Wayland Baptist Pioneers have a new head coach after defensive coordinator Marcos Hinojos was selected to lead the team.
Wayland Baptist Director of Athletics Jim Giacomazzi said. “I believe Coach Hinojos will do a fantastic job. I’m very pleased with where he wants to take the football program, both on the field and in the classroom. Change begins with how a student-athlete thinks. This philosophy is very much in line with the mission of the university.”
Hinojos has coached at Wayland since 2015, first as linebackers coach before being elevated to defensive coordinator. He has served as interim head coach since Butch Henderson resigned in late November.
Giacomazzi said Hinojos was selected after a national search that resulted in more than 60 applicants.
A 1986 graduate of Lorenzo High School, Hinojos was a middle linebacker at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, New Mexico, from 1986-91. He spent 23 years as a defensive coordinator at Lubbock Coronado, Wichita Falls Rider, Plainview, Kermit and Fort Stockton high schools, and an offensive coordinator at Lorenzo High School. He also served as athletics director and head football coach for four years at Plainview High prior to coming to Wayland.
Hinojos’ defenses have been considered among the toughest in the Sooner Athletic Conference, producing numerous all-conference selections and league-leading tacklers, including linebacker Casey Buck last season.
Hinojos and wife Jessica, a second-grade teacher at Plainview North Elementary School, have three children, all of whom were student-athletes at Wayland, with Marcos Jr. now on the WBU coaching staff.
Hinojos will be the second person to lead the Pioneers on the field after Henderson headed the program the previous 11 seasons, since Wayland restarted its football program in 2012 after a 72-year hiatus.