Mark McAfee, who served as defensive coordinator for Portales last season, accepted the promotion to head coach this week. McAfee also coached the Rams in 1997. The vacancy came open when Andy Correll accepted a coaching position in Vernon, Texas.

Officials at Portales High School felt Mark McAfee was ready to be a head coach again.

A few days later, McAfee agreed.

McAfee on Monday accepted the football coaching position at the Class 3A school.

He replaces Andy Correll, who went 24-25 over four years with the Rams.

McAfee served as defensive coordinator under Correll and Glenn Johnson, Correll’s predecessor.

“He’s been an assistant for 17 years for Portales football, worked under four different head coaches,” Portales High School Principal Melvin Nusser said. “Mr. (Superintendent Randy) Fowler and I felt Iike if he wanted it, he could take it and go right on with it.”

This isn’t McAfee’s first time in the role. He was the coach for the 1997 season before Johnson was hired. The 1-9 season he had was a combination of many factors, but McAfee said the biggest was that, “I don’t think I was as experienced as I needed to be.”

Nusser said the difficulty in replacing a football coach in the summer wasn’t a factor, as several calls were fielded following Correll’s resignation last week. Correll took a head coaching position in Vernon, Texas.

“There won’t be any adjustment for the kids,” Nusser said. “They’re working out 15 or 20 of them in the morning, then working out about 15 to 20 more in the evening.”

Nusser and Fowler met with McAfee last Thursday, and McAfee accepted after thinking the job over for the weekend.

Portales won the Class 3A state title in 2008, but heavy graduation losses hurt the squad. The Rams went 3-7 last season.

“We were really, really young last year,” McAfee said. “We get all those kids back.”

The vacancy in the assistant coaching staff will likely be filled with an outside hire, McAfee said. The school has to fill a science teaching position previously held by Correll, and officials are hopeful a coaching position can be tied to it.

“Coach (Chris) Bachicha’s going to help me with the offensive side,” McAfee said. “Coach (Arturo) Ontiveros is going to step up on the defensive side. I think we’ve got all the pieces in place.”