Category Archives: Coaches Project

Mitch Espeland will be the new head football coach in Pinedale.

He replaces Allen Johnson, who coached the Wranglers for five seasons. Both Espeland and Johnson verified the change in emails to wyoming-football.com this week.

Espeland is a native of Douglas and teaches social studies in Pinedale. He was an assistant coach for the Wranglers last year.

Johnson said via email went 14-26 in his five seasons as coach. The Wranglers went 3-5 in each of the past three seasons; Pinedale last made the postseason in 2008.

Johnson said the death of his mother in February reorganized his priorities, and he will spend the summer with family in Colorado. He said he plans on staying in Pinedale and continuing to teach math there.

–patrick

Rocky Mountain will have a new football coach this fall.

Richard Despain will be Rocky Mountain’s head coach this fall. He will replace David Hayes, who was not retained after six seasons as head coach.

Despain’s hiring was approved by the Big Horn County School District No. 1 board during its meeting April 14, meeting minutes show.

Despain has been an assistant coach at both Powell and Rocky Mountain; he has spent the past two years with the Grizzlies. He was an assistant coach on the 2012 North Shrine Bowl team while at Powell.

Hayes posted a 30-23 record in his six seasons with the Grizzlies. He took the team to the playoffs five times in six seasons but never went past the quarterfinals. The Grizzlies went 5-4 last season and lost to eventual Class 1A 11-man champion Upton-Sundance in the quarterfinals.

Hayes said via email to wyoming-football.com he expected to return as head coach for 2016.

“For whatever reason, the school wanted to go a different direction,” Hayes wrote. “I don’t have a whole lot to say other than I was very disappointed to lose the head coaching job. I was looking forward to working with a very talented group!”

However, Hayes said Despain is a solid coach who comes from a winning tradition.

–patrick

Matthew Cornelius will be the head football coach at Lingle this fall.

His job will be to replace the coach with more victories than any other in program history.

Cornelius will replace Kevin Derby, who resigned after nine seasons as head coach, Derby said via email to wyoming-football.com Wednesday.

Cornelius is also Lingle’s girls basketball coach, leading the team to a state title in 2014, and teaches science at the school.

Derby went 50-37 in his nine seasons as coach and leaves with more victories than any other coach in program history. He led Lingle to eight consecutive playoff appearances and a state runner-up finish in 2009.

Derby said he took a different job in the district and will stay in the area. He also said having three small children and that he “just needed some time to be a dad without all of the stresses of coaching.”

“I’m sure that I will miss it when fall rolls around,” he wrote.

Lingle finished 7-3 and reached the Class 1A 11-man semifinals last year. The Doggers will join Class 1A six-man this fall.

–patrick

Chris Link has resigned after five seasons as head coach at Guernsey-Sunrise.

Guernsey-Sunrise AD Glenn Freeburg confirmed Link’s resignation via email to wyoming-football.com. Link did not reply to an email sent to his Guernsey school address.

Link went 28-19 in his five years with the Vikings, including an 11-0 season and a Class 1A six-man state championship in 2014. The Vikings went 5-4 last season and were the only team to beat eventual state champion Kaycee.

Link will leave Guernsey, as his wife took another job outside the area, Freeburg said. A replacement has not yet been named.

Link is the fourth head coach in Wyoming to step aside this offseason and the second in Class 1A six-man with Ten Sleep.

–patrick