Ed Eastin
School: Roosevelt Roughriders, Class 3A, ranked No. 6 in The Denver Post/9News 3A poll, Northern League, 8-1 (3-1 league), career record unavailable.
Coaching resume: Assistant at Iliff High School from 1971-76 (it became Caliche in 1973); head coach at Caliche from 1977-95; head coach at Roosevelt since 1996.
Lifelines: Age 63. Born in Kremmling. Graduated from West Grand High School in 1965 and Adams State in 1970, earned degrees in history and physical education. Has been retired from teaching for seven years.
Back in his day: Wide receiver and running back at West Grand from 1961-64.
Last week: “We’re getting back a little bit of that character,” Eastin said.
And what a convenient time — the Roughriders won a toughie on the road this past weekend at Erie, 32-21, forging a four-way league tie atop the Northern League with one week left in the regular season.
“I think they’ve started to understand how to win the tough games,” Eastin said. “It’s easy to win the easy games . . . and we’re all going to play each other.”
This weekend, Roosevelt hosts No. 8 Silver Creek and No. 4 Mountain View, which handed the Roughriders their only loss, will be at No. 7 Erie.
Turnovers were big for Roosevelt in downing Erie, both fumbles. One led to a short-field drive for a touchdown and the other was returned 57 yards for a score by Selso Luna.
Ultimately, fourth-quarter touchdown runs by Christian Kratz and Jason Lopez put it out of reach for Erie.
Eastin, who also has decades of experience coaching basketball and track and field, will be honored before the Silver Creek game. It will be the last regular-season game of his 40-year career.
He would prefer to avoid the attention, but he can’t wait for the game.
“What a way to end the regular season,” he said.
About the award
The Denver Broncos high school coach of the week award, in its 15th year, will have 10 honorees in the regular season. Primero’s Shelby Langford, Regis Jesuit’s Mark Nolan, Wray’s Levi Kramer, Burlington’s Glynn Higgs, Skyview’s Bill Nelson, Bethune’s Troy Hauxwell, John F. Kennedy’s Rich Martinez, Ralston Valley’s Matt Loyd and Eastin are the 2010 winners so far. The NFL Youth Football Fund will present a check for $1,000 to the school’s program. The coach of the year will be announced at the Broncos’ game against the San Diego Chargers on Jan. 2 at Invesco Field at Mile High and will receive $2,000. Coaches are selected from a panel consisting of Neil H. Devlin, The Denver Post; Billy Thompson, the Broncos; and Andy Lindahl, 850 AM.
