Name: Mike O’Dwyer.
School: Class 1A Limon Badgers, ranked No. 1 in The Denver Post/9News 1A poll, three-time defending Colorado champions.
Record: 6-0 overall, 4-0 in South Central League; 50-5 career, including 12-1 in postseason.
Coaching résumé: Limon Junior High School coach from 1986-87; assistant at Limon High School from 1988-2001; Badgers head coach since 2002.
Life lines: Age 44. Native of St. Paul, Minn. Graduated from Limon High School in 1980 and University of Northern Colorado in 1985, degree in business management; insurance agent and rancher.
Back in his day: Starting guard for football Badgers from 1977-79 (team won titles in 1976, 1978 and 1979), also was all-state center in basketball, 1978-79 season; football starter (guard) at UNC from 1982-84.
What he has done lately: Lately is a relative term – O’Dwyer’s Badgers have not lost since the 2002 preliminaries (16-6 to Lyons). And with a 56-6 crushing of Cripple Creek-Victor on Saturday, Limon won its 45th consecutive game to tie Longmont (1988-92) for Colorado’s longest 11-man streak.
The Badgers will need victories at Miami-Yoder (Saturday), at home against Byers (Oct. 20), then at Calhan (Oct. 27) to tie Stratton (1992-96) for the state mark of 48 in a row.
Limon led 50-0 at halftime and handled it just like a week earlier in a tough home victory at Burlington – the Badgers played hard and modestly took another step in a glorious run.
“I’ll tell you what, I’ve been about as proud of them for that as anything,” O’Dwyer said. “I think that’s the mentality of our discussing the streak, which is nice, but our ultimate goal is to be a state champion. They’ve handled it.”
In a legendary program that also includes eight recent student-athletes of high character honored by the National Football Foundation and Jake Stone, The Denver Post 2001 Gold Helmet winner, O’Dwyer said he and others regularly discuss with the players “that it’s OK to be successful. There’s nothing wrong with that … and our kids’ attitude is good.”
Note
The Denver Broncos high school coach of the week, in its 11th year, will have 10 honorees in the regular season. NFL Charities will present a check for $1,000 to the school’s program. Lakewood’s Mark Robinson, Pueblo East’s Rick Upchurch, Cherokee Trail’s Monte Thelen, Wheat Ridge’s Reid Kahl and Pueblo County’s Jeff Wilson are previous winners in 2006. A coach of the year will be announced at the Broncos’ Dec. 31 game against the San Francisco 49ers at Invesco Field at Mile High and receive $2,000. Coaches are selected from a panel consisting of Neil H. Devlin, The Denver Post; Billy Thompson, the Broncos; Marcia Neville, KCNC-4; and Andy Lindahl, KOA 850 AM.
