Number of Black head football coaches in Albuquerque area triples with offseason hires. Meet these new program builders.

These four were hired to fill Albuquerque-area high school head football coaching vacancies. From left, David Lee, of Albuquerque Academy; LeDarrius Cage, of Valencia, Curtis Flakes of St. Pius; and Christopher Smalls, of Rio Grande.

Chancey Bush / Journal

James Yodice James Yodice James Yodice Journal Staff Writer

Published August 13, 2023 - 4:21 a.m. Modified September 16, 2024 - 2:00 a.m.

There aren’t many Black men serving as the head coach of a high school football program in New Mexico.

But that is not true of the Albuquerque metro area.

Four Black men were hired to take over metro programs during the most recent offseason. Now, 26% (6 of 23) of the 11-Man programs in the metro area now have a Black man as head coach. In a state with a Black population of less than 3%, the spike is arguably coincidental but unquestionably eye opening.

“I definitely think there are a significant amount of African Americans who may not have gotten the opportunity,” said Curtis Flakes, 41, the new head coach at St. Pius X, offering an explanation. “But I do think it’s significant that 25% of us (in the metro area) are Black coaches. It does open the gates for a lot of young Black men who aspire to be a coach.”

Flakes is the only one of the four newcomers who already has head coaching experience. He was previously the head coach at Albuquerque High (2014-15), and was one half of a historic meeting against Cibola’s Rod Williams nearly a decade ago in the city’s first matchup of two Black head prep football coaches.

Also stepping into the head coach’s office for the first time this season are LeDarrius Cage at Valencia, David Lee at Albuquerque Academy and, most recently, former Lobo Christopher Smalls at Rio Grande.

This quartet joins Del Norte’s Bruce Langston and West Mesa’s Landrick Brody as Black men serving as head coaches locally.

“I think it’s just a testament to all the hard work the four of us have put in throughout the years,” said Cage, gesturing to Smalls, Lee and Flakes sitting next to him as the men recently sat down together with the Journal for a roundtable interview.

Cage, 33, most recently had been an assistant at Cleveland. Landing the job at Valencia (he played at Los Lunas) was something of a culmination, he said, since he had interviewed for other jobs without success, saying he was passed up at Los Lunas and Capital.

“One thing I’ve been telling other people who have been trying to be a head coach is, ask ‘What do I need to do to break into head coaching?’ It’s not about coaching, it’s about program building,” Cage said. “They know you can coach. They want to know what you can do for the entire school. What you can do to help the entire school step forward.”

Cage said it probably was just coincidental that four metro schools filled their coaching vacancies with a Black man in the same offseason. But it doesn’t detract from their shared vision that their presence can have a positive influence on young, Black coaches.

“My entire time as a player, I had four Black coaches my entire life, and one of them was my dad,” Cage said. “It’s really good to be able to see men of color being leaders of programs. Guys who are younger than us, it’s good for them to see us building a program.”

Lee, 49, has been a longtime assistant both at Hope Christian (where he was on the Huskies staff when they won a Class 3A state title in 2019) and Academy before the Chargers promoted him to take over.

“I think it’s a big deal, only because we get an opportunity to influence some of these young men,” said Lee, who is a member of the international nuclear security program at Sandia National Laboratories. “They have their perception of what Black men are, but we actually have first-hand knowledge that we can provide them and give them true insight about not only what it is to be a coach, but a Black coach. That’s unique, and it’s pretty significant in that way.”

Like Cage, Lee believes it is more coincidental than not that he, Smalls, Flakes and Cage became head coaches in the same year.

Still, he said, “Even when I got that job (at Sandia Labs), I felt like you had to be extra qualified in order to get it. But at some point, you have to look at the résumé and say, ‘This guy is truly qualified.’”

There was at least one other hire of a Black man as a new head coach in New Mexico this year: Class 3A Hot Springs named former Texas-El Paso player Dennis Barnes, 23, as its new coach in June. Barnes recently graduated from UTEP.

The only other vacancy in the metro area this offseason, at Albuquerque High, was filled by Desmond Anaya.

Flakes brought in former Albuquerque High coach Tim Johnson, who is Black, to work on the St. Pius staff this year.

New Mexico high school football: Key games for Albuquerque metro teams this season

Johnson was a professional guide to Rio Grande’s Smalls, 29, who was with the University of New Mexico under Bob Davie and later played for the Duke City Gladiators.

“Tim was definitely a mentor to me,” said Smalls, who is taking on one of the most difficult and complex football jobs in the state as he tries to breathe enthusiasm into the the sport again in the South Valley. “I thank him for a lot of things. He taught me a lot. He gave me a lot on my plate, and I really enjoyed it, being at Albuquerque High and just listening.”

Rebuilding Rio Grande, he said, will take time.

“Keep it simple, stupid,” Smalls said of his message to his team. “Especially with some of these kids who have never played football a day in their life. But I told them, if we master the simple skills, it doesn’t matter, because we can win games with these simple skills.”

Cage said he frequently was told he needed to “raise (his) value as a coach,” gaining experience and knowledge and also a deeper understanding of how a football program fits into the bigger picture in a community. That football culture is a cornerstone at Cleveland, where he was coaching.

Cage said the new coaches can help bolster the confidence of younger Black coaches who want to someday put a fingerprint on their own teams.

“And I even take it a step further,” he said. “It’s not just necessarily being a Black coach. It’s being a coach in general. It’s hard to break into this as it is.”

All four men will open their seasons next week. Rio Grande is at Academy on Thursday night. St. Pius visits defending Class 4A state champion Bloomfield on Friday, and down the road from there, Valencia travels to Kirtland Central. And this quartet of men will meet up several times during the 2023 season. Valencia plays Rio Grande and St. Pius. Academy also faces St. Pius.

Lee said there is definitely a kinship between the four men as they embark on this season.

“I’ll be watching them,” he said. “I think it’s great.”

And who knows, Flakes said, how the future might be shaped.

“Having us in the position we’re in, in addition to Landrick and Bruce,” said Flakes, “will inspire other youth who look like us to continue to move forward.”