By J.T. Keith
Eastern New Mexico University’s baseball coach Chris Terry resigned abruptly August 19, citing quality of life after two seasons in Portales. Terry took the baseball coach position at Regis University in Denver, Colo.
Athletic Director Jeff Geiser moved swiftly, hiring David Gomez on September 3.
Gomez brings a wealth of experience as a recruiter with a foundation for being able to recruit the state of New Mexico and to manage a diverse group of athletes. For the past four years, he has served as an assistant coach, and recruiting coordinator at Alcorn State University, a Historically Black University that plays in the Southwest Athletic Conference. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach at Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas, for three years.
Gomez has strong ties in New Mexico, serving as an assistant coach at New Mexico Military Institute. WHEN? He served as their recruiting coordinator, and he ran the business operations for the athletic department.
During the summers, he would return to New Mexico and coach a college team in summer league.
Gomez found out about the possibility of the ENMU job coming open from New Mexico Highlands coach Steve Jones.
Jones heard a rumor that Terry might be taking a different job and told Gomez to apply.
“The whole hiring process moved pretty fast,” Gomez said.
Gomez recruited New Mexico athletes while at Alcorn State, which is in Mississippi, developing and maintaining a recruiting base in New Mexico in case he ever became a head coach.
“We will get creative with the recruiting,” Gomez said. “Obviously we are going to try to get some different type of guys to bring in here and there. We will try to pull guys from other areas, and try to get creative.”
Gomez thinks he can win with the players’ Coach Terry left behind.
He is aware of the NCAA violations and is not worried about the situation. Gomez thinks that the past is the past, and there is nothing that he can do about it.
“Our immediate goals are to control the things we can control. I would like for our defense to dictate offense,” Gomez said. “Meaning I want the pitching, and defense to be better than last year. Where we can start dictating what other offenses do against us. If we can do that, we are winning whether it’s a win or loss. I would like to get to the conference tournament.”
He would like to recruit four-year players and recruit around a 200-mile radius from Portales.
Gomez will try to get as many New Mexicans interested in playing here, especially the athletes from Farmington and Las Cruces areas.
“We will try to get back the junior college kids who go somewhere else to play,” Gomez said. “We need to try to get those kids to stay home and consider coming to ENMU and also get the high school kids who can stay in our program four years and learn our style of ball.”
Gomez and his wife Charity (Savedra) Gomez have a little boy, David III, who is 21-months-old. Gomez’s brother-in-law, Charlie Savedra, plays tight end and is a long snapper for the football team.