Here is a quick glance at which coaches are taking over programs in the fall of 2011 and which coaches are stepping down:

Burns: Out, Bill Fullmer. In, Marv Mirich.
Cheyenne South: Out, Scott Noble. In, Tracy Pugh.
Green River: Out, Darren Howard. In, Don Maggi.
Greybull: Out, John Cundall. In, Josh Heinemeyer.
Kelly Walsh: Out, Jim Horne. In, Jon Vance.
Pine Bluffs: Out, Dale Gilbert. In, Will Gray.
Pinedale: Out, Michael Gregory. In, Allen Johnson.
Rock Springs: Out, Tony Yerkovich. In, Tom Jassman.
Torrington: Out, Brian Harms. In, Mark Lenhardt.

If you know of any other changes to head coaches statewide, let me know by emailing me at pschmiedt@yahoo.com or by posting a comment below….

–patrick

For the first time since 1965, St. Stephens will sponsor a high school football team.

The Eagles will play a six-game six-man schedule mostly against junior varsity teams in 2011, St. Stephens AD William Benn said in an email.

WHSAA Associate Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the association has allowed St. Stephens to play a junior varsity schedule, but said he wants to make sure the Eagles can establish a program on a consistent basis before including the school at the varsity level.

Once that happens, Wilson said, “We would love to have them.”

The Eagles are not eligible for the postseason this fall.

St. Stephens’ schedule this year includes:

Aug. 27 at Hanna (Zero Week)

Sept. 10 Kaycee JV

Sept. 15 Dubois JV

Sept. 20 at Farson JV

Sept. 27 Farson JV

Oct. 13 at Kaycee JV

Benn said the school is trying to schedule more games.

St. Stephens fielded football teams from 1957 to 1965 and were highly successful, compiling a record of 41-24 over those nine seasons, including a state runner-up finish in 1961 and a mythical Class B state championship in 1962.

–patrick

Pinedale assistant coach Allen Johnson will take over as head coach for the Wranglers this fall.

Johnson, a math teacher at Pinedale and an assistant with the Wranglers last year, takes over for Michael Gregory. Gregory went 13-21 in four years as head coach, including Pinedale’s only trip to the playoffs since 2000 — a run to the Class 3A semifinals in 2008.

The Sublette Examiner reported the hiring Monday.

If you are aware of any other coaching changes in Wyoming, please comment below or email me directly at pschmiedt@yahoo.com.

–patrick

The 1971 Class A all-state team I had posted on the all-state listings has been updated with what I think is a more accurate and comprehensive team. The team I used to have posted was selected by an AP panel; the team posted now is the team chosen by the Wyoming Coaches Association.

I try to post the WCA teams over any other teams when available, but I did not find a WCA team for this class and year until a former Torrington Trailblazer, Mike Mitchell, emailed me one a while back. Torrington was one of the best Class A teams in the state in 1971, going 9-0, but had no players chosen for first-team honors on the AP all-state team and only three second-team players. The WCA list is definitely more representative and more inclusive.

Thanks to Mike for his help on this!

–patrick

Marv Mirich will be Burns’ head football coach this fall.

Mirich was previously an assistant coach with the Broncs and has also coached basketball teams at Burns and Albin.

Mirich takes over for longtime coach Bill Fullmer, who retired from coaching this spring after leading Burns’ football team for the past 17 years.

Burns won four of its final five games of the regular season to qualify for the playoffs in 2010, but lost in the first round to Lovell. The Broncs won the Class 2A state championship in 2008.

An NAIA all-America wide receiver in 1990 at Black Hills State, Mirich was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame in 2002.

This was the last known open head football coaching position in the state. If you know of any other coaching changes, comment below or email me at pschmiedt@yahoo.com.

–patrick

Former assistant coach Will Gray has been named the new head football coach at Pine Bluffs.

Gray was an assistant coach with the Hornets for four years, working with the backfield, and he called Pine Bluffs’ plays last season. A 2003 graduate of Glenrock High School, Gray played quarterback at Black Hills State.

Gray confirmed his hiring in an email Monday.

Few schemes will change with Gray leading the team, he said.

“If we can progress on the defensive side of the ball we should be able to find success,” he wrote.

The hiring was approved by the Pine Bluffs school board last month. Gray also teaches social studies at Pine Bluffs.

Gray replaces Dale Gilbert, who had led the Hornets for the past four years. Gilbert compiled a 13-20 record as head coach.

The Hornets have made the playoffs each of the past two years but lost to Cokeville in the first round both times.

Pine Bluffs is the third school in Laramie County that will have a new head coach next fall. Cheyenne South hired Terry Pugh last week, while Burns is looking to replace longtime coach Bill Fullmer, who announced his resignation last month.

KGWN-TV had previously reported the hiring.

–patrick

The last major historical update I think I will ever make — the span of seasons from 1894 to 1919 — has been made. In all, 189 additional games have been added to the database. All the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

Finding these 189 games was some of the toughest research I have ever done, especially when you consider the format of late 19th and early 20th century newspapers. Locating games was at times like hunting for a tiny needle in a huge haystack. I make no claim that the 189 games I have uploaded are a complete list of the games played from 1894 to 1919; it’s just the best I can do right now with what I have available.

What now? Well, now I continue to fill in the holes where I have information missing. The missing games list and the Coaches Project are good places to start. I’m also attempting to verify all bye weeks listed here and have got a nice jump on that research, as well.

In short, this is not the “end.”

In addition to the years 1894 to 1919, I also fixed a mistake I noticed for St. Stephens — I corrected the Eagles’ record in 1964 to 6-2, not 5-2 as I had listed — and took some names off the Coaches Project list for Cowley and University Prep.

