New Mexico's Wooten 'really excited' to take over Rantoul football

Jun. 10—NEWCOMB, N.M. — There are plenty of ways someone can search out a new job these days. Jeremy Wooten recently used one of those.

The workload Wooten took on at Newcomb High School in New Mexico began proving too cumbersome. He was looking for a change. But Wooten's wife, he said, didn't want to return to Texas, where the family had lived before moving to New Mexico.

"I actually was born in Goshen, Indiana. My dad was a preacher at Purdue the first four or five years of my life," Wooten said. "I said (to my wife), 'What are some states you'd want to go to?'"

They determined Illinois as an option.

"I'm like, 'Hey, I'll Google Illinois head football coaching positions,'" Wooten said. "I looked and was able to land a spot with Rantoul ... and I'll be heading up that way, and I'm looking forward to it."

Wooten was confirmed last month as the Eagles' new football coach. He replaces Scott Quinlan, who stepped down from the job after one season.

"I'm really excited," said Wooten, who is driving with his wife, daughter and all of their belongings from New Mexico to Illinois beginning on Sunday. "I'm going to hit the ground running. A week from Monday is when I plan to start my contact days."

Wooten, 46, will take over a Rantoul program that hasn't won a varsity game since Oct. 5, 2018 and has had six coaches since the program's last winning season in 2005.

"Every team I've taken over has been in that same situation. I think that's maybe what I've been called to do," Wooten said. "I may never win a state championship. Maybe my job is to fix programs and put them on the right track."

Wooten, who played basketball at Ellison High School in Texas when former Illinois men's assistant Billy Gillespie oversaw its varsity team, is an Air Force veteran who spent time stationed in both New Mexico and California.

Amid his military career, Wooten began coaching his son in youth football and baseball. Daniel Wooten, now 25, eventually served as a high school football assistant coach under his father.

"I ended up falling in love with it and changed my (college) degree to something that would help me teach and coach one day," Jeremy Wooten said. "I moved back to Texas (later) ... and got in with a youth (football) organization in Texas."

It was in Texas where Wooten received his first high school coaching gig in Chester, about 100 miles northeast of Houston. Wooten was an assistant on a winless Yellowjackets squad in 2016 before leading the team to one win in 2017 and two victories in 2018.

He then moved to Paint Rock High, nearly 200 miles northwest of San Antonio, and began working as the Indians' football coach and athletic director.

Wooten propelled Paint Rock football from a winless 2018 season to earning two wins in 2019, two more victories in 2020 and five triumphs in 2021.

New Mexico's Newcomb High, which is part of Navajo Nation, came calling before its 2022 football season. Wooten said he wanted to return to the state after being stationed there previously.

The Skyhawks went 2-8 in 2021.

"I came in my first day and said (to the athletes), 'Give me three words that describe this team.' It was like, 'Embarrassing, losers.' And I said, 'Remember that,'" Wooten said. "They ended up buying in."

Newcomb compiled an 8-3 record last fall, including an unbeaten mark in district play.

"My culture I like is family," Newcomb said.

But Wooten only planned to be a football coach and physical education teacher at Newcomb. When he later was asked to be the Skyhawks' athletic director, it led to him worrying about burnout. Thus the search began that ultimately connected him with Rantoul. Wooten trekked to east central Illinois late last month to meet in-person with some of his future football players.

"I want my kids to buy into, we're a family. We look out for each other," Wooten said. "Even if we go 1-8, 2-7 the first two years as the culture grows and the kids are learning, we're making memories and (football) doesn't feel like something we have to do.

"It's something we get to do. It's something fun. When kids start to (see) that, that's when success starts happening."

Rantoul athletic director Chris Dryer said all but two of the assistant coaches who worked alongside Quinlan last season will return to coach with Wooten.

"Especially with me coming in in the middle of June, I'm not expecting instant change," Wooten said, "but I do think there's an opportunity there."

Wooten describes his past teams' offensive strategy as "ground and pound," with an emphasis on single- and double-wing shotgun looks. He said his viewing of Rantoul's film from last season showed him similarities between his concepts and what the Eagles ran on offense.

"Based on what I know, the (Illini Prairie) conference we're in is one of the better ones in the state. It's going to be tough, but that's the best thing," Wooten said. "You want to go against people that are as good as or better than you. It makes you better in the long run."