Category Archives: Coaches Project

In each of the past two years, a coach in his first year as a head coach at his school has taken his team to War Memorial Stadium and has come away with a state championship.

Two years ago, Lyman’s Dale Anderson led the Eagles to a state championship in his first year as head coach in the Bridger Valley. Last year, Meeteetse’s Matt Jensen did the same with the Longhorns.

But they haven’t been alone. In all, 26 coaches have won state titles in Wyoming in their first season as head coach of their respective squads.

Three times, coaches in their first years have won state championships in the same season — most recently in 2009, when first-year-with-team coaches Chuck Syverson (Thermopolis) and Casey Moats (Guernsey-Sunrise) both led their squads to state titles.

Coaches who won a state title in their first year as head coach of their respective teams:

Lew Kelly, Worland 1924
Dean Mickelwait, Natrona 1928
Okie Blanchard, Natrona 1937
Walter Dowler, Cheyenne Central 1941
Eddie Talboom, Evanston 1951
Paul Briggs, Natrona 1951
Grant Smith, Cowley 1955
Al Peyton, Tongue River 1956
Harry Geldien, Natrona 1957
Bill Sollars, Shoshoni 1959
Wimp Hewgley, Worland 1959
Fran Gillette, Powell 1967
Denny Brown, Byron 1968
Scott Nielsen, Cokeville 1969
Art Kissack, Cheyenne East 1970
Kay Fackrell, Lyman 1976
Jim McLeod, Cheyenne Central 1979
Jim Rooks, Jackson 1981
Van Hokanson, Star Valley 1982
Jim Hissong, Mountain View 1984
Mark Bullington, Southeast 1999
Alan Frank, Guernsey-Sunrise 2006
Casey Moats, Guernsey-Sunrise 2009
Chuck Syverson, Thermopolis 2009
Dale Anderson, Lyman 2012
Matt Jensen, Meeteetse 2013
(Honorable mention: Ray Kumpula, Glenrock 2002, who won a state title after five years away from being the head coach at Glenrock.)

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The number of coaches who entered on top only barely outnumbers the number of coaches who left on top.

A total of 25 Wyoming head coaches have stepped down (or moved on or retired) after a championship season. This number of 25 includes two instances of the same coach leaving his school after a state championship — current Tongue River coach John Scott left Kemmerer after leading the Rangers to a state title in 1994 and did the same after helping Gillette win a state championship in 2000.

However, “leaving on top” hasn’t happened often recently. In fact, the last coach to do so was Green River’s Jason Fuss, who stepped aside after leading Green River to a state title in 2004.

Coaches whose final year at a school was a state championship year

Oscar “Oc” Erickson, Sheridan 1931
Okie Blanchard, Natrona 1939
Walter Dowler, Rock Springs 1940
Fred Chez, Sheridan 1940
Eddie Talboom, Evanston 1951
George Dorrington, Hanna 1952
Grant Smith, Cowley 1955
Al Peyton, Tongue River 1956
Carl Rollins, Sheridan 1958
Wimp Hewgley, Worland 1959
Henry Eckroth, Greybull 1960
Vince Zimmer, Powell 1966
Rich Nelson, Glenrock 1968
Keith Dodd, Glenrock 1971
Art Van Renssalaer, St. Mary’s 1972
Jim House, Green River 1973
Rod Flack, Kelly Walsh 1981
Jim McLeod, Cheyenne Central 1989
Ray Face, Worland 1989
Rick VanCleeve, Thermopolis 1992
Bruce Keith, Sheridan 1993
John Scott, Kemmerer 1994
Kay Fackrell, Evanston 1997
John Scott, Gillette 2000
Jason Fuss, Green River 2004

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Some of the names from the first list repeat on the second — and with good reason.

Evanston’s Eddie Talboom (1951), Cowley’s Grant Smith (1955), Tongue River’s Al Peyton (1956) and Worland’s Wimp Hewgley (1959) won state championships in their only years as the head coach of those schools. Talboom went on to coach at Rock Springs, winning a state title with the Tigers in 1959. Peyton — who was the coach at Ranchester before taking over for the consolidated Eagles in the championship season in 1956 — left to coach at Shoshoni. Smith and Hewgley, meanwhile, were never again head football coaches in the state.

Okie Blanchard and and Jim McLeod, meanwhile, both came in and left on top in their stops at Natrona and Cheyenne Central, respectively. Blanchard won titles in his first (1937) and last (1939) years at Natrona, while McLeod won championships in his first (1979) and last (1989) years at Central.

Kay Fackrell pulled off a similar feat — he won a state title in his first year with Lyman (1976) and in his last year with Evanston (1997).

On the opposite end of this spectrum is Walter Dowler. Dowler won a state championship with Rock Springs in 1940, then left for Cheyenne Central, where he won a state title with the Indians the next year. Coaching against numerous former players, Dowler’s Indians beat the Tigers 8-7 in the second game of the 1941 season.

