Tony Lindsay Sr. is used to building programs from the ground up when he arrives.
In his previous stops at Denver South and with the Far Northeast Warriors, Lindsay Sr. — one of the staples of the Colorado prep football coaching ranks for more than three decades — were in the midst of tough times, but he got them to the postseason and then to state championship games after years of work.
Lindsay Sr. begins at Overland — where he has officially been hired to follow Kyle Reese, who stepped down in December — is a much different place. The Trailblazers haven’t made a playoff appearance since 2019, but they’ve been 5-5 in each of the past three seasons and come a win or two away from postseason contention.
“This is definitely a better foundation taking over and the kids that I’ve had a chance to see are good kids,” Lindsay Sr. told the Sentinel. “There is a good crew coming back and Kyle did a good job with that. But they haven’t had a JV in the last three or four years, just varsity and freshman and those other levels matter.
“I’m going to try to come in here, get into these middle schools and give us a chance to get more players to come in, coach them up and get this school rolling.”
First-year athletic director Domonic Martinez — who said there was significant interest in the open job, but that Lindsay Sr. eventually emerged as the unanimous choice of the selection committee — personally hopes Lindsay Sr. will have a “Deion Sanders-like” effect on the school as Sanders has had in Boulder at the University of Colorado.
“Tony is a proven winner and a class act,” Martinez said. “He brings structure, love and discipline. He will inject and infuse an excitement and a level of accountability that is infectious and will spread throughout our athletic community like wildfire.”
Reese — who coincidentally played for Lindsay Sr. at Thomas Jefferson and also served under him as a defensive coordinator at South — posted a 16-21 record over four seasons.
Following him now is Lindsay Sr., who led Far Northeast to a Class 5A state championship during the spring season of 2021 played during the COVID-19 pandemic and also took South (which had his nephew, Philip, who played at the University of Colorado and later with the Denver Broncos) to the 4A title game in 2012. He coached 10 years at South with a record of 76-32 with multiple postseason appearances.
Lindsay Sr. went to Far Northeast in 2017 and he went 35-34 there.
As it has always been, Lindsay Sr.’s coaching staff will be very family-oriented as it will include his sons, Tony Jr., Gabe, Matthew and Dom, who have passed up chances to coach elsewhere to stick with him. He is also looking to add some of the coaches from the previous staff who know the players and share the same philosophies.
“When you come into a new situation, you have to have coaches that have got your back and that are on the same page,” Lindsay Sr. said. “That’s the No. 1 thing to me when you take over somewhere. Make sure your coaches have your back no matter what, even if they don’t agree with some of your stuff, because the kids see that.”
Even in the early stages, Lindsay Sr. has found resources that are available to him at Overland that he didn’t have in his previous stops — “I figured out how to coach without them, but with them, you can’t do nothing but do better,” he said — while he’s also looking forward to coaching a team where all the players go the same school.
That may seem simple, but he didn’t have that Far Northeast, which blended athletes from nine different area schools. That created a slew of challenges, from practice logistics (due to many different release times for the schools) to having the time together form the type of camaraderie needed to be successful on the field.
“It took a long time for kids to get to know each other since they were not in school together,” Lindsay Sr. said. “The older kids kindof control the younger kids in school and they can help you out a lot with that and keeping the kids coming out.”
So far, Lindsay Sr. has been able to interact with a small number of players he expects to have for next season, however many — such as standout running back Jarrius Ward — are involved in spring sports at the school.
Ward is also exactly the kind of player that Lindsay Sr. loves to have on his offense, where he says that we “run downhill,” which also applies to his 4-3 defensive philosophy. His last feature back, Russell Patton, ran for 1,547 yards and 14 touchdowns in the 2022-23 season, while Ward finished with 1,321 yards and 16 scores — in just nine games — as a junior.
Overland also should return a veteran presence on both lines in senior-to-be Silver Velasquez DeLao, who was an All-Metro North first teamer on the offensive side last season and a second team all-league performer on the defensive line.
Other underclassmen who earned all-league honors in the fall were Avante Hendrix (second team as a wide receiver) and Wasswa Kibirige (second team as a defensive lineman).
“We do with what we have,” Lindsay Sr. said. “We tailor-make our team to what we have, so we’ll have a better idea when we get everybody out there together. …We bring something different (as a staff). We have been to state at two different schools, so we know what it takes to get there because we’ve been there.”
Lindsay Sr. values creating real personal relationships with every one of his players, and he’ll have a chance to begin cultivating those this spring.
As he finishes his tenure as head track & field coach at Far Northeast, he will be able to keep in touch with Ward and some other Overland football players in spring sports. Ward finished as the 5A runner-up in both the discus and shot put last season and he is currently ranked No. 1 in the state in the discus and No. 2 in the shot put.
Historically speaking, Lindsay Sr. will be Overland’s sixth head coach since Hall of Famer Tony Manfredi retired in 2010.
Ken Milano was the original coach when the school opened in 1978 and the interim job in 1981 went to Manfredi, who would lead the program to an 198-120 record in his tenure with three trips to the state championship game, including a win in 1993. Ron Woolfork succeeded Manfredi and was followed by Seth Replogle, who was followed by Steve Sewell, DaVaughn Thornton Sr. and finally Reese.
The Overland program’s last winning record came back in 2014 under Replogle, who guided the team to a 7-4 record and a first-round victory in the 5A state playoffs, while there have been four 5-5 seasons as well.
Since the conclusion of last season, three Aurora football programs now have new coaches, as Eaglecrest hired Jesse German (to replace Mike Schmitt; story, here) and Vista PEAK Prep brought Mike Campbell aboard after Thornton Sr. departed (story, here).
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports