Apr. 13—Like any number of his peers, Angel Castillo found guidance and comfort in the New Mexico High School Coaches Association.
"I really value the organization," the 48-year-old Silver City native said. "It has helped build me to be the person I am, the coach, the father, the teacher."
Castillo is the new face of the NMHSCA.
The longtime Cleveland High softball coach recently was made the permanent executive director of the association. He replaces Buster Mabrey, who died late last year. Castillo was given a three-year-contract by the NMHSCA's board of directors.
"I think Angel is gonna be great. He's got the right temperament for it," said Roswell High football coach Jeff Lynn, who is the incoming president of the association later this year. "He has the respect of anybody who knows (him)."
The NMHSCA board voted to make Castillo the permanent replacement for Mabrey at a meeting last month.
"I think he'll do great," said Roy Sanchez, the longtime Eldorado High boys basketball coach who is a former president of the NMHSCA and still serves on the group's executive committee. "The board unanimously gave him a thumbs-up."
Castillo already had long been at Mabrey's side within the association, for roughly the last decade, in something of a sports director capacity.
And when eventually the NMHSCA needed to find Mabrey's successor, Castillo made it clear he wanted to be that person, and the association was equally interested to make this match.
"I have a passion for our organization and I want to make sure we continue that," he said.
Castillo said his plan is to continue to coach Cleveland softball (he took over in 2011 and led the Storm to a state championship in 2021), but said it's possible he'd be leaving his teaching position at the school in order to focus on his new duties with the NMHSCA.
He has been a coach going on 28 years. He is a former football and baseball coach at Mayfield and coached softball and football at Silver. His experience certainly factored into his being elevated to executive director, a job that requires zealous commitment to the prosperity of the state's wide variety of communities and coaches.
"I think he's gonna do a great job," said Cleveland High baseball coach Shane Shallenberger, who shares an office with Castillo.
Castillo and Mabrey go back a ways, to coaching football together at Mayfield under Hall of Famer Jim Bradley, and said his friendship and work partnership with Mabrey were of benefit when the board inquired of Castillo's interest in taking on the position.
"It was an honor, honestly, to be asked to do it," the outgoing and approachable Castillo said. Trivia note: Castillo was the first varsity football coach at Atrisco Heritage when that school opened. "It's something that I feel strongly about."
Lynn said the timing and the chemistry both made Castillo the right man for the NMHSCA.
"If we had hired somebody from the outside, it would have been hard for (that person) to come in and learn," Lynn said. "We felt the continuity of the whole thing was best for us at this time."
Castillo attended Silver High and Western New Mexico.
He has for the last three years been the Red/Green All-Star sports director, helping to get games organized. Enhancing the all-star experience for athletes was long a passion project for Mabrey during his tenure, and one of the most important changes to occur was to move these contests to the week following the end of that sport's season, rather than stage them the following spring or summer.
The NMHSCA also by and large is tasked with gathering votes and then releasing ...
