Chandler High, which has six state championships in the last 11 seasons, and appeared in the first five Open Division playoffs, has decided to hire former Horizon and Desert Vista Head Coach Ty Wisdom to be its next football coach.
Wisdom spent the last three seasons at Millard South in Omaha, Nebraska, where he originally got his start as an assistant coach. Millard South won the 2024 NSAA Class A state championship, going 12-1 this year, with his lone loss an interstate game against Basha High School. Wisdom announced his resignation from Millard South on social media earlier this afternoon.
This will be Ty Wisdom's third head coaching job in the state of Arizona, having first taken over an 0-10 Horizon team, and leading them to a winning record in his first year, a playoff appearance in his second year, and an Open Division playoff appearance in his fourth year.
In 2021, Ty Wisdom took over a Desert Vista program that had gone 0-6 in the previous Covid-shortened season, and went 5-6 with a playoff appearance and a win in the Ahwatukee Bowl against Mountain Pointe- Desert Vista's only win in this game over the last 5 seasons.
Wisdom replaces Rick Garretson, who won his first 32 games as head coach at Chandler, and made five consecutive Open Division Championships before going 5-6 in 2024, and announcing his retirement.
ANALYSIS
This could prove to be a good hire for Chandler, as the expectations have risen drastically ever since Chandler first beat rival Hamilton in 2013, and won its first state championship in 2014. Schools within the district have caught up to the Wolves, with Perry defeating Chandler for the first and second time ever in 2024, and Basha winning it first Open Championship in 2022.
The three most important objectives for Chandler are likely 1) rebuilding and restoring the offense to a championship level, 2) beating their intra-district rivals, and 3) maximizing muti-sport participation, as historically, many of Chandler's best football athletes also participate in track, basketball and wrestling.
On the offensive end- Last year, Millard South QB Jett Thomalla broke Nebraska Class A state records for completions (250), passing yards (3,664) and touchdowns passes (47), and was named Nebraska's MaxPreps Nebraska High School Football Player of the Year.
As far as beating rivals- Ty Wisdom does have a win over Mountain Pointe in his lone year at Desert Vista, and did get the second-ever road win over Notre Dame Prep while at Horizon.
BUT- this is one area Chandler would like to see improvement, and Wisdom did go 0-5 against rival Pinnacle while at Horizon, and is 0-6 lifetime vs CUSD schools across his time at Horizon, Desert Vista and Millard South.
As far as making use of and encouraging multi-sport athletes, this is one place where Wisdom's philosophy and Chandler's resources are a match made in high school football heaven. Wisdom played football, basketball, golf and baseball in his youth, and you can hear Wisdom's philosophy for yourself at the 3:30 mark of this interview on the Powered Up Coaches Show from before the 2024 season.
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