New West Texas High School head football coach Hunter Ashley is staring down an eight-hour move, but he isn’t fazed one bit.
“I tell people a lot of times, if you coach long enough and you really chase it, you get to a point where you’re not really from anywhere,” Ashley said. “I’ve got some West Texas roots. I’m from the Concho Valley. My wife and I went to school at Texas Tech, but since then we’ve been everywhere.”
Ashley spent the last four years as Marshall’s defensive coordinator.
So, with location concerns out the window, Ashley, who spent the last four years as Marshall’s defensive coordinator in East Texas, had one thing on his mind.
“I wanted to go somewhere where the expectations on me and our staff are going to be high,” Ashley said. “I want winning to be important.”
Consider that box checked.
Ashley was officially approved by the school board as West Texas High’s new head coach on Wednesday, as first reported by Kale Steed. The Comanches are coming off a 14-1 season in which they made it to the state semifinals for the first time since 1995.
“It’s an extremely special opportunity,” Ashley said. “There’s a lot of these jobs that you take where you walk in, and you’ve got to kind of start from scratch. That’s obviously not the case.”
The Comanches will have to replace their starting quarterback, who was also their leading tackler, along with their starting running back and 6’7” 345-pound lineman Deacon Smith.
Still, there are plenty of returners to be excited about. Leading receiver and starting linebacker Zach Bryant (625 receiving yards, 110 tackles) is back as are starting offensive linemen Ty Buck and Aramis Purell and playmaking receiver/defensive back Jasper Rippetoe, who missed much of last year due to injury.
Ashley will get the chance to meet those players on Monday. It will be his first speech as a high school football head coach.
Marshall allowed just 16.8 points per game this past season under Ashley’s leadership.
He’s spent the last four years at 5A Marshall. He’s also had stops as an assistant at Cuero, Ferris, La Vernia, and Crane. In all, he has 13 years of coaching experience, including three years under state championship-winning coach Jack Alvarez, who helped shape his coaching philosophy.
“Jack Alvarez used to say this all the time, ‘If you want to be tough, you’ve got to be tough.’ Don’t overcomplicate it,” Ashley said. “We’re going to be physical. Defensively, we’re going to line up right, we’re going to play with outstanding leverage, and we’re going to be violent.”
West Texas High will need to pack a punch this year. The Comanches are dropping down from 2A Division I to 2A Division II, joining a district that includes fellow 2025 state semifinalist Gruver and 2021 state champion Stratford.
But after last year’s success, the Comanches won’t back down from a challenge as Ashley looks to continue to mold them into a program that will be West Texas tough just like the town of Stinnett.
“I’m just going to tell them that I’ve admired them from afar. I think they did an outstanding job last year,” Ashley said. “If they’ll work hard and they’ll buy into what we’re going to sell, we have the chance to be successful yet again.”
