Story Written By: Damon Cook @ CHSAANow.com
AURORA, Colo. — Josh Gardner has been the longtime coach at Mancos. He originally moved there to get away from cities and enjoy the outdoors. What took him a little bit to realize, is that he would be coaching 8-man football, instead of the traditional 11-man he was used to.
After winning the State Championship a year ago, Gardner has his squad off to a 4-1 start coming off back-to-back 48-0 victories, as Mancos chases that second consecutive state title.
Josh Gardner
Previous Coaching Experience: Head Coach at White River Junior High; Head Coach Lakota East High School; Assistant, Co-Head Coach and Head Coach at Mancos High School
Overall record as a CHSAA Head Coach: 72-25
Overall record at Mancos High School: 72-25
What got you into coaching?I have played football ever since I was seven years old, and I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio. I went to an all-boys Catholic high school that's known around the country for being pretty good at football. Then, I went to the University of Cincinnati and played football there. I guess football has just always been part of my life, I haven't known anything different.
What does coaching mean to you?
I would say the biggest thing I get out of it is helping these young boys become men... being respectful and becoming good, contributing citizens. It's tough these days to not be distracted with all the technology and video games and social media, all that stuff, and we don't have the nuclear family as much as we used to with mom and dad... so it's tough for boys to become good men, probably tougher than it's ever been. I think football really helps create those good men.
What has clicked for the team on your four-game win streak?
Last year we won the State Championship, and we just kept saying all summer, 'let's hit the reset button and do it all over again.' But the fact was that we lost a whole bunch of seniors, and we kept comparing this new team to last year, and actually one of our captains, Brandon Vannest, brought that up to me. He was like, 'hey, we're a different team, and we have our own identity.' And he was right, so I gave that a lot of thought. Us coaches gave that a lot of thought, and we really started working hard on 'what's our new identity?'
We still focus on being a power run football team, but making little tweaks and changes in there to diversify our offense a little bit. And then we have a very young defense. Our boys on defense, they just needed more reps, and we've gotten that to this point. But we've still got a long way to go. I think it's those repetitions that we needed, and finding our own team identity is what we needed.
What did winning State mean for you and the surrounding Mancos community?
It meant a ton to me, because I came here to Mancos from Cincinnati 12 years ago. I've been coaching football for 12 years for Mancos, and when I got here we weren't very good. We were getting destroyed by a lot of people in our league. It really did take a really long time, with a lot of help from my assistant coaches and community members to build a program that we can take a lot of pride in. We do the right thing all the time and work hard. We also developed a weightlifting program, and it all paid off right then and there last year. So that was awesome.
For our community, we've never won a State Championship in football, so that was a big deal. Like everyone around the whole community was very proud of us.
Did you have any experience with 8-man football?
I was always an 11-man football player. I didn't even know 8-man football existed until I came out here. I came out here to be up in the mountains, to be out in nature. I'm a big outdoorsman. When I was looking for jobs in this area, the athletic director called me in the summer, and he said, 'hey, by the way, you said you coach football, but it's 8-man football.' And I was like, 'what is 8-man football?'
He said, 'well, it's like 11-man football, but there's eight guys instead of 11.' And I was like, 'What? What is this dude talking about?' I've never even heard of it. So until I got here, I had no clue. I've never, never known about it until I got out here.
What was it like making that adjustment to 8-man football?
There are a couple adjustments everywhere. I was an offensive tackle when I played at Cincinnati. I love pass blocking, and I take a lot of pride in teaching our boys how to pass block. The pocket for the quarterback is so small, just having a center guard, it's crazy how hard it is. You have to have really good technique. The speed of the game is so much faster, and the scores are crazy. When you see teams putting up 50, 60, 70 points, that is nuts. That's unheard of. I've never seen that until I came out here to 8-man football.
How have your kids helped you become a better coach?
I've learned a ton. I've learned to love football again. When I was young, I loved football and the high school I went to, and the college I went to, it was more like a business, and it was more like a job. It wasn't as much fun. So when I came out here 12 years ago, I came out here very intense, very hot headed, not very patient. But it's just not the way it is out here in Mancos. This is like a community that knows each other, and there is a lot of patience and caring for each other. Football is not the whole world here for this community, the way it was in Cincinnati, the way I grew up. The boys have taught me to take a step back, not be so serious and love football again for what it is... and to enjoy the experience, and to have more patience.
When I grew up, I had coaches who were extreme hot heads, and that's the way I started off. The kids really taught me things like, 'hey, this could be fun. You don't have to. We can still be productive if you're not screaming and yelling at us.' So I've learned a ton of patience, and I've learned to love the game again.
Is there anything else you want to say?
What's special about this team is… these boys have been playing together ever since they were in the youth program, most of them anyways. And one of the top qualities of this team is all the hard work they put in, in the weight room. In the past, on my football programs, we have not put in as much work in the weight room as we have these last couple years, and that's thanks to Jarrod Wyatt. He's our defensive coordinator, and he's also our strength coach. He's been doing a great job.
And then my assistant coach, Justin Wyatt, who's our offensive coordinator. He's doing a really good job thinking outside the box and running some non-traditional plays, along with our power run plays. These boys are really a true testament of brotherhood. They really bond with each other a lot. They love the game of football, they watch the film on the weekends together, and they really take care of each other. It is a true brotherhood.
