Rich Hammond out as Clovis High football coach. ‘Haven’t necessarily seen this coming’
Rich Hammond is out as the Clovis High football coach.
In a tweet, Hammond said the “Clovis High Administration has decided to hire a new Head Football Coach next season.”
Hammond said It was a surprise that he was being let go as the coach.
“Bar is set extremely high at Clovis Unified, the expectations are high,” Hammond said. “I’ve been here for a long time. We played a lot of close, competitive games as of late. We’ve been in the mix. ... You can say I’m surprised. More than anything, I’m just grateful for the opportunity.”
He said he’s proud to be part of the Clovis community and “the kids that I worked with and the effort they put forth on the field. ... I think I did a lot of positive things in the time I was here.”
Just like Clovis East where Ryan Reynolds is no longer the coach, a search will begin to find Clovis’ next football coach.
Clovis Unified spokeswoman Kelly Avants said “it’s expected that a new head coach will be identified before spring ball starts, and in the interim their athletic director will handle any head coaching responsibilities that come up, and be supported by a team effort of their existing coaching staff. Mr. Hammond is still a teacher at the school.”
Hammond took over as the Clovis coach in 2009 after three seasons at Gilroy High where he went 24-10 with two league titles and a section runner-up finish.
Hammond replaced Jerry Campbell, who went 2-19 in two seasons at Clovis.
At Clovis, Hammond led the Cougars to a 97-52 record in 13 seasons, the second-longest tenure in school history, according to section historian Bob Barnett.
Hammond led the Cougars to three Tri-River Athletic Conference titles, five semifinal appearances and one section final appearance.
The string of above-.500 records began in 2010 when the Cougars went 8-5 overall and 3-2 in the TRAC.
“I’m proud of all those things,” Hammond said. “Things are the way they are and obviously disappointed. I hope for good things at Clovis High. I appreciate the opportunity and the time I coached here. It’s been fantastic and I hope good things for the school in the future.
“I haven’t really thought what’s next for me or what I’ll do. The way I look at it right now, I’m a teacher at Clovis High and I’ll do my best job in terms of of that and continuing to do my best job in terms of being a teacher and I’ll figure out if and when the next things for me. That part I haven’t thought about. I haven’t necessarily seen this coming. My focus was to preparing for next season and improving from last season.”
This story was originally published December 1, 2021 at 12:36 PM.
