Mead’s “Effort Modification Coach” has his fingerprints all over the state championship on Saturday.
As the Mavericks seek their first football title in 75 years, Colorado coaching legend Gary Klatt will be on the sidelines inside Canvas Stadium as an assistant for his son, Mavericks head coach Jason Klatt.
The 79-year-old patriarch of one of Colorado’s most well-known football families — Jason’s younger brother Joel is a former CU Buffs quarterback and current Fox Sports college football analyst — has been here before. Gary guided Pomona to three state title games and one Class 4A crown in 1988 as head coach, mentoring countless players and coaches along the way.
Now he gets to relish another Saturday spent with Jason as he fulfills his role of player motivator and coacher of coaches.
“Jason’s a better coach than I was, even though our philosophy is very similar,” Gary said. “As for my job as Effort Modification Coach? Well, in other words, I don’t know really what’s going on (with the play-calling), but I can help the players go faster and exert more effort.”
For Gary, operating as the program’s “E.M.C.” is mostly about family time. Yes, he still has a passion for mentoring young men, a drive that was initially stoked as a second lieutenant in the Vietnam War. But for him, it’s all about the time he gets to spend with Jason, who built the Mavericks into a Class 3A force from humble beginnings when he took over the program in 2012.
At that time, the new Mead High School was just three years old. The original school operated from 1918 to 1961, with its lone state title, a six-man championship, coming in 1949. Jason recalls how he had only 30 players in the program and four assistant coaches his first season.
Fast forward 12 years, and the Mavs suited up 131 players between the C, JV and varsity levels this fall, with 17 coaches on the sidelines as the “backbone” of a program that’s become a perennial 3A contender. Three years ago, the Mavs played for the 3A title, narrowly losing to Fort Morgan in Pueblo. Now they’re back in the title game looking to take that final step.
“(In 2012) we were going into 3A competition and we were not ready, or very good, for that matter,” Jason said. “But we have had some unbelievable players, and seasons, around here.”
Along the way, Jason’s taken cues from Gary. That starts with the head coach’s focus on life development.
Each Thursday, Jason leads character talks with his team centered on how his players are growing as young men and contributors to society. That is why even though the Mavericks hope to end their season on Saturday in storybook fashion, if that doesn’t happen, Jason says, “It’s not the end-all, be-all.”
Jason speaks from experience, having been the quarterback for his dad’s Pomona team that lost a heartbreaker to Boulder in the 1992 Class 6A title game. A missed extra point and missed field goal cost the Panthers the championship in a 10-9 defeat.
“I would love to be able to hand over the trophy to our guys on Saturday … but our focus is on our players being very successful in life,” Jason said. “(The 1992 title game), I don’t really remember that day as win or lose. I remember that day as the memories of the guys from that day, the team, the time with my dad and all those lessons that came from that experience.”
Jason called his dad “a massive influence” in his life and on his coaching.
“He’s the only guy I’ve ever been around who can coach in 1975, or 1995, or 2024,” Jason said. “He can coach kids across all those eras. The kids love him. He really helps our coaches. He helps us with everything from relationships to character-building to scheme.”
Gary’s Marine Corps background also seeps into the Mead program, bringing some of the same regimented details that were staples of his Pomona teams decades ago.
The Mavericks do not take their helmets off at practice. Jason does an “inspection” of players’ dress attire when boarding the bus before a game. And Mead marches into the stadium in neat columns of two, like “a Marine rifle company marching in,” Gary says.
And it’s not just the 3A showdown between Mead and Thompson Valley that Gary’s influence extends to on Saturday. In 5A, as Cherry Creek goes for its fifth title in the last six years, Bruins boss Dave Logan recalled how his first coaching gig after his NFL career ended came as Pomona’s passing game coordinator under Gary in 1985.
“Coach Klatt was so gracious to me,” said Logan, who is going for his 12th state title. “I was struck by how disciplined he was, and how efficiently he ran practice. Gary Klatt is an iconic high school coach, and I learned so much from him that one season. I learned, as I eventually became a head coach (at Arvada West in 1993), that coaching was what I wanted to do.”
While Logan’s Bruins are heavy favorites against Legend, Mead (11-1) and Thompson Valley (13-0) are evenly matched. But the Mavericks, who are highlighted by senior quarterback Christian Hiner, sophomore running back Ethan Elmore and junior linebacker Josh Gonsalves, believe they’ve been building toward a crowning moment at Canvas Stadium.
“We’re battle-tested,” senior lineman Grant Gordon said. “We’ve had some really tough games — Pomona, Pueblo Central, our cross-town rival Fredrick, (2023 champion) Holy Family, our lone loss to Windsor. But behind Coach Klatt, and also with our ‘E.M.C.’ in our corner, we are ready for this moment.”
