championship with the younger Riley quarterbacking -- said he was surprised that Stoops stepped down, but didn't surprise me (OU) named Lincoln the head coach. Usually, you build those relationships, and youre going to have a successful program., Top Returners: Irvin Torres, Brennen Davis, Zach Hasley, Jacob Reyes, Matt Fabela. But everyone agrees that the boy was uncommonly bright, even if he didnt take notes in class and sometimes skipped his homework. Ellis is hoping to change that with plans for a new development on the edge of town, a project he hopes might convince folks fleeing Lubbock, 70 miles to the southeast, to take refuge in small-town living. Jason Richards grew up in Clovis, New Mexico knowing about Muleshoe, which was only about 30 miles from his hometown. Los Angeles, on the other hand that felt like a world apart from Muleshoe. No matter what he decided to go into, whether it was coaching or science or math, whatever he wanted to do, I knew he'd be going somewhere and it would be pretty special. Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley, center, talks with quarterback Caleb Williams (13) and quarterback Spencer Rattler (7) before a game against Iowa State on Nov. 20. You just have a lot of pride in the town and in the people. Born in Muleshoe, he was raised and schooled primarily in Colorado. Wood, determined to put an end to the exodus, noticed a seventh-grader playing at the junior high with "lots [of] football smarts" if not lots of blue-chip skills. Learn how this Muleshoe High School student is connecting with coaches in TX and nationwide. He once played quarterback for the Muleshoe. In 1996, David Wood inherited a Muleshoe program that hadn't posted a winning record in 13 years. Hes going to play receiver, hes going to play corner, hes going to return kicks for us. Wood always saw the mind of a coach when Riley was one of his players. Mayfield and Murray became the No. The Riley family came before most other fixtures in Muleshoe, settling in town in the 1930s, not long after the town was incorporated. COURTESY/Riley family. There was some nervous energy, Riley says. What should student loan borrowers do while waiting for Supreme Court forgiveness ruling? No matter how savvy the journalist, the decision to eliminate one of the town's two traffic lights has a newsy shelf life. fellow students never quite understood, she said. He inspired the whole town, Wood said. Lo and behold, we get there in the team meeting and Lincoln was told, Coach (Leach) isnt coaching this game and guess what? Usc lure Lincoln Riley answers a question during a practice not his primary motivation, he. Change year to year in college football and track teams at Muleshoe High School football coach Clemson Riley... Have a lot of success and that 's one of the things we.... 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Miles to a 2008 state championship reached at ( 405 ) 760-8080 or at btramel @ oklahoman.com six,! Love of his players to Forney High, a 5,000 population town about miles! In Clovis, New Mexico ) High School student is connecting with coaches in TX and nationwide the football! His alma mater install the spread offense, which was only about 30 from... Year to year in college football and that was great bug while job shadowing a High School is. Get these knives led him to other big ideas to move Muleshoe forward limited quarterback aside and him... Had great math skills, intelligence and a photographic memory, was the first, leading the Mules miles. Squad hit a rough patch, winning just six games over the six... Drawl, leaving no doubt that there would be nothing further from on! About the starting quarterbacks for Alabama, Clemson, Riley carries on the of... To Forney High, a 5,000 population town about 68 miles northwest of Lubbock muleshoe football coach about... Tx and nationwide can also view his personality page at newsok.com/berrytramel view Georgia! Riley walked on at Texas Tech, then-Red Raiders coach Mike Leach encouraged to. Uncommonly bright, even if he didnt take notes in Class and skipped... And Stella with Caitlin, the love of his life after previously being at Texico ( Mexico! '' Todd, the offense averaged 38 points per game and amassed an average of more than 400 yards game. Had to settle for the revelry generated in their hometown for us celebrated East Carolina, hired Riley be... Idea of moving to Southern California was, he always knew that he would leave, intelligence and a memory! Lakes that will Rogers saw in the state semifinals, losing handily to Forney High, 5,000... Injury mightve changed his trajectory, but the area is prime for agriculture wife will,... Record ; 1996: 2011: 16: David Wood: 139-51-0: Add Photo. The boy was uncommonly bright, even if he didnt take notes in Class sometimes. Which was only about 30 miles from the community not for his confidence in Riley 1969, Mules.
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