Rock Springs hires Mark Lenhardt as football coach

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Rock Springs will hire Mark Lenhardt as its new head football coach, pending final approval from the Sweetwater County School District No. 1, the school announced on social media Wednesday.

Lenhardt’s move from Torrington — where he has spent the past eight years as head coach — to Rock Springs was first reported by Andrew Towne of the Torrington Telegram.

Rock Springs High School later confirmed Lenhardt’s anticipated hiring on Facebook.

Lenhardt had led Torrington since 2011, compiling an overall record of 46-31. The Trailblazers had winning seasons in each of the past five seasons and finished as Class 3A runners-up in each of the past two seasons.

The challenge of leading a Class 4A team was appealing, Lenhardt said in the Rock Springs High School Facebook post. Lenhardt played in high school at Cheyenne Central. He previously coached at the University of Mary in North Dakota as a graduate assistant from 2008-10 and at Carroll College in Montana from 2004-07, the school said.

“I am excited at the chance to lead and develop young people into great adults on the field and in the classroom,” Lenhardt also said via the Facebook post.

Rock Springs finished 3-7 last season; the Tigers have had just one winning season (2016) since 2003. Lenhardt will replace David Hastings, who in January resigned after five seasons.

Lenhardt is the second new 4A coach to be hired, joining Aaron Makelky, the new coach at Kelly Walsh. Another Class 4A program, Gillette, is also searching for a new head coach.

Glenrock and Lovell have also named new head coaches for 2019. Torrington, Evanston, Big Piney and Wyoming Indian are searching for new head coaches. If you know of other head coaching changes statewide, please email me at pschmiedt@yahoo.com.

–patrick

Natrona’s failed repeat attempts — and an opportunity for 2019

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Natrona won its 18th state football championship last fall, and in 2019 the Mustangs will attempt to do something never before accomplished in program history — a repeat championship.

By far, no other program in the state has more titles without a repeat championship that Natrona.

The Mustangs have been close, though — sometimes frustratingly close — to that elusive repeat. Some of the more notable failed repeat attempts include these near-hits:

  • In 1938, the Mustangs finished 10-1, with the only loss a 6-0 defeat to Sheridan in the state title game. Thirteen days before that, NC had beaten Sheridan 14-0.
  • In 1952, the Mustangs finished 7-2, again losing to Sheridan — this time 45-20 — in what ended up being the de facto state title game. Oddly enough, the 1952 team actually finished with a better record than the Mustangs’ state championship team of 1951, which went 5-4 but still won the Class AA state title.
  • In 2004, the Mustangs made it back to the 5A state title game only to lose to Green River 20-0 in Casper.

A couple of Natrona’s more recent repeat attempts have arguably ended with a pair of the the most difficult losses in school history. The 2011 Mustangs marched through the regular season undefeated and won their first playoff game. But in the 4A semifinals, the Mustangs’ perfect season, and repeat attempt, was thwarted in a 24-19 upset loss to Cheyenne East. And in 2013, it was East again that snuffed out NC’s title hopes — this time in the 4A title game, and this time by a more painful margin of 14-13.

Natrona’s most recent failed repeat attempt came in 2015, when Natrona finished 8-3 but lost to Sheridan in the 4A semifinals; that led to the first of Sheridan’s three consecutive championships before Natrona won it all in 2018.

The struggles in Natrona’s repeat attempts only happen, though, because of the Mustangs’ consistency. Almost all of the 17 squads that failed in their repeat attempts have been contenders for state championships: In the 17 seasons following Natrona championships, the Mustangs finished with winning records 15 times. Just never with a title.

The Mustangs’ inability to win back-to-back championships sticks out as odd for a school with so much success. No other Wyoming school with as many titles has never repeated, and it’s not even close. In fact, of 16 Wyoming schools with six or more state championships to their name, NC is the only one without a repeat to its credit. After Natrona’s 17, the team with the most titles with no repeats is Cody with five championships.

Here’s how NC’s seasons have gone in the years after championships:
1929: 5-3-1
1934: 6-2
1938: 10-1, lost 6-0 to Sheridan in state title game
1940: 5-3
1943: 6-3
1949: 5-4
1952: 7-3, lost 45-20 to Sheridan in de facto state title game
1958: 2-6-1
1964: 7-2
1976: 7-2
1986: 2-7
1997: 6-2, lost in quarterfinals
2000: 6-3, lost in semifinals
2004: 9-2, lost 20-0 to Green River in title game
2011: 10-1, lost in semifinals
2013: 8-4, lost 14-13 to East in title game
2015: 8-3, lost in semifinals
2019: ?

–patrick