Former Newcomb coach Jeremy Newton takes over Shiprock football program

WINDOW ROCK – The Shiprock Chieftain athletic program filled its head football coach vacancy with the hiring of Jeremy Wooten.

Wooten, 46, replaces former head coach Anthony Clah, who headed the Chieftain program for four seasons.

The Texas native previously coached at nearby Newcomb High School for one season, in 2022, leading the Skyhawks to the District 1-3A title with an 8-3 overall record and 3-0 mark in league play. Under Wooten the Skyhawks earned a state playoff berth with West Las Vegas ending Newcomb’s season in the opening round.

Following that year in Newcomb, Wooten left the Central Consolidated School District and moved to Illinois for six months to coach at Rantoul High School before returning to the area.

“We missed it here,” Wooten said in a press conference last Thursday. “My wife loves it here and my kids are here. My daughter loves it here, so we found our way back.

“We’re blessed to land here in Shiprock,” he added.

Wooten was hired last week and he’s looking to rebuild a program that has won just five games in the past three seasons.

“Anytime a new coach takes over you want to look at the little things, the fundamentals,” Wooten said. “That is the first thing we’re going to look at when May hits. We want to make sure they’re tackling right with their heads up, knowing how to block and knowing how to catch the ball.”

To drum up interest for the football program Wooten visited with prospective student-athletes at Shiprock High prior to the scheduled press conference with his son, Daniel, 26, who will serve as an assistant coach.

The pair met with roughly 35 kids, with a handful of them being first-time players.

“Coach Daniel and I want kids that have never played before to be a part of our program,” Wooten said. “Just like any place we want to establish our culture and implement what we see fit as far as who we have and who’s not coming back.”

Building that culture will be the cornerstone of Wooten’s plans to draw interest, as the Shiprock football program struggled with numbers the past few seasons.

“One of the reasons why I wanted to get into the building is so that I can start building that relationship with these kids,” Wooten said. “Once they see that family bond that team has, they want to be a part of it. That’s the big thing about building a culture. My biggest priority here is building that culture the right way and having our kids buy into it.

“When they buy into it becomes infectious and it starts growing,” he added. “That’s where your numbers start to grow. That’s my plan (and today) I walked the halls and I talked to everybody no matter if they were males or females.”

For the previous two seasons, Shiprock played an independent schedule, playing mostly local teams. Prior to that, the Chieftains competed in District 1-4A against teams like Aztec, Bloomfield, Gallup and Kirtland Central.

For the next two-year block, the Wooten-coached team will be placed in District 1-3A. The seven-team district includes Crownpoint, Gallup, Shiprock, Thoreau, Tohatchi, Wingate and Zuni.

“The great thing about coming into this district is we played every team when we were at Newcomb,” Wooten said. “We know what the schemes they run, and we know the coaches.”

The new head coach is embracing the fact that Shiprock was placed in the newly formed district which includes a bulk of 3A teams.

“We now have something to compete for, which is the district championship, and the playoffs,” he said. “To come back to a district with teams that I’m familiar with makes it more appetizing.”

Wooten understands that his new job is a big undertaking, but he’s in it for the long run.

“We’ve taken over programs that haven’t been as successful as people would have liked,” Wooten said. “We call ourselves program builders. Sometimes you have instant success like when we were at Newcomb to where we turned it around.

“Sometimes it takes a couple of years,” Wooten continued. “With our last school in Texas we went 0-10, and built them to 2-8, 3-7 and 5-5 before moving here to New Mexico so it takes time but once that culture is built, it becomes infectious. People want to be a part of that program.”

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