Parker – He’s not tired of coaching. Not at all. Ed Stevens would be out there with leather helmets if it was allowed.
No, it has more to do with the numerous financial quirks for teacher-coaches. If they work past a certain age and depending where they toiled with teenagers, there can be repercussions involving retirement packages.
It’s one of the many sets of handcuffs in today’s American school system that has a direct impact on athletics, but that’s a story for another day.
In their third week of elimination football, the Chaparral Wolverines are setting standards in their fifth season in Class 5A. They are celebrating 10 years of play with their first 5A quarterfinals showing and have further deepened their district’s (Douglas County) hold on Colorado’s upper levels.
For Stevens, the 54-year-old who has been Chaparral’s only head coach – the Wolverines began with freshmen in 1997 – and a former longtime figure in Jefferson County, he’s taking this possibly-last-game stuff lightly.
“I was a little nervous, but I’m not this week,” Stevens said. “Let’s go play, and whatever happens, happens.”
It’s Chaparral’s turn to try to take down top-seeded and undefeated Mullen, a first meeting between two schools that offers the options of ending an era, continuing one or beginning another. In his 33rd year, Stevens can have it end on the natural surface at Brother Bernard Kinneavy de La Salle Stadium and simply be another victim of the ultra-talented Mustangs (11-0) on their next step toward a title. Or Stevens can have his overachieving team continue its run, coach for at least another week and watch his program reach another height.
No matter what happens, Stevens said, “it’s a helluva way to go out.”
Of course, football coaches love it when their kids get it – and can do it. Such is the case for the 2006 Wolverines. Stevens is a former player, a larger man. So don’t be surprised he used to rely exclusively on the robust attack, as in a brand of football generally regarded as limited, boring and about as fun to watch as the Oakland Raiders.
The physical aspects of the game have always been highest on his list. He relented to a degree when joining 5A in 2002 by keeping more of an open mind about offensive approach, but it remains for Stevens “about power and hitting and defense.”
After a rough first half of the season, Chaparral got it. At 2-3, including a one-point loss in the opener to Arapahoe, a 49-6 whipping at the hands of defending state champ Douglas County and a 27-0 drubbing for homecoming against Heritage in which Stevens said the Wolverines “were just horrible,” they began proving they can do it with muscle, as evidenced by their first victory over Ponderosa. The next week, they knocked Mountain Vista from the undefeated ranks. Decisive victories over Regis, Rangeview, Eaglecrest and Overland have Chaparral on its best big-school roll.
“We didn’t have a breather game in there,” Stevens said.
Perhaps not, but that’s what can happen when your area erupts. Chaparral may be trying to join the district’s party a little later than it wanted, but it’s getting there. With Ponderosa (2003) and Douglas County (2005) winning two of the past three big-school titles and ThunderRidge being a two-time defending 4A titlist, Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch and Parker have interrupted the reigns of previous powers in Jefferson County and Denver.
Stevens already knows about a changing of the guard and becoming a part of history. A player in the 1960s at Arvada, back when they were known as the Redskins and a mere eight teams made the playoffs, one of his coaches was Irv Brown, who was a popular official and radio personality.
In Stevens’ first coaching assignment, he was an assistant at Bishop Machebeuf to Pat Panek. The game was against Limon and Lloyd Gaskill. Little did Stevens grasp that the matchup, won by Bishop Machebeuf 7-0, involved two of Colorado’s most legendary coaches. The after-game dinner with the two old-timers seemed business as usual for a wide-eyed young man who wanted to end up much like them.
“Now, it’s a treasured moment,” Stevens said.
So are his memories of eight years as an assistant at Alameda, then his first head coaching job, at Wheat Ridge from 1984-96. The Farmers won Stevens’ second state title that final year, two years after going undefeated for his first. He also led them to the 1992 baseball championship.
A fiery man – you could see steam coming off him when Colorado Friday nights in the fall started to turn cold – who generally is the same handling wins and losses, Stevens was never afraid to give a player a kick in his rear or a hug, whichever was needed.
His tough-love approach, handed down to him and ready to be passed on, has a chance to endure, even in one of today’s suburban schools.
But, he hopes, it’s delayed for three more weekends.
“Our kids have been playing great,” Stevens said. “We’re going to go out there, hit them and see what happens.”
Staff writer Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
