Joey Fernandez has a lot on his plate this week, but letās throw one more item on his to-do list ā not that heās taking requests from outside sources as he prepares for the biggest game of the season.
As Fernandez spends a third straight Thanksgiving preparing the Horsemen for the Class 3A football championship game against the Dexter Demons on Saturday, the last thing on his mind is thinking of the future beyond this weekend.
So, letās do that for him.
Regardless of whether St. Michaelās beats Dexter for the 3A title, Fernandez has long since created a legacy that will cast a shadow on his successor. With a win, he will accomplish something no other Horsemen head coach has done ā winning consecutive state titles (at least during the āmodernā football era, according to the New Mexico Activities Association). With as young a team returning for 2025, St. Michaelās will no doubt be the favorite to make it a three-peat.
Fernandez is a coach who has won over 200 games at his alma mater, broke a 31-yard championship drought when he led the Horsemen to the 2003 title and has claimed three more blue trophies since then. Thatās a pretty remarkable rĆ©sumĆ© that he will only continue to pad while he stays there.
And we havenāt even talked about the track-and-field success Fernandez accumulated. He is a surefire inductee into the New Mexico High School Coaches Associationās Hall of Honor if he ended his coaching career Sunday.
But is it time for Fernandez to start thinking about a life beyond the blue and white? Oh, you can see where this is going, donāt you?
Yes.
If Fernandez needs a challenge, why not just park his butt in the football office of the host school for Saturdayās game ā Santa Fe High? It makes perfect sense.
Fernandez proved beyond a shadow of a doubt he is one of the best coaches in the state, and probably the best coach Northern New Mexico has ever seen. And what better way to cap a remarkable career than by doing what many believe is impossible ā to make Santa Fe High relevant in football?
Itās not like he hasnāt had this opportunity before. The job has opened up four times since he took over the Horsemen program in 2002, and he never gave it a second thought.
So, why this time?
Well, timing is everything.
If there was ever a moment for him to seriously consider the job, this is it. The Demonsā ex-coach, Andrew Martinez, left the program in a good place when he resigned. There were more than 100 players in the program, providing a lot of bodies to evaluate if all of those players return. And is there any reason those Demons wouldnāt want to play for him, especially since Martinez was Fernandezās defensive coordinator until he took the Demons job in 2017?
He would have good facilities at his fingertips ā not that he lacks that at St. Michaelās ā and his track record would also help him fill his assistant coaching positions.
Oh, and he has a competitive streak a mile-wide and a marathon-long. Consider that he has lost to Santa Fe High just three times and fellow city rival Capital once in 22 seasons.
The biggest challenge for Fernandez at Santa Fe High is more cultural than anything else. When a program has just three winning seasons over the past 38 years, it develops a fatalistic outlook. Martinezās second-biggest problem was getting his players to shake off bad plays and just focus on the next one.
How many times during his tenure did the Demons put themselves in good situations ā putting the opposing teamās offense in a third-and-long situation or moving the ball into scoring territory ā only to see things unravel? Far too often. Even his pedigree of piloting championship defenses at St. Michaelās could not activate that āfightā response in those āfight or flightā moments.
Perhaps Fernandez can do that. Heās used to success in those moments, and maybe he can transmit the spark the Demons so desperately need.
Maybe the best reason for him to consider Santa Fe High now is this: relegation. The NMAA instituted the policy that allows struggling programs ā those with a winning percentage of 20% or less over the previous four-year period ā to move down a class in the hopes of helping them get back on their feet. The Demons are 5-25 over the past three years. Barring a winning season, they will likely have the option to move down to 5A.
That would give the next coach one year in 6A before getting at least two years down a level, which might be the elixir to heal the program.
When Ray Holladay was the head coach from 2009-16, the Demons played in 4A of a five-classification system from 2010-13. During that time, they won 19 games and reached the playoffs the last two seasons. Santa Fe High moved up to 6A in 2014 when the state added a sixth class, it went 4-6 in the first season before struggling over Holladayās last two seasons.
If the program went down to 5A, Fernandez could start changing that culture and maybe get the Demons to the playoffs. It might provide the boost Santa Fe High needs to be successful if and when it moves up to 6A again.
And what better way to cap a sterling coaching career than by turning around a program some around the state call a āgraveyard?ā
Or he could stay for as long as he wants at St. Michaelās, win more state titles and create a legacy that will be the envy of any coach.
Especially the one who takes over Santa Fe High.