CENTENNIAL | Eaglecrest High School became the first Aurora area program to officially fill its head football coaching vacancy, as it brought aboard Jesse German Friday.
German comes to the program from Lakewood’s Green Mountain High School, which he has coached since 2018 after spending two seasons as an assistant. In German’s time as head coach, the Rams have gone 52-17 with five trips to the Class 3A state playoffs, including three times in the semifinals.
Eaglecrest tabbed German six weeks after the departure of Mike Schmitt, who headed to his native Louisiana to take a job as head football coach and athletic director at Prairieville High School (story, here).
“Coach German is a highly successful coach that seemed to check all the boxes for us,” Eaglecrest athletic director Vince Orlando told the Sentinel in a statement. “We expect his impact to be significant and push us forward as a 5A contender for years to come.”
German’s Green Mountain team finished 12-1 in the 2023 season. The Rams were the top seed in the 3A playoffs and fell to Lutheran in the semifinals. German has previous head coaching experience in Colorado at Northfield, while he was also an assistant at Bear Creek.
Schmitt — who led Eaglecrest to the 5A state championship game in 2017 before leaving and then returned in 2021 — guided the Raptors to a 7-4 record and a spot in the 5A state playoffs in the 2023 season. In his two stints with Eaglecrest, he had a career record in nine seasons with the program at 63-48 with seven playoff appearances.
Since Schmitt’s first departure from the program, the Raptors have had three other head coaches in Dustin Delaney (who lasted just one game), Garrett Looney (who took over on an interim basis and has now built a successful program at Mountain Vista) and Shawn Marsh, who spent three seasons at the helm.
Announcements on hirings at Overland and Vista PEAK Prep are expected soon.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
