Carlsbad has a new head football coach – Oliver Soukop. Soukop participated in a meet and greet Wednesday at the high school cafeteria. He also had a chance to meet with the Cavemen this week.
For the past seven years, he has been a member of the NMSU Aggie football staff, where he served as an assistant head coach, linebacker coach and special team coordinator. In 2017, he helped lead NMSU to its first bowl game in 57 years. Soukop was also a four year letterman for the Aggies in 1997-2000. Soukop is married with four children. His wife, Kristin, is a nurse. We welcome Coach Soukop and his family to this community and look forward to visiting with him soon. The off-season football program actually begins next week.
It’s a big week for Carlsbad on the basketball court as well. The Cavemen and Cavegirls will both be battling undefeated (in district) Hobbs on Friday. If Carlsbad (4-1) wins either game, the two teams will play again for the district championship on Feb. 21. The district tournament will begin next week. Carlsbad’s boys are on the road and the girls are at home. The Cavemen defeated the Roswell High Coyotes, 49-31, last week. The Cavegirls beat Roswell, 28-25.
In wrestling, the Carlsbad Cavemen will be sending 13 athletes to compete in this year’s state tournament in Albuquerque this weekend. Eleven of those athletes placed first place in their district competition. One Cavegirl, Danica Medina, also qualified for the state meet. Best of luck to all of the Cavemen and Cavegirls.
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Legislative update: Senate Bill 137 has cleared the Senate Floor (over the weekend) and the House Tax Committee (on Wednesday). This bill creates a destination-based sourcing safety net fund. This will assist communities such as Carlsbad and Hobbs who are losing millions of dollars a year due to changes in the tax code, which resulted in gross receipts tax being based on where a service takes place. This change is making it much more difficult for us to provide services to all of our residents, and we’re already seeing a major impact. We are up in Santa Fe working on this critical issue, and Senator Gay Kernan and members of our legislative delegation are doing everything they can to assist us.
The bill’s final next will be the House floor. We will keep you posted on developments related to this bill during these final few hours of this year’s legislative session.
Sincerely, Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway