Arizona high school football coaching changes

By Brittany Bowyer  

As the 2022 football season is quickly approaching, it’s time to review the game of musical chairs played every offseason by coaches. More than two dozen schools hired new coaches to take over their football programs after retirements, terminations and resignations left a number of holes to be filled. Here’s a complete list of the high school football coaching changes across Arizona since the conclusion of the 2021 season.

6A

• Perry High School - After longtime Head Coach Preston Jones announced his retirement from coaching, the Pumas were quick to pounce on former Cactus Head Coach Joseph Ortiz, who helped the 4A Cobras reach the Open Division Playoffs last season.
• Red Mountain High School - A 2007 graduate of Red Mountain, Kyle Enders was hired in January to take over for the Toros. Enders is only the program’s fourth head coach since the school opened 34 years ago in 1988.
• Corona del Sol High School - Following the retirement of former Head Coach Jon Becktold, the Aztecs snagged former Casa Grande Cougars Head Coach Jake Barro. Barro helped build up the Cougars to a championship caliber football program, leading the team to the 2021 4A state championship.
• Westwood High School - The Warriors are looking to bring the heat this year under former Higley Offensive Coordinator and new Head Coach Brandon Large. With renovations coming to their campus and athletic facilities, they hope their changes to the coaching staff will also show positive results.
• Desert Vista High School - There was a lot of excitement around the hiring of former Thunder Head Coach Ty Wisdom, who was hired prior to last season, but his time in Ahwatukee was short-lived, resigning at the conclusion of the season and citing administrative issues. The Thunder hired former Sierra Linda Nate Gill.
• Cibola High School - One of the larger schools in Yuma, the Raiders took a bit of a different path when it came to hiring their next head coach. Instead of choosing someone who’s spent previous time coaching in Arizona, Cibola switched things up by hiring a new name: Kasey Koepplin. A former coach in North Dakota, Koepplin was brought on in April as the school’s eighth head coach in history.

5A

• Casa Grande High School - After reaching new heights in 2021 under former coach Jake Barro, it was an unfortunate moment when he departed for Corona del Sol. After winning the first 4A state championship for Casa Grande, the Cougars knew they already had a solid staff and also went the route of promoting from within, making Mark Luna the next head coach. Luna was a lineman at Casa Grande from 1996-2000.
• Mesquite High School - Under former coach Scott Hare, the Wildcats were able to win two 4A state championships, in 2019 and 2020, and made it to the semifinals in 2021. Following the conclusion of the 2021 season, Hare formally stepped down from his role so that he can continue pursuing his dreams of going back to school for additional educational opportunities. In his departure, the Wildcats hired Vance Miller in hopes of continuing to build on the program’s foundation.
• Maricopa High School - Tevin Rutherford is the third head coach in the past three years. The Rams hope Rutherford will hold the answers on how to elevate Maricopa to a winning program.
• Cactus High School - Under former Head Coach Joseph Ortiz, Cactus made it to the Open Division playoffs in 2021. When Ortiz announced his departure for Perry, Cactus was quick to promote from within, moving up former assistant Brian Belles to head the program.
• Skyline High School - Football hasn’t been a strongpoint for the Coyotes’ athletic department in recent years, but they’re looking to make some changes with their hiring of Adam Schiermyer. Schiermyer is a former assistant at Perry and Eastmark. 
• Aqua Fria High School - The Owls announced they’d be bringing on former Millennium assistant Rickey Higuera to lead the program this year following the retirement of George Martinez. Higuera has spent the past five years as a teacher at Agua Fria, which will hopefully make the coaching transition easier.
• McClintock High School - When Corbin Smith stepped down from his position to take over as the inaugural Head Coach for the Crismon Rattlers, the Chargers hired former Mountain View - Mesa Head Coach Mike Fell in hopes of continuing where Smith left off.
• La Joya High School - In search of success, La Joya announced they’d hired former North Canyon Head Coach Adam Beene to take over the football program in April.
• Maryvale High School - Things haven’t been easy for the Panthers, as their program has only continued to struggle since the pandemic hit. After Sam Schilling’s departure from the program, Maryvale hired former Sierra Linda assistant coach Byron Traylor in hopes of bringing a new mentality and culture to the program. Traylor is the Panthers’ third head coach in three years.
• North Canyon High School - After former coach Adam Beene was hired as the next coach of La Joya High School, the Rattlers announced current assistant Jeremey Dieck would be promoted to the Head Coach position to continue building upon the culture the staff brought to the program.
• Flowing Wells High School - Making for a nice homecoming of sorts, the Caballeros announced former assistant Brian Hook as the next head coach of the program following a short stint by Scott Cortese. Hook previously spent nine seasons with the Caballeros under Mark Brunenkant until he resigned from his position to become the school’s Athletic Director.
• Ironwood Ridge High School - An unfortunate fallout between the previous coaching staff and the parents of Ironwood Ridge football players resulted in former coach James Hardy submitting his letter of resignation at the conclusion of the season, which ultimately resulted in the hiring of Dale Scott. Scott is a graduate of Amphitheater High School and most recently served as an assistant coach at Pine View High School in St. George, Utah.

* Vacancy remains at Tucson High School

4A

• Peoria High School - After Will Babb publicly stated he would be stepping down as the Panthers’ Head Coach, Peoria decided to promote from within, making defensive coordinator Jason Golden the next to take over.
• Kofa High School - Another big school stuck in a smaller town, the Kofa Kings hired Alfonzo Brown as the new Head Coach in April with hopes of bringing a fresh start to the program. The job comes with what many view as an intimidating task — turning around a struggling program that hasn’t won a game since 2017. On top of that, the Kings have struggled in recent years to build a freshman and junior varsity program, leaving Brown with scraps to start with.
• Sahuaro High School - Sahuaro announced Al Alexander would be taking over the Cougars’ program in February following a parting of ways between veteran Head Coach Scott McKee and the program back in December. Alexander has spent time as an assistant at Salpointe Catholic, Cienega and Mica Mountain.
• Combs High School - Looking to compete more against fellow schools in the growing area like Poston Butte, Combs recently promoted Levi Hoaglund to the head coaching position. Hoaglund was previously the JV Head Coach as well as the varsity linebackers coach at Combs during the 2021 season.
• Tempe High School - Becoming the third head coach in three years for Tempe High, Sean Freeman was named the team’s next leader in February after being encouraged to seek the job by former Tempe HC Brian Walker, who led the Buffalo for 12 seasons until 2019.
• Rio Rico High School - In hopes of turning around a struggling football program, Rio Rico announced last November they’d hired legendary coach Jeff Scurran. Scurran had previously took over Catalina Foothills and Santa Rita, both lackluster programs at the time, and made them into playoff-caliber teams by the end of his first season.
• Palo Verde Magnet High School - After things with former Head Coach Mike Wells didn’t work out, the Titans announced the hiring of Jamal Chatman as the next head coach of the program.
• Lee Williams High School - The Kingman school went the route of hiring a younger head coach to lead the program in the growing northwest border town, bringing in recent Chadron State graduate Stevann Brown to take over.
• Buckeye Union High School - Spending the past 17 seasons with the Hawks football program, administration finally came calling in the offseason, naming David “Puni” Ellis the next Buckeye football coach. Ellis spent the past eight seasons as the team’s offensive coordinator.
• Youngker High School - Younger’s football history is basically nonexistent, boasting only one winning season since its first varsity season a decade ago, but they’re looking to bring some heat to the outskirts of the Valley with the recent hiring of Josh SeKoch. SeKoch was previously the Head Coach at Valley Vista before taking a year off to step away from football and spend some time with his family.
• Sierra Linda High School - After Nate Gill departed for Desert Vista, the Bulldogs decided to hire another young up-and-coming assistant coach who recently helped Trevor G. Browne make some noise in a drastic turnaround. Ty Preyer, who was an assistant for the Bruins the previous two seasons, was brought in to take over as the next Head Coach. Preyer also spent time at Cactus under Joseph Ortiz and has helped generate success with both programs.

New schools opening across Arizona

• Crismon High School - Looking to be competitive immediately out of the gate, the Rattlers brought in former McClintock Head Coach Corbin Smith to plant the seeds for the program. Smith has a long history with high-level football, and his father spent time as a coach at a number of noteworthy Power Five programs.
• Desert Sunrise High School - Only the second high school to open in the city of Maricopa, Desert Sunrise’s construction brings with it a lot of hope and excitement for the future. The Golden Hawks announced in April they’d be hiring former Maricopa Rams assistant and then River Valley Head Coach Jonathan Clark.
• American Leadership Academy - West Foothills - As the ALA brand continues to grow across the Valley, they’ve recently expanded over to the west side, where they’ve named Tim Su’e Su’e Liufau as the inaugural head coach.

* Vacancies remain at ALA-Florence and Somerton High School in Yuma