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