Mitch McLemore, a longtime Texas high school football coach with connections to several Big Country-area schools, died Saturday at the age of 60.
McLemore previously served as the head coach at Big Spring, Haskell, Junction and Stamford during a decorated high school football coaching career that spanned more than three decades.
His 33-year high school football coaching career featured numerous stops at several West Texas and Big Country-area schools.
McLemore — an Olney, Texas, native — grew up in Stamford as the son of a high school football coach and later graduated from Archer City High School in 1984. He also attended Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1989.
He took his first high school coaching job at Bryson in the early 1990s before eventually jumping to Munday in 1992 and then Archer City in 1995.
The veteran coach added more stops across the Big Country during the early years of his coaching career with stints as an assistant football and track and field coach at Big Spring, Knox City and Stamford throughout the late 1990s, 2000s and early 2010s.
He played a pivotal role in back-to-back UIL state championships at Stamford in 2012 and 2013 when he served as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator on Wayne Hutchinson’s coaching staff.
McLemore accepted his first head coaching job in 2014 when he took over Junction’s football program.
He followed up his time in Junction with two-year stints as the head coach at Big Spring (2017-18) and Petrolia (2019-20).
McLemore’s most recent Big Country-area coaching gig, though, started in 2021 when he took the reins at Haskell.
In four years as Haskell’s head football coach from 2021 through 2024, he guided the Indians to a 17-25 record with three playoff appearances.
After his first season in Haskell, McLemore was diagnosed with Stage 4 esophageal cancer in December 2021.
He retired from Haskell ISD in March 2025 with a 48-72 career record in 11 seasons as a Texas high school football coach.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Former Haskell, Big Spring football coach Mitch McLemore dies at 60
Reporting by Andrew McCulloch, Abilene Reporter-News / Abilene Reporter-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Andrew McCulloch, Abilene Reporter-News | USA TODAY Network