All of the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

–patrick

Greybull has named Josh Heinemeyer as its head football coach.

Heinemeyer, 29, a social studies teacher in Greybull, takes over for John Cundall, who resigned in March after leading Greybull for seven seasons. Heinemeyer was named head coach on Tuesday.

Heinemeyer was previously an assistant wrestling coach in Greybull. He also was the offensive coordinator at Beach (N.D.) High School before coming to Greybull three years ago.

In a phone interview Thursday, Heinemeyer said he would try to mold Greybull’s offense to fit the personnel, but also said he would like to try to open up the Buffs’ offense to include more passing sets.

“We are just going to do our best to install a pretty new system in a short amount of time,” he said.

Greybull is a combined 17-5 in the past two seasons, reaching the Class 2A semifinals each of the past two years. Heinemeyer said he wanted to “try to keep the ball rolling” and continue the Buffaloes’ success of the past couple years.

Heinemeyer played at the college level at two small colleges in Wisconsin — Lakeland College and Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

The only other position known to be open in Wyoming is the position in Burns. If you know of any other openings or changes in the Wyoming high school football coaching ranks, you can post a comment here or email me at pschmiedt@yahoo.com.

–patrick

Cheyenne South has named Tracy Pugh as head coach for its first varsity season.

Pugh takes over for Scott Noble, who led the Bison’s sub-varsity squads last fall.

To hear a KFBC Radio interview with Pugh, click here and follow the link on the right side of the page. To see KGWN-TV’s story on the hiring, click here.

–patrick

The time prior to World War I is a confusing one for Wyoming high school football. Few schools played the sport with any consistency. Schools occasionally fielded teams for a year or two, then disappeared. Even schools that fielded teams had trouble developing consistent schedules.

In the end, what we see is a hodgepodge of starts and stops. In all, at least 10 schools fielded teams prior to World War I, but only two schools had teams with any consistency.

Here is a quick look at the schools that fielded teams prior to 1918:

Five schools I didn’t think had teams prior to World War I: Fort Washakie, Lander, Douglas, Wheatland, University Prep.

Douglas: The Bearcats started in 1908 and also played in 1909, then went away for a few years. Douglas also fielded teams again in 1913 and 1914, and then gave it up again. The Bearcats came back for good after the war.
Lander: Like Douglas, Lander started in 1908. The Tigers also played in 1910. And that’s all I’ve found for Lander prior to the Tigers’ restart in 1922.
Fort Washakie: I found games between Lander and Fort Washakie in 1910; it’s all I’ve found (so far) for the school prior to 1926.
Wheatland: Wheatland’s “official” start was 1912. The Bulldogs also fielded teams in 1913 and 1914, but put away the pigskin after that season and waited until after the war to come back.
University Prep: Prep played games in 1908 and 1909, then gave it up before restarting its program in 1920.

Two schools I knew had history prior to World War I, but I knew it was murky: Buffalo and Natrona.

Buffalo: Buffalo started fielding teams in 1916, but often played only one or two games a season due to difficulties in scheduling.
Natrona: NC’s play has been spotty at best; I have the Mustangs with teams in 1908, 1909 and 1912 prior to “starting” in 1919.

Three schools I knew had deep histories that extended prior to World War I: Sheridan, Cheyenne Central, Laramie.

Sheridan: The Broncs started in 1909, but didn’t play any interscholastic games that year. Sheridan’s first official year came in 1910 and the Broncs have had a program ever since.
Laramie: Laramie fielded teams in 1901 and 1903, then gave it up (near as I can tell) until 1908. The Plainsmen also gave up football in 1913 and 1914 and also didn’t play in 1918 due to the worldwide flu epidemic. Their start? I think it’s 1895. At least that’s the earliest Laramie game I’ve found so far.
Cheyenne Central: The only thing that has stopped Cheyenne is the flu, which wiped out the 1918 season. Otherwise, the cherry and black have played at least one game every year since 1904. However, I have yet to find games for Cheyenne prior to 1902.

Here is a year-by-year look at which teams played in which seasons prior to 1920, to the best of my knowledge (so far):

1919: Buffalo, Cheyenne Central, Laramie, Natrona, Sheridan.
1918: No games, influenza epidemic (I have seen Sheridan records claiming a 10-0 loss to Billings in 1918, but for the life of me I cannot find it)
1917: Buffalo, Cheyenne Central, Laramie, Sheridan.
1916: Buffalo, Cheyenne Central, Laramie, Sheridan.
1915: Cheyenne Central, Laramie, Sheridan.
1914: Cheyenne Central, Douglas, Sheridan, Wheatland.
1913: Cheyenne Central, Douglas, Sheridan, Wheatland.
1912: Cheyenne Central, Laramie, Natrona, Sheridan, Wheatland.
1911: Cheyenne Central, Laramie, Sheridan.
1910: Cheyenne Central, Fort Washakie, Lander, Laramie, Sheridan.
1909: Cheyenne Central, Douglas, Laramie, Natrona, University Prep.
1908: Cheyenne Central, Douglas, Lander, Laramie, Natrona, University Prep.
1907: Cheyenne Central.
1906: Cheyenne Central.
1905: Cheyenne Central.
1904: Cheyenne Central.
1903: Laramie.
1902: Cheyenne Central.
1901: Laramie.
1900: No indications of any teams.
1899: No indications of any teams.
1898: No indications of any teams.
1897: Laramie.
1896: Laramie.
1895: Laramie.

I have not found any games for teams prior to 1895. Yet.

As for the results of the games themselves: I will be uploading 1895 through 1919 sometime after I move. I am in the process of moving back to Casper and won’t have the computer for a few days….

–patrick

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