Cibola turns to alum Howes to lead football program

In a way, David Howes’ coaching career came full circle on Thursday.

He had long ago been an assistant coach at Cibola High School, and his career trajectory eventually took him to Rio Rancho High, where he would coach two state championship teams, and then to the University of New Mexico, where he was a safeties coach under Danny Gonzales.

He was back in Cibola brown and gold last season as the Cougars’ defensive coordinator.

And now he is the head coach at Cibola, where he graduated in 1991, and hoping to lead a program he holds dear to his heart. Cibola announced the hire on Thursday.

“Compel is probably a good word,” Howes, 52, said of his decision to re-enter the head coaching ranks. “Compelled to try and help right the ship of somewhere I went to school. I know it’s a daunting task and it’s a tough job right now.”

Cibola was 2-8 last season, and winless the season before that.

Howes was a Cibola assistant from 2000-2003 before he left for Rio Rancho. He became the Rams’ head coach before the 2009 season. He led Rio Rancho to blue trophies in 2014 and 2016, both times with undefeated teams.

The Rams won 90 games in his 11 seasons before he stepped down to join the UNM coaching staff.

He rejoined the high school ranks last fall, joining Chris Howe. Howes said he wasn’t sure if he would continue to serve as the defensive coordinator with the Cougars.

Of more immediate concern was building up Cibola’s participation numbers, particularly in a district where the Cougars have been dominated for over a decade by Cleveland, Rio Rancho and Volcano Vista.

“I think after spending a year (as the DC), we showed some progress in certain areas,” Howes said. “We have a bunch of kids who are working hard to win.”

Howes said the number of students getting involved in football at Cibola “is slowly starting to increase,” adding that he would work the hallways looking to recruit top athletes.

Another priority, he said, was to find a way to get Cibola back into the playoffs as soon as possible, even as the Cougars look to close the gap on their district rivals.

“Item No. 1,” Howes said. His first assistant coaching job came at West Mesa in the mid-1990s, before his first stint at Cibola. “You have to come up with attainable goals.”