Scott Conklin addressed the Panthers football team on Tuesday afternoon as interim head coach, settling days of uncertainty and speculation about the Montezuma-Cortez coaching staff.
“What happened yesterday (Monday) is in the past, and we’re moving forward, from today on,” he said.
Conklin was referring to the stated resignations of assistant coaches, and later, to the firing of first-year head coach Dave Wagner.
Now that the dust has settled, Conklin and the Panthers say they’re ready to move forward.
What happened?
Athletic director Stacey Hall confirmed Wednesday that Wagner was fired Monday afternoon and that assistant coach Conklin was named interim head coach Monday evening.
Hall declined to discuss the reasons for Wagner’s firing, but the assistants said the staff controversy stemmed from Wagner’s insistence to run a spread offense and his refusal to punt.
“He asked all four of us, ‘What do you want to run?’” Keith Mikhail said. “Everyone said double-wing. All four coaches. He showed up later that night and said, ‘You know what? I’m the head coach, I do what I want, and we’re running the air raid,’” Mikhail said.
Assistant coaches also said they disagreed with Wagner’s refusal to punt on fourth downs.
“We told him we needed to punt the football,” Mikhail continued. “All of us coaches told him that, and he said, ‘It’s my team, I do what I want.’”
“I never said, ‘I do what I want,’” Wagner said in a text message on Thursday. “I said, ‘I am the head coach and it’s my decision.’”
Wagner also said that he had told administrators and assistants that he didn’t punt since his initial interview, and that he decided to go back to the spread offense after watching film of Miyamura against the double-wing.
The squabble continued after the Panthers’ 29-12 loss at Aspen on Friday, and led assistant coaches Conklin, Tim Robinson, Kirby Case and Mikhail to complain to administrators.
While some of coaches claimed to have quit, or expressed a desire to resign, there were no official, signed resignations.
Hall confirmed that she spoke with Conklin over the weekend and that Principal Jason Wayman spoke with Robinson, but she declined to comment on whether any resignation was official. Hall also said that she spoke Monday with Wayman about the football program.
When asked who was responsible for hiring and firing coaches, Hall said, “That’s a decision that’s made by multiple people.”
Mikhail said that he also spoke with administrators on Monday, and according to Wagner, Case quit Monday morning.
“I think that a lot of people in the town think that we quit because we lost,” Mikhail said Monday evening. “That’s not the situation.”
According to Wagner, Wayman fired him on Monday at 3:45 p.m.
“That was it,” Wagner said. “They called me in and said I’m no longer the head coach.”
Hall would not comment on the motivation for firing Wagner, or say who fired him, adding, “We all spoke with him.”
Wagner speculated that he was fired because of the uncertain state of his staff.
“I lost four of my coaches, and that’s about it pretty much,” he said. “This is it: They didn’t want my package, so they quit.”
Mikhail opposed Wagner’s game plan, but added that there were other reasons for the assistants’ uprising.
“What we did today wasn’t for us,” he said on Monday. “It wasn’t because we were getting treated unfairly or anything like that. We wanted what was best for the kids.”
“All of us coaches – me, Scott, Robinson – we wanted the program to go in one direction, and (Wagner) was in a total opposite direction,” Mikhail said. “We left it up to the administration in hopes that they were going to do the right thing. And that’s what they did.”
“All of us coaches talked to Dr. Wayman,” Mikhail said. “We talked to Stacey Hall. And I feel like right now, we’re all on the same page.”
The new chapter for M-CHS begins with former offensive coordinator Conklin as interim head coach. Mikhail remains as defensive coordinator, and Robinson and Case remain as assistants. Wagner is out of a coaching job, but he’ll remain at M-CHS as a social studies teacher.
The realigned staff is busy implementing its favored double-wing offense and preparing for a home game Friday against Miyamura High School.
“We’re not changing a lot,” Conklin said. “Just the offensive scheme. Defense is still going to be the same.”
“We’re not changing, that’s the thing,” Mikhail chipped in. “We’re picking a direction, and we’re moving forward.”
“I think that the kids are ready to move on,” athletic director Hall said on Wednesday morning. “Kids are resilient, and they can adjust sometimes better than adults can. I think that they’ll pick up and go from here, and they are looking for a successful season like we’re coming off of.”
