Your football coach never worked with University of Colorado’s Gary Barnett, nor was he on the coaching staff that shaped the career of Broncos star Rod Smith.
Your football coach isn’t Bill Cooke.
Cooke, 54, assumed the head job at struggling Widefield High School in Colorado Springs this season after nearly two decades of coaching in the college ranks.
A 1969 graduate of Westminster, Cooke returned to Colorado to be closer to family and take over a Gladiators program that has turned over three coaches in the previous four years.
“I just wanted to get back to what I consider a purist form of football,” Cooke said. “These kids are out there because they want to be, not because they have a scholarship.”
Cooke was defensive coordinator for Barnett at Fort Lewis in the 1980s.
Cooke spent 16 years as a defensive line and head coach at Missouri Southern, where Smith evolved from quarterback to wide receiver and became the first undrafted NFL player to gain 10,000 receiving yards in his career in the Broncos’ victory over the Chiefs on Monday.
Widefield is only 2-3 this season following Friday’s Class 4A 22-14 victory over Sand Creek, but change is clearly evident.
Over the past four seasons, the Gladiators were 9-31, losing games by an average of 27 points. The Gladiators lost their first three this season by an average of four points before blasting then-No. 8 Rampart 50-29 for their first victory over a winning program since beating 3A Platte Canyon on Sept. 22, 2001.
“I think they have the ability to do that to anybody,” Rampart coach Dan Olson said of the Gladiators.
Said Cooke: “What we were able to do against Rampart was finally put a total team effort together and not turn the football over.”
Perhaps more impressive is the Gladiators rolled using Cooke’s ambitious no-huddle offense that embodies his offensive philosophy: “Throw and throw again.”
“It’s the quickest and easiest way to win,” Cooke said. “It’s a heck of a lot more fun to throw it than it is to run it.”
Cooke has streamlined the offense so players receive a call and check their color-coded wristband to set the formation and cadence. He insists the no-huddle offense is a great equalizer and is more appealing to today’s athletes.
Missouri Southern ran the run-and-shoot offense during most of Cooke’s years, which account for Smith’s gaudy numbers.
Smith still holds every major receiving record at Missouri Southern and led the Lions to a Mid-American conference title in 1993.
And he hasn’t forgotten where he came from.
“Bill is really intense,” Smith said. “The (Gladiators) are going to work. He killed us my freshman year. Back then I didn’t know if some of it was necessary. But when you are that young you want to work hard.
“We worked really hard under Bill, but those work habits have stayed with me my entire career. Those type of things are what it takes to be a champion.”
Cooke doesn’t have a Smith-type player, but he runs the system to produce one.
According to athletic director Shelli Miles, the football chatter around Widefield is one of optimism. Miles credits Cooke for exuding a strong work ethic and solid core values that worked for Smith.
“There’s no doubt he’s the man in charge out there on the football field,” Miles said. “I think the kids are liking that kind of direction.”
A top-notch weight room and supportive administrators is what Cooke says drew him to Widefield. Asked if he plans on leaving any time soon, Cooke says he feels like he has another 10 years of coaching in him.
That’s good news for the Gladiators.
“These kids just want a chance,” Cooke said. “They want someone to care for them.”
Brady Delander contributed to this report.
