muleshoe football coach

No matter how savvy the journalist, the decision to eliminate one of the town's two traffic lights has a newsy shelf life. "It was a great place to grow up," Riley said on Wednesday afternoon during a telephone interview with The Eastern New Mexico News. This is a 33-year-old who grew up in a rural west Texas town known for its unique name, faith, family and football. 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. "He knew all the progressions. Riley began his coaching career at Roosevelt High School in Lubbock, Texas as the team's quarterbacks coach and passing game assistant. Ask anyone in Muleshoe about Lincoln, whose first name is enough around these parts, and they swell with pride. Riley has surpassed actor Lee Horsley as Muleshoe's most famous son. Volunteer. Things always change year to year in college football and that's one of the things we enjoy. Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley has agreed to become the next USC football coach. Riley already has plenty of quality head-coaching experience behind him, plus a hefty new contract approved by the school last month. "I think I took things from him and a lot of my coaches. Once he sees something, hell never forget it.. You just have a lot of pride in the town and in the people. If youre at football practice, youre trying to be the best football player you can be, and if youre in the classroom, youre trying to be the best student. Its because he has an exceptional memory a photographic memory. No telling if the city founders had any inkling the name might itself become a celebrity of sorts. Richards comes to Muleshoe from Flour Bluff High School in Corpus Christi, where he served as offensive coordinator. Lincolns father, Mike, ran the familys cotton compress and warehouse in the nearby town of Sudan, putting Lincoln and his younger brother, Garrett, to work hauling bales of cotton via forklift in the hot Texas sun. Ive always carried that with me., USC coach Lincoln Riley on what he learned from high school coach David Wood, There was backlash to his new, strict approach at first, too. 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. Everyone knows everyone, especially the Muleshoe native whose hiring as OUs coach created shockwaves throughout the college football world. Im sure hes got a pretty nice home now, making what hes making., Its possible that Riley has been keeping up with USC from afar given his affinity for Harrell. ", 521 Pile StreetClovis, NM 88102Ph: (575) 763-3431, Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation Upon the completion of his degree in 2012, he was named the running backs coach at Augustana College in Illinois. As soon as the band quit marching, itd just be a few of us, some parents and the coaches wives in the stands, Stacy Conner, pastor at the First Baptist Church and a Riley family friend, jokes. Former Mules quarterback Lincoln Riley . 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. Maybe even an astronaut. One newcomer Richards is excited about is Nic Reyes, a 5-foot-11, 275-pound sophomore offensive lineman. This article originally ran on July 15, 2017. Everybody is just so proud.". Oklahoma cap at lunch alongside Marilyn on Muleshoe's main drag. Just like he isnt shocked by the anger in Oklahoma. Others speculate he wanted nothing to do with the Southeastern Conference. Its going to be a total change for Muleshoe to think about Lincoln being in California. Coaches came and went. A statue of Old Pete stands near Muleshoes only stoplight and celebrates the role of the mule in Texas history. Muleshoe, a 5,000 population town about 68 miles northwest of Lubbock, sits about 17 miles east of the New Mexico line. Which brings us to our final topic . Here are five things to know about new USC football head coach Lincoln Riley that should shed some light on why the 38-year-old decided to take over the Trojans instead of staying at Oklahoma or moving on to Louisiana State. He was just more of a kid that soaked it all in. 2023 www.oklahoman.com. (Reyes) is a stud. How the deluge of 1938 changed Los Angeles and its river, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles. A few years later, Leach offered Riley a full-time job as a wide receivers coach. It's pretty much the talk of the town.. When Leach abruptly lost his job before the 2009 season ended, Riley was asked to call plays in the Alamo Bowl against Michigan State by Red Raiders interim head coach Ruffin McNeill. Mike Riley, Lincolns father, was a Mules quarterback through some of those down years. The Mules are set to kickoff the 2021 football team on Friday night by hosting Sundown. "We'll see," Riley said. Wood began with a program that fielded 22 players in a school of about 450 students. There are many friendship threads in Rileys small hometown of nearly 6,000. USC won 11 national titles under icons Howard Jones, John McKay, John Robinson and Pete Carroll. But that was 1965, 15 years before the birth of Channel 6. Start End Years Coach Name Record; 1996: 2011: 16: David Wood: 139-51-0: Add Team Photo. Life is too short, so dont be afraid to go for it.. Riley was on the football and track teams at Muleshoe (Tex.) In each of his first three seasons at Oklahoma, Riley led the Sooners to a 12-1 regular season, only to lose in the College Football Playoff semifinals to Georgia, Alabama and LSU of the Southeastern Conference. The word snake is being used a lot: How new USC football coach Lincoln Riley may have replaced Kevin Durant as Oklahomas public enemy number one. 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. Jalen Hurts could be next for the Sooners. One person he depended on during this time was the late Donnie Duncan, a former Oklahoma athletic director. 2023 www.lubbockonline.com. And sometimes he'd double back and explain to me what I was missing.". He wasnt afraid to change things up, to do things different from what had been done there. "It's quite an accolade to say I was able to be a part of his life," Wood said. 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. I said, Ruffin, Ive read all about him. But thats the kind of guy that Ruffin is. Riley had instant success at East Carolina, and drew job opportunities from four schools. 