Brandt out as Rams football coach

Tyler Brandt will not return to coach the Maricopa High School football team next season.

Athletic director Mike Larsen said last season’s less-than-stellar results played a part in the decision to not renew Brandt as coach. “We were 1-9,” he said. “The one win we had was against a school in a lower division that was 2-8.”

“I looked at the fact we were outscored 40-10 (on average) in those 10 games. We weren’t doing anything offensively or defensively. When I look at the personnel we had to work with – the same kids that played basketball and were very competitive, kids that were on our soccer team that were region champs, the same kids that qualified for seven spots in the state championships in wrestling – I just thought we were ready for some change.”

Brandt, who was 12-19 in his three seasons at the helm of the Rams, said Larsen sent a letter to him and his assistants stating the head coaching job was going to be open and any of them could apply for the gig.

“My understanding of it was the athletic director wanted to try and find what he felt was a 4A-II type of coach and he offered all of us a chance to apply for the position,” Brandt said. “Just recently, the entire staff made the decision to not come back and no one was going to apply.”

Larsen stated he knows the Rams are facing a big challenge in moving from 3A to 4A Division II next season and he wants a coach that can help build a successful program.

Brandt, who led Maricopa to a 3A playoff berth in 2007, said the Rams’ on-again, off-again training facilities will be a major hurdle in the step-up to a bigger conference starting in the fall. He said construction at the school last summer shuttered the weight room and after gaining access to the facility for a short while, the team couldn’t lift at the school again in December when the wrestling room was moved into the space and the weights were removed.

“We haven’t had the ability to train the kids at a 4A-II level in terms of strength and conditioning going on five months now,” Brandt said. “Add in that we didn’t have a weight room last summer and those are all factors that make it difficult to step into 4A-II and be a force at that level.”

While he won’t return as football coach, Brandt said the move doesn’t affect his teaching position with the district. “I’m still going to be teaching at Maricopa and supporting the student-athletes,” he said.

Larsen said the school has been looking for a new coach for several weeks and it has narrowed the pool of candidates.

“Obviously, we’re looking for leadership, looking to shore up the program with people who are good football people … and good educators,” he said

“We want to provide kids the best opportunity to be competitive.”

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