No school has had a tougher time keeping ahold of a championship-caliber coach than Sheridan. Four times, the Sheridan coach has left the Broncs after leading them to a state championship: 1931 (Oc Erickson), 1940 (Fred Chez), 1958 (Carl Rollins) and 1993 (Bruce Keith). No other school has lost more than two coaches after a championship season.

This season, at least seven Wyoming high schools will take the field with new head coaches. Will one of them continue the trend we’ve seen the past two years of coaches winning a state championship in their first year as head coach of that team?

–patrick

When we think of Wyoming high school football coaches who have shared last names, certain names come to mind: Deti. Fullmer. Mirich.

But one name rises above all the rest.

Of all the coaches listed on the site (with certain omissions), the last name Johnson is by far the most popular for Wyoming high school football coaches. In all, 14 different men with the last name Johnson have led Wyoming football teams: Allen, Andy, Ballard, Bill, Bud, Daryl, Duane, Eddie, Gary, Jack, Loren, Ralph, Scott and Walter.

Johnson topped Anderson and Smith, which have each had nine coaches with that name, as the most common name in Wyoming football coaching.

Allen Johnson, who will enter his fourth season at Pinedale this fall, is the only current coach with the popular last name.

Andy Johnson had by far the most success of the 14 coaches in the state who shared his last name; he went 82-33-7 in 15 seasons with Basin and Hanna. He led Basin to undefeated seasons in 1969 and 1972.

Other coaches didn’t last as long in Wyoming’s football ranks but still found coaching success. Gary Johnson — who went on to a distinguished career as a basketball coach and administrator at Kelly Walsh before retiring in 2006 — was a head football coach for only one year, going 6-2-1 at Deaver-Frannie in 1970. And Jack Johnson — who led Great Falls (Mont.) CMR High to dynasty status in the Big Sky State — had just one year in Wyoming, going 9-0 with Torrington in 1969.

Another Johnson — Ralph — also went on to a successful basketball coaching career. Ralph Johnson was the football coach for six seasons at Cokeville, from 1974-79, and was the coach that Todd Dayton replaced when he started at Cokeville in 1980. Johnson was never a head football coach again, but coached basketball and had his most success at Kemmerer, taking his team to back-to-back state title games in 2003 and 2004.

Ballard Johnson also had success coaching in Lincoln County — he was Star Valley’s football coach from 1999-2004, leading the Braves to championship games in 2001 and 2002.

Several Johnsons made it two seasons but no more: Bill at Lyman in 1946-47, Daryl at Sundance in 1965-66, Duane at Thermopolis in 1972-73, Eddie at Greybull in 1999-2000, Loren at Pavillion in 1961-62, and Scott at Torrington in 1965-66. Walter Johnson made it three years, 1964-66, in Moorcroft, while Bud Johnson coached four years in Glenrock from 1948-51.

Oddly enough, 1965 was the high water mark for the last name. That season, four of Wyoming’s head coaches had the last name Johnson — Andy at Hanna, Daryl at Sundance, Scott at Torrington and Walter at Moorcroft. Daryl Johnson and Walter Johnson actually coached against each other that season. (For more on this phenomenon, read this post from earlier!)

So what other names have been popular? Well, here’s a list of every last name with at least three coaches who shared it:

