Armando Quiroz Named Head Softball Coach
at Eastern New Mexico University

PORTALES, N.M. — Eastern New Mexico University has hired Flowing Wells High School (Tucson, Ariz.) head coach Armando Quiroz (are-MON-do KEE-rows) to be the head coach of the Zia softball team. Quiroz, age 55, spent the past six years as the head coach at Flowing Wells, where he led the team to two Class 5A state championships and one Class 4A state championship, while qualifying for the playoffs every season.

Quiroz will begin his duties immediately. He replaces Kevin Blaskowski, who was head coach for a year and a half, before leaving to become the head coach of the new softball program at West Texas A&M University. WTAMU will compete for the first time during the 2006 season.

“We’re thrilled to have found such a talented and successful coach during our midyear search to fill the softball coaching position,” ENMU Athletic Director Mike Maguire said. “Coach Quiroz has experienced great success at the high school level in one of the nation’s top areas for fastpitch softball. We are pleased to have him join our staff, and we’re confident in his ability to lead our team in the challenging Lone Star Conference South Division.”

Quiroz achieved a career record of 161-42-1 (.792) at Flowing Wells. His teams won three state championships, lost in the quarterfinals twice and fell in the semifinals once. Flowing Wells won the Class 4A title in 1999 at 29-6, then claimed Class 5A titles in 2000 with a 30-5 record and in 2002 with a 25-10-1 mark. The team advanced to the state semifinals in 2004 and reached the quarterfinals in 2001 and 2003. In March of 2001, Flowing Wells was ranked #1 in the nation by ESPN.com. Quiroz was chosen Arizona Coach of the Year in 1999, 2000 and 2002.

“It’s been a dream of mine to get into the college level, and this was a great opportunity for me,” Quiroz said. “I was just happy to take it ... I’m glad to be a part of the Eastern New Mexico University family and I’m really looking forward to it.”

At Flowing Wells, Quiroz also taught social studies. He was the junior varsity coach for the 1997 season, and was the assistant varsity coach in 1998, before assuming head coaching duties for the 1999 season. During his seasons as an assistant coach, he worked under Mark Lumley, who left Flowing Wells to be an assistant coach at Louisiana State University and is now an assistant coach at Baylor University. According to Quiroz, Lumley left Flowing Wells with a tradition of winning and a solid nucleus for the 1999 season.

“The high school ... was a traditional power,” Quiroz said. “So I just maintained what they were doing. I had some great players. I think my first year we had seven (future NCAA) Division I players in our starting lineup and we won the state championship.”

It might seem a daunting task to take over a college team just weeks from start of the season, especially with ENMU competing in the tough LSC South Division, but Quiroz feels certain that his experience at Flowing Wells has prepared him well. He is happy to accept the challenge of coaching in a conference that sent ENMU to the NCAA Division II National Finals in 2001 and started Angelo State University on its way to the National Championship last season.

Quiroz said when he was at FWHS “... every other team was loaded, too ... We had to work hard just to get out of our conference. Our conference was brutal ... then we’d go to the State level and dominate ... it was much tougher in our conference.”

His 2001 team won the prestigious Tournament of Champions in Bullhead City, Ariz. The tournament title vaulted Flowing Wells into the #1 spot on ESPN.com, after FWHS downed the previous #1 team, Foothill High School from Tustin, Calif., in the finals.

As a high school coach, Quiroz placed eleven former players on NCAA Division I teams, while one player signed with an NCAA Division II team and twelve players later competed at the junior college level. Quiroz also has coaching experience in the Amateur Softball Association (ASA), where he coached Under-14 up to Under-18 Gold teams for seven seasons before joining the coaching staff at Flowing Wells. He worked as a key grip in the movie industry for 18 years.

ENMU went 38-14-1 on its way to the National Finals in 2001, as the Zias won the LSC South title at 12-2, took second place at the LSC Tournament and won the NCAA South Central Regional. The Zias slipped to 29-22 in 2002, and have been below .500 the past two seasons.

Many of Eastern’s struggles may be credited to three coaching changes since the middle of 2002-03. Kathleen Rodriguez accepted the head coaching position at the University of Texas at El Paso in January of 2003. Ron Landschoot served as interim head coach in 2003, as the Zias went 24-29. Blaskowski was hired late that spring, but had limited time to build a recruiting class. Last year, the Zias lacked offensive power and finished 11-36 overall, 1-19 in the LSC South.

Blaskowski put together a quality recruiting class this past spring, and has encouraged the entire team to remain at ENMU. Quiroz is pleased with what he’s seen at his first two practices, and hopes to eventually build his squad around speed and defense.

“I’m a big believer in speed,” he said. “Speed, pitching and defense. Offense is great, but defense is your constant. If you’re solid on defense, you’re going to go a long way. Speed ... it just creates havoc (for other teams).”

ENMU opens the season Feb. 4-5 at the Angelo State Classic. The Zias will play their first home games on Feb. 19 against Western New Mexico University.