New Chapter for Verrado

WEEKLY BLOG: 3/24/19

Shawn Copeland did a quick rebuild at Raymond S. Kellis a few years ago. Now, he's looking to have success at another West Valley school that had an uncharacteristic down season in 2018.

Copeland was hired by the Agua Fria High School District in January as the new head coach at Verrado.

"I was super thrilled and excited to join the Verrado Community," Copeland said in an e-mail interview. "The expectations are high there from all involved and I love that."

Despite the initial excitement, Copeland did have some mixed feelings as he had to walk away from a couple other opportunities that presented themselves after leaving Kellis.

Contrary to what you may have read in another media source, Copeland never left Arizona after stepping down from Kellis following the 2017 season. He turned down a coordinator job in Texas last April to remain in Arizona. Kellis had yet to hire a new head coach and he was hoping to return to the Cougars. He didn't rejoin RSKHS as Copeland called it "a long story", but he did end up accepting a teaching position (math) at Millennium HS in Goodyear. Last season, while he wasn't on the Friday night sidelines, he did get some coaching in with his son's middle school team at Trivium Prep (also in Goodyear).

"Those were two opportunities I just could not pass up," Copeland said. "When Verrado came open, I had plenty of people in my ear about pursuing that job and I decided to put my name in the hat and see what happens."

Copeland developed the freshman and JV teams at Kellis for a couple of years before being promoted to head coach in 2014. While his first season failed to produce a win, he turned the program around to a combined record of 16-5 in 2016 and 2017. The Cougars reached the playoffs for the first time in six years in '16.

"I absolutely loved Kellis," Copeland said. "The biggest thing we experienced there was the turnaround of committed players in the offseason. I will continue to grow as a coach, but the things we did at Kellis to bring along that commitment will be used at Verrado."

The most noticeable change at Kellis was with the offense, which scored 102 total points in 2014. In '16, the Cougars averaged 46 points per game and was balanced. Copeland said the team will run out of the spread and use the plays that best fit the personnel.

It isn't as dire of a starting situation at Verrado. The Vipers put together a four-year run of at least seven wins per season (34-11 combined record) before last year's 4-6 campaign, which was marred by some key injuries.

Copeland replaces Tom Ward, who led the Vipers the past two years.

"The expectations are very high and they should be," Copeland said. "Right now, we are working at winning the offseason."

Last year's Verrado team faced a difficult non-region schedule of four straight teams that eventually made the 5A playoffs (Casteel, Williams Field, Campo Verde, and Sunrise Mountain). The Vipers were unable to pull out any victories among that quartet and were 1-4 when Desert West Region play began. Verrado played better in the last four, battling region champ Millennium hard in a 14-7 loss before winning its final three contests.

Taking a brief look at the roster, there is inexperience at the quarterback position as sophomore Dillon Hanson was the only underclassman to throw a pass for VHS last season, and he started in just the Campo Verde game.

Top rusher Logan Gingg will be a junior this fall and he had 631 yards with five touchdowns. He was also the only returning player that caught a TD pass in '18.

Good news for Gingg is the entire line returns this year. It's led by Blake Gamez, the left tackle, who will be a three-year starter.

On the defense, Logan's older brother Conrad, who is a linebacker, had the most tackles on the Vipers (76) and also tallied seven sacks. He will be a senior as will Mateo Alicea, a cornerback that made 46 tackles and picked off three passes.

Copeland has hired his coordinators for the team. Mike Willey, who coached the West Valley Vipers, which feeds into Verrado, will coach the defense. Dylan Touvell was the quarterbacks coach at Mountain Ridge the past two years and he'll be the OC.

"I have kept eight coaches from last year's staff and I will be bringing in four from the outside," Copeland said. "The staff is really good and the expectations on them will be high."

The schedule will remain the same for Verrado as this is the second of a two-year block. That means those difficult games will be the front half of the slate after the opener at South Mountain on Aug. 23.

Copeland said the biggest thing is to remain positive. He worked with Darrick Ware, who is a football coach at Princeton HS in Texas. Copeland said the positivity out of Ware is contagious. That will serve the Vipers well in that stretch before region play begins against Agua Fria on Oct. 4.

"Kids today respond so much better with positive feedback," Copeland said. "You hold them accountable and make sure they take responsibility, but stay positive."