Former Horizon coach recognized as COY by NE Valley Region in '19
WEEKLY BLOG: 12/27/20
The first of many open head coaching positions in the Valley was filled this week when it was announced that Ty Wisdom will lead the team at Desert Vista High School.
Athletic Director Tommy Eubanks approved the hiring of Wisdom, who has been the head coach at Horizon for the past five seasons.
"Ty is going to bring some excitement," Eubanks said in an e-mail interview. "He is very energized and wants to get going. Brings a wealth of knowledge."
During his time at Horizon, Wisdom went 31-18 with the Huskies and never had a season below .500. Horizon made the Open Division tournament in the 2019 season.
Reading about a new head football coach at Desert Vista is not something you see very often. The Tempe District school had just two in its first 24 years of existence. Jim Rattay started the program in 1997 and Dan Hinds had been the sideline boss since 2002. Each of them won a state championship with the Thunder.
There are 37 other schools currently in 6A and only one (Centennial) has been around for 24 years or more and done so with two or fewer coaches. Richard Taylor just completed his 29th season with the Coyotes.
Hinds resigned from his post on Dec. 1 and Wisdom heard from a couple of his friends in the East Valley that thought he should look at the opening.
"There's very few jobs that were appealing to me," Wisdom said. "After meeting with the administration, I liked their vision and where they saw it going."
The entire search took less than a month with 40 applying for the job and 15 of those being brought in for interviews.
Like when he received his first varsity head coaching position in 2016, Wisdom will be in charge of a program coming off a winless season. However, that's not the only commonality.
"There's a lot of similarities to the program I took over at Horizon," Wisdom said. "Everything is not broke. There's some things to put some change into."
In just his second game with the Huskies in 2016, Horizon knocked off Chaparral (45-20). That win earned Wisdom the Arizona Cardinals Coach of the Week honor. It's one that he repeated in both 2019 (a win over Notre Dame) and in 2020 (a victory over Gilbert, despite having 30 players out).
I saw Horizon play in their third game of that '16 season. The Huskies ran their record to 3-0 with a win at Paradise Valley. There was no showboating or acting like they had never won before even after going 0-10 the prior season. Afterwards, Wisdom told me, "When I took the job, I said we're going to try to get better each week.".
They did improve. Following a 6-4 record in 2016, HHS went 7-4 and made the 6A playoffs. Horizon repeated a postseason trip (in the 5A this time) and went 6-5 the next year. That set the stage for a 9-1 regular season in 2019 and a spot in the new Open Division.
This year's team finished 3-3 and wasn't able to play in Weeks 5 & 6 due to too many players out or possibly exposed to COVID-19.
Beyond the wins and the losses at Horizon, Wisdom made an impact on the players he coached while also making it a positive and memorable experience.
"You could tell he truly cared about his players," Horizon senior Avery Lambert said in a text message. "Outside of football, he always made sure his players were taken care of. He treated us like his family and helped us out if we ever needed anything. On the field, he made sure we took care of business. He kept the culture tight in the program and made it enjoyable as well."
Lambert, a wide receiver who has committed to Adams State College in Colorado, said Desert Vista is getting a coach capable of turning a whole program around. He also shared some advice he learned from the Horizon staff that he'll take with him to college.
"Just to put my head down and outwork everyone," Lambert said. "Do the little things right and it will affect the rest of how I live my life."
Wisdom began his coaching career in the state of Nebraska. Among the influences he garnered knowledge from while there was Lance Leipold, the current head coach at Buffalo. Leipold was the offensive coordinator at Nebraska-Omaha in 2006 while Wisdom was coaching tight ends. Upon moving to Arizona, Wisdom was the offensive coordinator at Valley Vista before landing the head coaching spot at Horizon.
It was a quick turnaround from the announcement of Wisdom's hire at Desert Vista, but he was able to address about 55 returning players on Wednesday.
"I really liked what he had to say about his plans for the team," Desert Vista junior running back/safety Devon Grubbs said in a text message. "He wanted to start building relationships with the players as soon as he was hired."
Grubbs played on varsity as a freshman in 2018 and rushed for 13 touchdowns. He battled lingering injuries this year and played in just four games for the Thunder (0-6). In Week 3, Grubbs registered 19 tackles against Basha (12 solo). The 5-11, 170-pound athlete has offers from Arizona State and Northern Arizona.
"I'm looking forward to better preparation and a raised level of competition," Grubbs said. "As well as getting ready for the college level."
Despite the record, one of the benefits of playing football in 2020 for Desert Vista was the ability to get varsity experience for its team. Many of them will be back next year. The Thunder return all eight players that scored a point for them this season and four of the top six tacklers.
"When you've got a player like Grubbs, we need to get him the ball and showcase his talents," Wisdom said. "They've got to get their confidence back. That starts right now in the offseason."
Wisdom teaches in the Paradise Valley District and the details of his contract there are still being worked out over the winter break. He said the plan is to teach at Desert Vista, which will be with a football class. At Horizon, Wisdom taught a football class (which began his second year there) and special education.
As we get forward to move into a new calendar year, winter sports are slated to begin on January 18 followed by the spring ones, which were cut off last March when the pandemic began.
"I'm looking forward to seeing the kids compete," Eubanks said. "It's been a weird year and athletics may be the only normalcy they have."
As it was for many, Wisdom agrees that coaching in this offseason and during the football season was tough. Instead of the normal planning, you just had to figure out how to find a way, whether it be with their own personnel or their opponents. He said he especially felt for the seniors, who don't get another chance to do it over next year.
"You just never knew what was going to happen at any time," Wisdom said. "You had to be willing to adjust. It took a lot of mental toughness from the kids."
The newly created opening at Horizon is currently the 10th in the metro-Phoenix area. Other schools currently looking for a new varsity head coach are Kellis, Valley Vista, Canyon View, Westview, Desert Ridge, Tolleson, Moon Valley, San Tan Foothills, and Tempe.