Johnson: 14 (Allen, Andy, Ballard, Bill, Bud, Daryl, Duane, Eddie, Gary, Jack, Loren, Ralph, Scott, Walter)
Anderson: 9 (A.P., Bill, Bob, Brian, Dale, Ralph, Rob, Roscoe, Skip)
Smith: 9 (Ben, Bill, C.E., Grant, Gunboat, Jack, King, Leland, Randall)
Jensen: 6 (Earl, John, Ken, Matt, Vernon, Walter)
Miller: 6 (Barry, Bob, George, Mike, Paul, T. Ray)
Nelson: 6 (Clint, Craig, George “Bud,” Lloyd, Neal, Rich)
Williams: 6 (Cris, Kevin, Lynn, Pat, Terry, Trevor)
Brown: 5 (Danny, Denny, H.M., Hank, Robert)
Jones: 5 (C.A., Clif, Dave, Ivan “Red,” Tom)
Moore: 5 (Bob, Larry, Ron, Travis, Walt)
Morgan: 5 (Al, Bill, Dean, Jerald, Kent)
Scott: 5 (Al, Charles, Frank, John, Zack)
Baker: 4 (Art, Bill, Roy, Terry)
Campbell: 4 (Earl, Gary, Jerry, Mark)
Clark: 4 (George, Ray, S.M., and unknown first name)
Gardner: 4 (Ken, Lincoln, Otto, Vern)
Martin: 4 (Floyd, Jim, Pete, Steve)
Parker: 4 (Al, Jerry, L.J., Ralph)
Phillips: 4 (C.D., J. Paul, Mike, and unknown first name)
Roberts: 4 (Charlie, Keith, O.P., Steve)
Rogers: 4 (Clifford “Doc,” Glenn, John, Shawn)
Bailey: 3 (Bryan, Harold, Stephen)
Bush: 3 (Bill, Joe, W.D.)
Dawson: 3 (Pat, Ryley, and unknown first name)
Hamilton: 3 (John, Mark, and unknown first name)
Hayes: 3 (David, Heath, R.B. “Butch”)
Hileman: 3 (Bill, Bob, Brock)
Jordan: 3 (Austin, Kevin, Tyler)
Lane: 3 (J.R., Ryan, Tom)
Marshall: 3 (Ernest, John, P.J.)
Mirich: 3 (Carl, George, Marv)
Murphy: 3 (Carl, Lloyd, Pat)
Murray: 3 (Bill, Chuck, Rich)
Robertson: 3 (Bob, Kevin, Paul)
Simpson: 3 (Bob, John, Steve)
Stephens: 3 (Chuck, Levi, R.A.)
Taylor: 3 (Herb, John, Ron)
Thompson: 3 (Frank, Ray, Wedge)
Watson: 3 (Billy, Julian, Tom)
Weaver: 3 (Brett, Tead, and unknown first name)
Wilson: 3 (Cliff, Jesse, Tom)
Winland: 3 (Pat, Ralph, Tim)
Wright: 3 (Bill, Orville, Wilbur “Web”)

Oh, and the last name with the most victories? It’s one that’s not even on this list: Deti. The Deti father-son combo combined for 393 victories, the most of any last name in the state.

–patrick

When Lyman faced Thermopolis in a Class 2A West Conference game last year, the game was about more than just the Eagles vs. the Bobcats — it was about brother vs. brother.

Lyman coach Dale Anderson and Thermopolis coach Rob Anderson are brothers, and they faced each other as opposing head coaches for the first time in Wyoming last year.

But this wasn’t the first time coaches with the same last name have faced each other. In fact, it wasn’t even the first time that brothers had met as opposing coaches.

In fact, at least four sets of brothers — the Fullmers (Jerry and Bill), the Sollars (J.C. and Bill), the Engstroms (John and Bill) and the Bashes (Howard and Homer) — have faced off as head coaches of opposing Wyoming high school teams. In addition, at least two father-son combos — the Detis (John E. and John R.) and the Miriches (Carl and George) — have met as opposing head coaches.

Of these, the Fullmers — who met 11 times, every year between 1994 and 2004 while Jerry was at Lusk and Bill was at Burns — have the longest on-field rivalry. The Miriches met nine times between 1994 and 2002 when father Carl was at Moorcroft and son George was at Upton. The Detis played each other three times from 1966-68 while son John R. coached in Sheridan and father John E. was at Laramie, while the Sollars brothers (Bill at Shoshoni and J.C. at Morton) faced off three times as well. The Engstroms and Bashes met once each.

In addition to the Andersons, the other current last-name rivalry is between Star Valley’s Chris Howell and Jackson’s James Howell. However, they’re not related.

Below, I’ve listed every time (to my knowledge) that coaches with the same last name have faced each other in a game as opposition. Outside of the ones listed above, I’m not sure of any relationships, either of their existence or non-existence. If you know, let me know and please leave a comment below!

Dennis Adams (Kemmerer) vs. Shaun Adams (Saratoga), 1991 (relationship unknown)
Dale Anderson (Lyman) vs. Rob Anderson (Thermopolis), 2013 (brothers)
Harold Bailey (Shoshoni) vs. Stephen Bailey (Meeteetse), 1996 (relationship unknown)
Homer Bash (Lingle) vs. Howard Bash (Torrington), 1934 (brothers)
Joe Bush (Thermopolis) vs. W.D. Bush (Lander), 1929 (relationship unknown)
John E. Deti (Laramie) vs. John R. Deti (Sheridan), 1966-68 (father-son)
Bill Engstrom (Superior) vs. John Engstrom (Rawlins), 1937 (brothers)
Bill Fullmer (Burns) vs. Jerry Fullmer (Lusk), 1994-2004 (brothers)
Chris Howell (Star Valley) vs. James Howell (Jackson), 2010-13 (not related)
Daryl Johnson (Sundance) vs. Walter Johnson (Moorcroft), 1965-66 (relationship unknown)
Carl Mirich (Moorcroft) vs. George Mirich (Upton), 1994-2002 (father-son)
Bill Sollars (Shoshoni) vs. J.C. Sollars (Morton), 1960-62 (brothers)
Cliff Wilson (Kemmerer) vs. Jesse Wilson (Star Valley), 1935 (relationship unknown)

–patrick