AURORA | Shane Ward knows his life “just got a little crazier,” but he’s looking forward to tackling the significant challenge in front of him.
The 34-year-old former assistant coach at Vista PEAK and Rock Canyon high schools is a head prep football coach for the first time after he accepted the open job at Gateway High School Thursday morning.
Ward fills the job vacated by Ashour Peera, who informed the school in mid-June — just weeks before the official start of fall practice — that he was returning to Florida after just one season to become the head coach at East Ridge High School near Orlando. Ward will get his first look at his players on Monday and is eager to begin preparation for the season, which officially begins in just five weeks with practices on Aug. 11.
“I’m very excited about this opportunity; it’s late in the game, so that puts a whole new spin on things, but I’m looking forward to working with the kids and building on the traditions they have at Gateway,” said Ward, who has a few members of his coaching staff picked out. “I don’t have a lot of history or background with the program, just crossing paths from a distance over the years. I’m just an outsider looking in, but after meeting with the administration, it’s a great opportunity and a great school to be a part of.”
Ward, who lives in Aurora with his wife, spent nearly a decade as offensive line coach/co-offensive coordinator at Rock Canyon and then last season worked with the offensive line with the fledgling program at Vista PEAK. He conducted workouts with coach Pat Rock’s Bison as recently as last week before the dominoes fell for him to land the Gateway job. Ward becomes the third head coach for the Olys in the past three seasons following Peera — who had a 6-4 record last season — and Justin Hoffman, who departed after 16 years on the Gateway coaching staff to take over at nearby Smoky Hill.
With the abrupt departure of the previous coach, Ward expects the returning players to be a little leery of accepting him right away.
“I’m going to have to figure out a way to work through it and win these kids over into doing the best we can for the team,” Ward said. “Talking with Rob Varner (Gateway athletic director), he said some of the kids felt a little bit betrayed. And they have every right to be, so we’re going to have to work on that. I’m not going to hold it against them, but hopefully in the end, we will come together as a unit and as a family.”
Ward knows bumps are ahead, especially with just a short glance at the schedule.
Gateway’s opening game is against Mullen, a traditional power coming off a down year, as well asGrandview, which made it to the 5A quarterfinals last season. The annual Anvil rivalry game against Rangeview — which the Olys have lost by a single point in three straight seasons — is always a battle and Gateway also has 4A powerhouse Broomfield on its schedule.
A 7:30 a.m. meeting Monday with players and parents, followed by some on-field work, should begin to give Ward an idea what kind of players he has moving toward that gauntlet. Gateway graduated a significant core from last season’s team that lost to Doherty in the first round of the Class 5A state playoffs, but expect to have back senior linebacker Kevin Prosser — who verbally committed to Wyoming over the summer — and a handful of others with varsity experience.
“These first few days will really be about figuring out what we have; there will be a lot of evaluation,” Ward said. “We have to move quick so we can get things in place and get ready for our first game against Mullen.”
Ward said his Gateway players want to compete in the annual Hog Wars linemen competition July 9 at Rangeview High School.
Ward is also excited that Gateway won the championship in the inaugural season of the Futures program in the district sponsored by the Denver Broncos.
Hinkley had the only other head coaching vacancy among Aurora teams and tabbed former assistant Robert O’Brien to the post.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
