DHS Welcomes New Baseball Coach

The new baseball coach at Durango High School is working to put his fingerprint on the program. You're watching the Local News Network, brought to you by Tafoya Barrett and Associates and Sky Ute Casino, I'm Connor Shreve. Mason Hibbeler comes to Durango High School from Houston, Texas. He says his move to the Four Corners was intentional.

I had a facility that was one of the top-grossing facilities in Houston for individual training with baseball, and my wife looked at me when we got married and she's like, "How do we move out here?" So sure enough, got online, the head baseball coach job was open, so reached out to the administration, and one thing led to another, and I was on my way back up here for an interview and luckily, it all fell through, so ready to get things going out here.

His coaching path wasn't nearly as intentional. During his Division-1 playing career at the University of Texas, Hibbeler never thought about instruction.

I had somebody approach me in Austin about running a facility, and just kind of fell in love with it and have been studying the game ever since, worked with a bunch of great players down in Texas and that allowed me to help grow my business down there, and... Which allowed me to end up here.

Hibbeler moved to Durango with his wife in December, and despite it not being baseball weather just yet, he's already feeling the buy-in from his players.

Guys are starting to show up here at Choice Athletics a lot more, there's a little bit of excitement with myself coming in, this is what I've done full-time once I got out of college, so it's really just the consistency of them kind of figuring out who they are as a player and maximizing that.

As a Big 12 conference champion and College World Series starter, Hibbeler has been around his share of high-end baseball. He wants to shape the Demons roster to maximize the player's strengths.

I want to bring a new style in this year, teach 'em a lot, everybody out here is extremely athletic, I think that's part of the terrain they grow up in, so I'm really excited to help tweak some stuff, teach 'em, you know, about the game and see where that goes on the field, so I really want the team to be an attraction.

With tryouts at the end of February, the next month could go a long way to shaping the roster. Hibbeler is holding open practices at the high school every morning starting at 6:00.

When we have these open practices, anybody that's enrolled at the school is more than welcome to come on out. It's not mandatory for guys that have been a part of the program, but it's a clean slate, so that's the thing that I bring, I don't know anybody here, so I'm really excited to see who shows up, and if you want to play, if you want to come out, show up, and I'll help you get better in the meantime, whether you are with us in the spring or not, that's what I'm here to do.

Hibbeler says his roster is young, but still praised returning leaders like Austin Romero, who looks to be a centerpiece on the 2025 team. He encourages any DHS students who want to try out for baseball to join his open practices before then. Find more information about this and other stories at durangolocal.news. Thanks for watching this edition of the Local News Network. I'm Connor Shreve.