Mike McGaha hired as new Carlsbad High School's new baseball coach for 2024
Carlsbad High School's new baseball head coach Mike McGaha said the hard work and blue-collar mentality exhibited by the Cavemen program fits in with previous coaching experiences in New Mexico and Texas.
He was named head coach of the program on June 13 after former coach Cody May announced he was stepping down, said Greg Haston, Carlsbad Municipal Schools (CSM) athletics director.
Haston said May wanted to spend more time with his family and owns a construction business that keeps him busy.
Carlsbad has won 12 state titles and this past season the Cavemen — the 2022 defending 5A state champions — were eliminated from the quarterfinals of the state tournament by Las Cruces Centennial.
McGaha has coached for 25 years, 23 in New Mexico and two years in Texas, Haston said.
McGaha started coaching junior varsity baseball at Portales High School after he graduated from Eastern New Mexico University.
He moved to Deming and left New Mexico in 2000. He coached in Texas for two years before moving to his hometown of Farmington in 2002.
McGaha was an assistant baseball coach at Farmington High School for seven years where the Scorpions won four state titles.
Winning followed McGaha to cross-town rival Piedra Vista where the Panthers won four state titles and took second place twice.
More: Carlsbad Cavemen seek to remain unbeaten against Cibola during state baseball playoffs
For the past five years, he served as an assistant at La Cueva High School in Albuquerque.
McGaha has an overall coaching record of 209-62. The new head coach said he does not plan to rebuild the culture and expectations that Cavemen baseball fans are accustomed to.
“I’m not trying to change the toughness and aggressiveness of the confidence with the brand of baseball I teach,” he said.
Haston said Carlsbad and McGaha are no strangers to baseball success.
“Over the nine seasons at the helm with the Panthers (Piedra Vista) they signed over 50 players to (college) letters of intent and five Major League Baseball (MLB) draft picks,” he said.
One player drafted that McGaha coached was Los Angeles Angels pitcher Chase Silseth. He was taken in the 11th round of the 2021 draft, according to the Angels website.
Over the past 30 years, Carlsbad had former Cavemen drafted by MLB including, Shane Andrews, Cody Ross and Trevor Rogers.
“It’s a very small number of schools working at getting kids drafted (at the MLB level),” McGaha said.In addition to coaching, Haston said McGaha will teach sports medicine in the Carlsbad Municipal Schools
Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Mike McGaha new Carlsbad High School baseball coach for 2024
