By Gail M. Williams
Muleshoe Journal Correspondent
In a ceremony held Jan. 28 in the Muleshoe High School Library, Jason Richards signed on as the new head football coach/athletic director for the Muleshoe Mules.
Richards comes to Muleshoe from Flour Bluff High School in Corpus Christi, where he served as offensive coordinator. Muleshoe will be Richards’ first athletic director and head football coaching position.
The selection committee sorted through 112 applications and interviewed six applicants on Jan. 22 and 23 before determining that Richards would be their choice.
“We are very excited after a lengthy process to introduce Jason Richards and his fiancé Miss Angela Scott,” said Curtis Preston, president of MISD Board of Trustees.
“I cannot wait to get in here and meet the kids and staff,” Richards said. “I’m fired up. It’s like Christmas Eve and I’m 6 years old. I cannot wait to get this thing going.”
He introduced his fiancé, the head softball coach at Flour Bluff. The couple was on a tight timeline as Scott was scheduled to catch a 5 a.m. plane the next morning so that she could get to a softball game set for 1 p.m. the next day. According to a press release, while serving as offensive coordinator, Richards’ football program had a 51-21 record, including three regional semi-final appearances and two area championship appearances.
Over the past six years, the offense averaged 38 points per game and amassed an average of more than 400 yards per game. His offense has placed five players in the top 10 for rushing yards in a season and nine players in the top 10 for receiving yards in a season.
Richards tutored all four quarterbacks to all-district honors each of the six years he was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. All four quarterbacks are in the top five for passing yards in a season.
Richards grew up in Clovis, where he was quarterback/defensive back for the high school from 1999-2001. Clovis was district and state champion in 2001. He holds a master’s of administration in education from Sam Houston State University, and graduated cum laude with a bachelor of science in physical education from Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, where he was quarterback for the football team.
