About 40 parents and 17 students attended Sedona Red Rock High School’s second informational session on restarting the school’s defunct tackle football program on Wednesday, Feb. 12.

The district had canceled the program on May 5, 2020, due to lack of interest.

“Over the last four seasons, the SRRHS teams have had an average of 25 players on the roster to start the season,” the Sedona Red Rock News reported following the May 2020 decision. “Between injuries, players becoming ineligible due to grades or players leaving the team for other reasons, that average decreased to 15.5 by the end of the season.”

Superintendent Tom Swaninger stated that 42 students have expressed interest and that he anticipated being able to recruit between 20 and 25 players.

“When you’ve got a big dream … you can find every reason not to do that and there are people out there that will give you every reason not to do this ‘yeah,’ ‘but,’ ‘well, it didn’t work before because,’ ‘you’ll never get there,’” Swaninger said to a parent during the meeting. “If we’re going to build this district into what it can be, to me, this type of [program] is going to be one of those cornerstone pieces.”

If the district brings the program back, the Arizona Interscholastic Association has approved moving SRRHS from Division 2A into 1A, which requires a smaller eight-man team and plays games on a shorter field of 80 yards. The decision followed two prior appeals that failed.

“1A is our smallest conference, but it’s [a] pretty competitive conference,” AIA board member and recently-retired Yavapai County Superintendent Tim Carter said.

Physical education teacher Sean Eicher said that the smaller team size would reduce the number of players needed to between 20 and 25 and reduce the chances of players being overextended.

“I will be involved with the football program,” Eicher said. “My goal is to probably be the strength and conditioning guy, so hitting in the weight room … The reason I know I have to be part of the program is because this is what I’ve been trying to bring back for the last four years and all these kids, I know, if I’m part of it, will play for me.”

“I’ve had a lot of kids saying that a high school doesn’t feel like a high school without a football team,” Eicher continued. “They want to be able to have Friday Night Lights again. It’s Sedona. It’s a big community, we want people around. Friday night is where we look forward to being able to see people hit each other and represent our school.”

“We used to do a … POW-MIA game to honor the prisoners of war and missing in action military personnel, and they used to do a firework show, so we’ll see if we can bring some of that stuff back,” athletic director John Parks said.

“There is some level of risk in any sport that you participate in,” Swaninger said. “One of the key components is hiring coaches that are able to teach proper technique and proper game strategy, to best ensure that we’re reducing the level of risk. Now, football is America’s sport … it is. By no means. Are we the outlier by  offering football? We are the outlier by not offering football … We’ll never completely eliminate the risk, but we’ll do what we can to best ensure the safety of all of our students.”

Parks said that games would be ticketed; the current admission price for ticketed SOCSD games is $5 for adults and $3 for students and younger children.

“We have some additional funding that’s come to us,” Swaninger said, referring to a recent $10 million increase in the Sedona Educational Foundation’s endowment. “Out of all the high school athletics, sports, football is the most expensive. It also can generate the most money as well.”

Parks estimated the annual cost of the program would be “ a round $10,000,” while the district’s estimate for the cost to restart the program is between $30,000 and $50,000.

“As a parent, my biggest concern is the commitment of not only the other parents in the community, but also the administrators,” said Heather Stimple said, mentioning how previous Head Coach Bob Young decided to resign the position a month before the May 2020 decision to end the program. Young had previously coached at Mingus Union High School from 1986 to 1997 and again from 2000 to 2017, leading MUHS to a state championship in 1997.

“We’ve had so many people leave, and that was a big problem,” she said.  “I have no problem with committing [to] football. I love it. I want my sons to be involved in it, and I will help in any way I can.  But it’s also recruiting the community and getting other adults to commit.”

“That is one of the things that we’ll be looking for in the hiring process,” Swaninger said, adding that district staff plan to survey parents to determine their support. He said that a decision on the program should be made within the next month and that it will be an administrative decision that will not go before the board.

Parks said he had received either three or four applications for the head coach’s position but did not know the number of applicants for the assistant’s position.

If the program is reinstated, spring practice would run from April 28 through May 16, followed by regular practice starting July 29, and a season starting date of Aug. 20.

Spring practice would allow “the coach to get to know the players, run some drills, some aerobic training … [and] going over the rules,” Swaninger explained.

“It would be something new for me because I’ve never played tackle football,” said Jackson Maher, who will be a freshman in the fall. “Football is one of my favorite sports to play, so I’m excited to play against people who are older than me, see how good other people are compared to me, and it would be a great learning experience for me.”