Saratoga hires Willford to head coach position

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Saratoga has named Kegan Willford as its new football coach, the Saratoga Sun reported.

Willford replaces Scott Bokelman, who was the Panthers’ head coach for six seasons.

Willford teaches social studies in Encampment and coaches the Encampment high school track and junior high girls basketball teams; Encampment and Saratoga have long had a football co-op agreement. He is a Saratoga native who was an all-state and Shrine Bowl selection as a high school football plaer; he graduated from SHS in 2003.

Willford is the son of former Saratoga coach Burt Willford, who was the Panthers’ head coach from 1992-2002.

Bokelman went 16-33 in six seasons as head coach and took the Panthers to the playoffs in 2011.

–patrick

McPhie named new head coach in Thermopolis

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Thermopolis has hired Matt McPhie to be its new head football coach.

McPhee and Thermopolis AD Brandon Deromedi both verified the hire via email to wyoming-football.com on Tuesday. McPhie replaces Rob Anderson, who resigned both his teaching and coaching positions, Deromedi said. Anderson had also previously been Thermopolis’ girls basketball coach.

McPhie has been a coach at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the past two years, with the 2014 season spent as running backs coach and 2015 as wide receivers coach; he also coached wide receivers and tight ends at Augustana in the 1997 season. McPhie was an honorable mention all-America wide receiver at Augustana in 1996. His full bio is available at the bottom of the page here.

Anderson went 13-15 in three years as head coach. Thermopolis qualified for the playoffs in each of Anderson’s three years and reached the Class 2A semifinals in 2013. Anderson will be the head football coach at Filer (Idaho) this fall.

–patrick

Post updated 12:55 p.m. July 8 to reflect Anderson’s new position.

Wyoming high school football stadiums, ranked

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On Twitter and Facebook a while back, I asked question where answering the “what” was fairly easy but answering the “why” was quite a bit tougher:

What’s your favorite high school football stadium in Wyoming? And what’s your least favorite?

The answers varied widely; some people’s favorites were others’ least favorite. In the process, I learned quite a few tidbits about Wyoming’s high school football stadiums. So I decided to rank them, one to sixty-five.

Before we get into the list, let’s clarify: This is my list. It’s subjective. It’s faulty. In your mind, it’s probably wrong. You’re right. If I did this list again tomorrow, it’d probably come out different. But it’s my list. And I’m a sucker for:

  • mountains
  • stadiums built into the sides of hills or mountains
  • brick
  • concrete-anchored seating
  • trees and shrubs

And I hate:

  • aluminum bleachers
  • portable bleachers
  • portable aluminum bleachers

And I’m indifferent to:

  • the presence or absence of a track
  • the playing surface itself
  • the “tradition” of the team itself playing on the field

In short, I love stadiums that look like they are supposed to be there, and only there — that this little corner of the world was meant to be reserved for football. Permanence plays a big part in that. Stadiums that look permanent, with brick and concrete stands, specialized landscaping or earth moving and other buildings that appear to be built around the field, have a soft spot in my heart.

And, obviously, I despise the places that look replaceable — the stadiums that look like convenience and little else drove the selection; the stadiums that look like they could be picked up and moved and placed somewhere else in a matter of days; the stadiums that don’t speak to longevity or history.

Consequently, I hate a lot of new stadiums. They’re too new to have any character. They’re too cost-effective to have any sense of permanence. They’re too easy to mistake for another.

So here it is. Every Wyoming high school football field, ranked, with a lot of bias and personal experience and only a little research:

Gotta see before you die

1. Big Horn Field, Big Horn

2. Outlaw Stadium, Rawlins

3. Homer Scott Field, Sheridan

4. Puncher Stadium, Big Piney

5. Mike Moon Field, Buffalo

6. Longhorn Stadium, Meeteetse

7. Walt Gray Field, Tongue River

Pretty neat

8. Buffaloes Stadium, Greybull

9. Oiler Field, Midwest

10. Cheney Alumni Field, Natrona

11. Bearcat Stadium, Douglas

12. Red Devil Stadium, Hulett

13. Harry Geldien Stadium, Kelly Walsh

14. Sheldon Henderson Stadium, Glenrock

15. Rams Stadium, Dubois

16. Okie Blanchard Stadium, Cheyenne East

17. Miner Stadium, Hanna

18. Braves Field, Star Valley

19. Robert Hileman Field, Saratoga

20. B.F. Weaver Field, Upton

21. Korfanta Field, Pinedale

22. Kay Fackrell Stadium, Evanston

Somewhat memorable

23. LeRoy Sinner Field, Wind River

24. Wolves Stadium, Green River

25. Bill Bush Stadium, Lander

26. Deti Stadium, Laramie

27. William T. McIntosh Stadium, Jackson

28. Wolves Stadium, NSI

29. Ranger Stadium, Kemmerer

30. Tiger Stadium, Rock Springs

31. LeRoy Hayes Field, Thermopolis

32. Bronc Stadium, Burns

33. Spike Vannoy Field, Cody

34. Viking Stadium, Guernsey-Sunrise

35. Schoonmaker Field, Newcastle

36. Bulldog Stadium, Sundance

37. Riske Field, Cheyenne Central

38. Rebel Stadium, Riverside

39. Carlstrum Field, Pine Bluffs

40. Clarence Lammers Stadium, Mountain View

41. Buckaroo Stadium, Kaycee

42. Camel Stadium, Gillette

Definitely a football field

43. Warrior Stadium, Worland

44. Fullmer Stadium, Lusk

45. Panther Stadium, Powell

46. Rattler Field, Snake River

47. Bailey Field, Shoshoni

48. Wolverine Stadium, Riverton

49. Panther Field at Battlecat Stadium, Wright

50. Pioneers Stadium, Ten Sleep

51. Bulldog Stadium, Wheatland

52. Chiefs Intertribal Stadium, Wyoming Indian

53. Grizzly Stadium, Rocky Mountain

54. Wolves Field, Moorcroft

55. Kirk Field, Lingle

56. Bison Stadium, Cheyenne South

57. St. Stephens’ field, St. Stephens

58. Teeters Field, Southeast

59. Kevin P. Robertson Memorial Stadium, Lovell

60. Wiseman Field, Torrington

61. Rock River’s field, Rock River

62. Panther Field, Cokeville

63. Eagle Stadium, Lyman

64. Husky Stadium, Burlington

65. Big Sandy Park, Farson

–patrick

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