In an effort to keep continuity in its football program, Ron McFarland has been elevated to interim head coach at Denver East.
McFarland, who had been East’s defensive coordinator for the past three seasons, takes over for Ron Woolfork. Woolfork took Overland’s job earlier this month.
It will be McFarland’s second stint as coach at East. He headed the program from 1998-99, where he was part of a rebuilding project.
“Second time’s the charm.” McFarland said today. “I’m really hyped about it.”
East has made the playoffs the past three seasons. East athletic director Andy Mendelsberg said he thought McFarland could maintain that progress.
“He’s got quite a bit of parental support behind him right now, and the kids want to keep that stability as well,” Mendelsberg said. “They feel like they’re on the verge of building a good program. Ron Woolfork did a really good job for us, but certainly the job wasn’t done when he left.”
McFarland doesn’t envision changing much in terms of his system.
“Until we get the old down pat, we won’t put anything new in,” he said.
McFarland will be evaluated after the season, Mendelsberg said, and will get a look at keeping the job on a permanent basis. However, at that point, the coaching search may broaden.
“We think we’ll have a bigger candidate pool after the football season ends rather than a month before everybody gets going,” he said.
Mendelsberg said the timing of Woolfork’s departure was problematic. The team had already started summer conditioning, and seven-on-seven drills were underway as well.
“That made it even more difficult to get a new person in there and try to revamp our seven-on-seven’s and our conditioning program with a new coach and just go through that whole process,” he said. “Timing-wise, it just made a lot more sense to try and keep continuity with Ron McFarland being there.”
McFarland spent five seasons as coach at Denver South before leaving in 1997.
He played football at Iowa State from 1973-77, where he was a second-team All-American pick as a noseguard. He was also named to the Big 8 Conference’s all-time team.
Ryan Casey: 303-954-1983 or rcasey@denverpost.com
