For the third time in five years, Valor Christian will have a new head football coach on the sidelines next fall.
Donnie Yantis announced Friday on Twitter that he is stepping down from the position after two seasons and two Class 5A title game trips to take the same gig with Prestonwood Christian Academy, a prep football power in Plano, Texas.
“I am grateful to all the young men that allowed me to be their football coach … the Valor staff, community and my football staff,” Yantis tweeted. “We created some great friendships that will (last) a lifetime. We had a great two-year run and developed these young men both on and off the field in their: Faith, Family, Academically, and Athletically.”
Valor athletic director Brian Bonn said Yantis informed the team and administrators Friday before the news broke.
The move allows Yantis and his wife to move closer to their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren in Texas, while also leading a program that posted six seasons with 10-plus wins in the past decade but was 7-5 in 2021.
“We’re thankful for his time (at Valor),” Bonn said Friday. “The real storyline is that Donnie gets to go be with his grandkids in Texas. We can’t preach family and then be upset when someone goes and takes a job to be with family. We have to encourage those situations.”
Yantis replaced Ed McCaffrey as Valor head coach after McCaffrey took the Northern Colorado job in 2020 following his own two-year run with the Eagles.
While Yantis inherited a talented team, headlined by 2021 Gold Helmet winner Gavin Sawchuk, the former Arizona State tight ends coach also had to deal with the stop-and-start COVID season in his first year on campus. The Eagles compiled a 20-2 record in Yantis’ two seasons, going undefeated in the regular season both years before losing 21-0 to Cherry Creek in successive 5A title games.
“We absolutely love what Donnie did here the last two years,” Bonn said. “He went through a daunting task as a brand new coach in Colorado and I thought he did it really, really well.”
Bonn said the school plans to post the opening on its website “immediately,” and he hopes to start accepting applications as soon as this weekend.
“We will take as long as it takes to make sure we bring in the right person,” Bonn said. “Valor has a rich tradition of having a very high-level football program, not just in winning football games but in the way that we represent our community… We don’t plan on diverting from that. We want to continue to seek out the best coaches in the nation to try and come and be the best that they possibly can be.”
