After difficult season, Aspen High football less worried about wins, seeks growth
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Eric McCready doesn’t know if the Aspen High School football team he coaches will win more games than it did last season, when it finished a mere 2-7 overall.
He doesn’t really care, either.
What is important for the Skiers’ second-year head man — he spent the four seasons prior as an assistant — is internal development by the players. And in that case, he’s already winning.
“I never focus on wins and losses. That’s just not who I am. That’s not how I coach. I’m focused on development — development of young men, first and foremost,” he said Wednesday. “Are we ahead of where we were last year? Yes, for sure. Do I know what that is going to translate to in wins and losses? I have no idea. But you can hear it in my voice. Yeah, I’m very happy about the development and where we’ve come.”
The 2022 football season was a challenge for the Skiers, and it had little to do with X’s or O’s. On Aug. 18, only days before the start of the school year, senior-to-be Carson Clettenberg died in a tragic accident. He was a member of the AHS football team, and his death made the team’s record seem trivial.
There were life lessons that no coach ever hopes his players must learn, but McCready saw his team take the challenge head on either way.
“What we went through last year was more than any of our kids should have had to deal with during the football season,” he said. “I had never had a more difficult season keeping it together, and I think the maturity of our players was huge last year. … Incredible growth for these kids. I would say that’s what has been so great between last year and this year. So many really great things that our community has rallied around and been able to provide for our student-athletes.”
This includes the school’s new weight room, which officially opened last January, an addition that will help this year’s roster replace some key pieces from 2022, notably quarterback and all-around standout Nate Thomas, who signed with the Colorado School of Mines.
Senior Tanner Benson will take the snaps for the Skiers to begin this season, although McCready is more excited about the team aspect, saying he doesn’t think the Skiers will have too many individual stars.
“It feels like we are where we want to be from a development standpoint,” the coach said. “You always talk about some of the really strong individual players, and I don’t think you’ll even see that this year. I think you’ll see 11, 13, 14 guys who are really going to get a lot of snaps. You are going to notice they are all very similar. It’s going to be more of a team effort.”
Even though official practices only began last week (Aug. 7), Zero Week is here, and the Skiers’ 2023 season will get underway Friday with a 7 p.m. non-league home game against Glenwood Springs. While AHS limped to a 2-7 mark, beating only Battle Mountain and Coal Ridge along the way, the Demons went 5-5 last fall and are a trendy pick to do even better this season with senior quarterback Joaquin Sandoval back under center.
For McCready, it’s the perfect way to begin the season.
“I do love that we are getting a valley game the first game of the season,” he said. “It’s not going to be hard for these kids to get up for this game. I would say the most difficult part for these valley games are going to be getting the kids in their first couple of snaps to calm down and relax. Glenwood has some studs.”
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