Gordon Adds Former San Angelo Colts Manager, Central Coach to Staff

GORDON, TX — Tiny Gordon High School has put together an all-star coaching staff for the upcoming season, and three of the new hires have a connection to Tom Green County.

Toby Rumfield, Kevin Pope and Nathan Hayes are all recent additions with impressive resumes at the Class 1A school about 65 miles west of Fort Worth.

Rumfield served as the manager of the San Angelo Colts minor league baseball team in 2004 before finishing the season as a player for the team.

Rumfield was drafted in the second round of the 1991 MLB Draft by the Cincinnati Reds and spent four seasons at the Triple A level. He also played for Team USA in the 2003 Baseball World Cup.

In addition to stints as a minor league manager, he also coached high school baseball at Temple and Denton.

He’ll inherit a Gordon baseball team that lost in the 1A state final last season.

Pope had a successful run as the head boys basketball coach at San Angelo Central from 1996 to 2006, winning 170 games during that time.

Among the highlights was a 24-win season in the 1999-2000 campaign and a 29-win season the following year.

Pope has had numerous stops in a 32-year coaching career, including Petersburg, Crane, Grandview, Forney, Paradise, Weatherford and Strawn — winning more than 600 games along the way.

It’s unclear if he’ll coach the boys or girls basketball teams at Gordon, though he has coached both over the years. Gordon’s No. 1-ranked girls lost in the state semifinals last year to eventual state champion Nazareth, while the No. 2-ranked boys lost in the area round to eventual state champion Jayton.

The final addition to Gordon’s staff was Nathan Hayes as an assistant football coach. It’s one heck of a hire considering Hayes is a four-time state champion who led Crowell (2013 and ‘14) and Benjamin (2022 and ‘23) to back-to-back crowns.

Hayes also guided Water Valley to the state quarterfinals in 2021.

Hayes will bring his son, Keegan, who ran for 1,959 yards and 55 touchdowns last season, along with 1,443 passing yards and 25 TDs. He also had seven interceptions on defense.

Gordon has won 44 straight games and three consecutive state titles under head coach Mike Reed, but the Longhorns looked as if they might drop a bit after graduating three NCAA Division I players — Stryker Reed (Air Force), Ry Reed (Army) and Brayden Walters (Navy) — along with Asher Salinas, who committed to run track at D-II Lubbock Christian.

However, it appears Gordon has reloaded again to make a run at another state championship.