Saturday, March 22, 2008

John Lerma is new BHS head football coach

Start date, accompanying teaching position to be determined

Jason W. Brooks News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jbrooks@news-bulletin.com

Belen Belen High School has a new head football coach, and he's someone who has about as much experience as the Eagles could possibly find.

John Lerma, a veteran of the football-coaching business of 36 years, has been chosen by Belen Schools to head the Eagle football program. Lerma was chosen from a list of seven candidates who were interviewed recently by a committee, and he and Capital High School's defensive coordinator, Jeremy Newton, were named as finalists by the committee. Both were interviewed a second time, on Monday, by Belen Schools athletic coordinator Jim Danner.

Lerma, who is still employed at Rio Rancho High School, came to New Mexico from south Texas in 2006 to assist RRHS head coach Phil Lopez. He served as Lopez's offensive coordinator that year, and was co-offensive coordinator last season along with new head coach Mike Worley.

Lerma said Worley was looking for someone who might stick around Rio Rancho longer than Lerma might, so Lerma isn't a part of the Ram football program any longer. But he decided to apply for the Belen head job at the encouragement of colleagues, and now he says he's glad he did.

"I'm happy to be a part of the Belen family," said Lerma, who has yet to fully work out exactly when he'll start working directly with Belen athletes. "There's so many good things about Belen, and the program has so much potential. It's a place where whether or not kids go out for sports is a meaningful choice."

Lerma still holds a teaching position in Rio Rancho. He plans to relocate from his home in Albuquerque to Valencia County as soon as possible, and while he may need to give Rio Rancho Public Schools some notice, he said he plans to get started in Belen "as soon as possible."

While Lerma has technically been hired as the coach for the 2008-09 school year, he wants to be involved with Eagle athletes this spring as much as he can. He's hoping for a program that works hard from January to May, has an open weight room in June, then begins a rigorous off-season program in July.

He also had applied to work as a coordinator under Gadsden head coach Jim Hite.

The coach said even though Worley was unsure about Lerma being in Rio Rancho for the long term, he plans to be in Belen for a while. Lerma said watching young people develop and better themselves is what has kept him in the coaching business for so long.

"You've got to enjoy working with kids, and I still do," said Lerma, who turns 61 in July. "I'll stay in Belen as long as I can stay there."

Lerma said he believes in a strong middle-school program, which has produced many of the Eagles' standout athletes and varsity teams over the years. He also likes the single-middle-school, single-high-school arrangement of the Belen district; Rio Rancho High has an enrollment over 4,200, and Sue Cleveland High is under construction.

It's not yet clear where Lerma will teach, but he will hold a full-time position in addition to coaching football. He's certified in physical education, health education and social studies.

Lerma has also run the City of Palms Clinic in south Texas for the past 18 years. It's a coaching clinic that has drawn several well-known New Mexico coaches as speakers. One of his clinic speakers a few years back was former Los Angeles (now Oakland) Raiders coach Tom Flores.

There were seven finalists who were recommended by a committee to Danner, who then paired the list down to Newton and Lerma after meeting last week with Superintendent Dr. Patricia Rael.

Danner interviewed both Newton and Lerma on Monday, and gave a recommendation to Rael for approval for the hire of one of the two candidates. Rael approved Danner's recommendation of Lerma.

The position opened up when Kevin Benavidez resigned in January for personal reasons after eight seasons at the helm. Benavidez led the Eagles to a 36-44 mark in regular-season games, plus three playoff appearances, two playoff wins, and appearance in the 2003 Class 4A state semifinals and the 2003 District 3-4A championship.

The two candidates were picked as finalists over several individuals with strong ties to Belen, including four coaches who served under Benavidez: Michael Baca, Kevin Peña, Brian McCartney and Rance Hall.

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