Crownpoint retains Chris Murphy as football coach

WINDOW ROCK

Crownpoint football coach Chris Murphy starts his third season at the helm when the Eagles host Pojoaque Valley on Friday night for its season opener.

After that the Eagles will hit the road with games at Montezuma-Cortez (Aug. 29), Socorro (Sept. 5) and Navajo Prep (Sept. 11).

“We’re looking forward to what we have on our schedule,” Murphy said. “Pojoaque is coming to us, and they have some speed, so that’s going to be a good matchup for us. After that we’ll go to Cortez, and they were pretty tough last year and they’re going to be pretty physical.”

The game with Socorro is another matchup that Murphy expects his team to be tested as Socorro was ranked No. 4 in the 3A preseason rankings conducted by Maxpreps.com.

“They’re going to be pretty tough, and it will help with our strength of schedule,” Murphy said.

The Eagles will then finish out the nondistrict season with Navajo Prep as the two teams have developed quite the rivalry. In 2022, Crownpoint pulled out a 42-36 win. The past two seasons, Navajo Prep came out on top with 28-26 win in 2023 and last season the final score was 34-28 in favor of the Farmington-based team.

“The last two years, we lost, and it’s been within a score,” Murphy said. “If we scored, we would have won the game. Now, we’re looking to come back and get that ‘W’ in Week Four.”

And while Murphy will be manning the sidelines this fall, he almost didn’t get his contract renewed earlier this year. The school principal was looking to replace him, so some of the current team members put up an online petition to retain Murphy as their coach.

“We were at a welding competition in Albuquerque (in March) and we got notification saying that our coach was probably not able to come back,” said Crownpoint senior Austin Begay, who started the petition. “I was kind of upset because we were doing very well under him. He’s not just our football coach, he’s someone that has believed in us and has continuously encouraged us to become better players and responsible young men.”

According to Begay, the petition had 563 signatures and they sent that to the Gallup McKinley County Schools district office.

“At first we were going around Crownpoint looking for people to sign our petition,” Begay said. “There were people willing to sign it, but we got our parents involved. I was very surprised that we got a lot of people to support us in us trying to keep our coach.”

The principal at Crownpoint High was eventually replaced and Murphy was rehired in mid-June.

“This is what the kids wanted,” Murphy said. “They were very vocal in what they wanted. It just goes to show that we were able to come together and work together. It shows that we’re moving in the right direction as a team and organization.”

Crownpoint junior Kory Harvey was ecstatic to have Murphy back as he described the spring months a bit hairy, not knowing if they were going to have summer workouts.

“It feels good to have him back,” Harvey said. “The connection that we have with our coach is there, so we have that bond with him. We wanted him to be on the field with us because he’s a person that we look up to.”

Last season, Crownpoint finished the year at 5-5 overall and 4-2 in District 1-3A behind district champ Thoreau (9-3, 6-0) and runner-up Tohatchi (7-3, 5-1) in the seven-team district.

“Tohatchi surprised us last year and they came out pretty tough,” Murphy said. “They were able to beat us, and they were pretty young last year. I know Tohatchi has been working, and they’re going to be contenders.

“Same with Thoreau,” he added. “They lost quite a bit of players, but they had like 60 kids on the sidelines, so I’m pretty sure they know who’s filling what.”

With those two frontrunners, Murphy is hoping his team can finish right behind them.

“It’s tough to say where we’ll finish,” he said. “You never know what can happen. Gallup has a new coach, and we’ll see what direction they’ll be moving with. Shiprock hired Doug Ballard and he’s going to bring some new energy to Shiprock.

“Wingate is looking great with its passing game,” he continued. “They did lose a few seniors, but they have guys to replace them. I think they’re going to be dangerous throughout the season.”

As for his club, Murphy is returning most of his linemen and a few skills players.

“That’s going to be the heart of the team,” the Crownpoint coach said of his linemen. “We lost one senior on the line, but we got some underclassmen that played really well last year, so we’re going to replace that senior spot.”

Offensively, the Eagles did graduate Lavontae Robinson, the main quarterback from last year’s squad.

“We were already prepping for that this year, so we’re going to pick up right where we left off,” Murphy said. “We’re going to be that team running the ball again.”

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