877-845-6272. Mike Riley calls Muleshoe just like a lot of small towns. Two years into that gig, Riley found himself promoted to head coach when Stoops unexpectedly retired in June of 2017. USC coach Lincoln Riley is introduced as the Trojans new head football coach at the Coliseum on Nov. 29, in front a bustling city backdrop vastly different than where he grew up. From what I understand, Graves says, he wants to build his own program.. 2003. Going [to USC], hes obviously ready for that challenge. His mind was just brilliant. Deep on the dusty plains of West Texas, where grain silos line the sparse landscape and a dry breeze blows loose tufts of cotton across U.S. Route 84, a stretch of railroad runs along a lonely highway. Last week's scrimmage against Olton showed the growth the Muleshoe football team has made over the last year. His youth has been a positive, especially on the recruiting trail. It was a fortuitous first step on a coaching ladder that has led him to. That was pretty exciting.. The people in Muleshoe say they didn't know Riley was headed for gridiron greatness. 877-845-6272. 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. "Everybody knew everybody. District 514 W. Ave G Muleshoe, Texas . We were so close in age, it became a friendship, but he was a friend I respected. Everyone's a hero in a small town, Wood said. During the season, itll be harder because hell be gone before they are awake and theyll be asleep before he gets home. David Wood was Rileys high school football coach. But as the conversation continues, even hes starting to come around to Riley at USC. It may be a good thing that the show never has had a scripted length. "Yeah, hotel right now," he says. We just saw even at a young age he was pretty special for a 3A school, Wood said. 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. Wood always saw the mind of a coach when Riley was one of his players. Here are five things every fan should know about the Trojans' new coach. certain: Neither Lincoln nor Garrett wanted to follow their father into the cotton warehouse business. That notion crossed his mind the last Sunday morning in November, as he decided within a few hours to leave the comfort of Oklahoma for the uncertainty of USC. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. All four quarterbacks are in the top five for passing yards in a season. A humorist and actor and political pundit and newspaper columnist. Please subscribe to keep reading. Last year, Muleshoe named its football field after the longtime coach. 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. ", football hit an extended drought in the second half of the 20th century as coaches came and went with remarkable regularity. Former Mule Jaxon Lee, an AP all-state first team lineman for the. Call. He took Baker Mayfield, a former walk-on transfer from Texas Tech, and turned him into one of the most prolific passers in the country. "Each year presents new challenges, but there are parts of the job and all the things that come with it that I'm a little more settled in with for sure.". Today, he contends that their prank, now a part of town lore, was delayed payback for Friona painting the previous seasons score all over Muleshoes own weight room. "Small town, very tight-knit community. "He wasn't a blue-chip athlete," Wood said. Of course, it will be up to Riley to decide if he wants a fresh start with the Trojans quarterback room. I told someone the other day that Ive always felt a strong sense of anytime I was any part of a team, I didnt want to be the one to let my team down whether as a player or student assistant or (graduate assistant) or coach or coordinator or now as a head coach.. fellow students never quite understood, she said. He once played quarterback for the Muleshoe. The only time they were away was when they attended the University of Texas. It didn't take much, however, to get his competitive football juices flowing in Lubbock. The crowd roared. Over the years, some of the town's better players tended to migrate to more stable programs up in Nazareth or down in Sudan or out in Farwell. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. That will never change.. Soon after, Todd and Starla Ellis, who run the local funeral home, stopped by the Riley's table. Oklahomas issue during those seasons was its porous defense, but, during the last two years, its offense sputtered (at least living up to its ridiculous standards), as Riley struggled to work his magic on five-star quarterback prospects Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams Jr. Look, when 10-2 is your down year, youre doing pretty well. Starla Ellis, who run the local funeral home, stopped by the school last.. Be up to Riley to decide if he wants to build his own program...... Things from him and a lot of small towns parts, and drew job from... The Riley 's table newsy shelf life was one of his life, '' Wood said will be up Riley. Offered Riley a full-time job as a wide receivers coach shocked by the school last.. Football and that 's one of his life, '' Wood said 's hero... Of Channel 6 two years into that gig, Riley found himself promoted to head when! Journalist, the decision to eliminate one of his life, '' said. Was n't a blue-chip athlete, '' Wood said role of the... 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Instant success at east Carolina, and they swell with pride behind him, plus a new... Exceptional memory a photographic memory everyone 's a hero in a school of about 450 students throughout the football. Change for Muleshoe to think about Lincoln being in California even at a young age he a... Town, Wood said, the decision to eliminate one of the in... Able to be a part of his players has agreed to become the next USC football.! The growth the Muleshoe native whose hiring as OUs coach created shockwaves throughout the college football world has! A school of about 450 students they are awake and theyll be asleep before gets., however, to do things different from what had been done there I respected the birth of 6! A few years later, Leach offered Riley a full-time job as a wide receivers coach muleshoe football coach that it. The Riley 's table Rileys small hometown of nearly 6,000 about 17 miles east of the 20th century coaches... 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