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Gary Sharpe coaches up Nevada Union's freshman football team earlier this season. Sharpe has announced he is retiring as a coach after 36 seasons at his alma mater.
Gary Sharpe is going out a winner.
But, of course, that would have been the case even if Nevada Union's freshman football squad hadn't gone undefeated this fall.
Considering the coach's track record, there were plenty of opportunities to call it a career after such a season. The guy's been an incredibly consistent staple of success for an amazingly long time with the Miners, cranking out more league championships than he can even count.
Not that he's actually bothered to do so.
In fact, Sharpe's 1979 NU junior varsity team, led by quarterback Chris Cota, was among his teams that went through the season unbeaten.
Thirty years later Sharpe coached his final team, this year's NU freshman squad with co-head coach Greg Brown, to an identical 10-0 mark. And the Miners were led by none other than quarterback Kyle Cota, the son of Sharpe's former signal-caller three decades earlier.
“Oh my goodness,” Sharpe said. “It made me feel really old.”
In all, Sharpe has coached 36 seasons at his alma mater — Class of '67 — and won what he guessed to be “somewhere around 25” league championships.
The only reason he said his guess might be in the ballpark is because he and Bruce Kinseth, his former co-head coach of the NU JV team, once led the Miners to 14 consecutive crowns during a run that included 103 wins with just one league loss.
“It was 14 and half years without a league loss,” Sharpe said. “There were four or five preseason games we lost here and there, but in league we went 14 and a half years and then Grant (High) beat us with a last-second touchdown.
“Bruce and I were actually kind of relieved that it ended. That streak was really getting to be bigger than it should have been. It got to be a lot of pressure on the kids. They were just scared to death to be the ones to end the streak. It got to the point that we were playing more not to lose than to win.”
Sharpe started his coaching career in 1974 at the same level he finished, guiding a group of freshmen into their first year of high school football. In between were the 25 years he shared on the sideline with Kinseth at the JV level, before returning to coach the freshmen when Kinseth retired from coaching to focus on a promotion to assistant principal.
But through all those years, he never really considered looking for an opportunity to be a varsity head coach. Instead he took pride in preparing young men for the varsity level, working somewhat in the shadows and out of the glare of Friday night lights.
“To be a successful coach at the varsity level, it's got to be your life,” he said. “It's got to be something you do 12 months a year, every day. I see what Dave (Humphers, NU's varsity coach) does. There's no days off.
“I liked working with the kids at the freshman and JV levels, watching them mature and then go on to the varsity. And when our season was over, it was over. We didn't have to get ready for the next season until the following year.”
Rest assured NU's varsity coaches — Gary Musick (1972-75), Marshall Nixon ('76-83), Randy Blankenship ('84-90) and Humphers ('91-current) — were all thankful for having Gary Sharpe in the fold.
“He's been a longtime fixture here,” Humphers said. “He's a huge part of the success of Nevada Union football. Any story about ‘Miner Magic' has got to include Coach Sharpe. He knows the Wing-T (offense) as well as anybody in the country. And he works extremely well with young men.
“I hope after retiring he un-retires for about the 10th time. But I also feel real fortunate that he stuck around long enough to coach my own sons.”
Sharpe admits he's been kicking retirement around for awhile, but finally felt the time was right before the season kicked off this fall, even telling a local reporter to be sure to “put it down in print to make sure I do it.”
“I guess for the past 10 years it's been ‘one more year, one more year,'” Sharpe said. “I really enjoy the kids and more than anything I enjoy the relationship you have with them after the season and after school.
“You know, you'll have a student in P.E. and 20 years later see them on the street or at the store and they might come up and say ‘Hi.' But a football player will come up and hug you and shake your hand and you just remember them all. The connection is just amazing.”
One of Sharpe's favorite memories include coaching at NU when Bear River High School first opened, leaving him with a short roster: “We had 18 kids and had to go recruit kids in the school to just get to 22 or 23 players. We lost that first game, but went 9-0 after that.”
He also remembers beating De La Salle's junior varsity, which had not lost in nearly six years in the late '90s: “Bruce and I were watching that film and then we realized ‘No wonder we beat them. We had (Josh) Roenicke, (Spencer) Havner, (Jefferson) Heidelberger, (Logan) Carter and (Jason) Leach. I think there were five Division I guys on that team and two of them are professional athletes.”
His 1974 freshman team claimed the first football league title in school history: “And the same group won the school's first league championship (for Nixon) at the varsity level in '78.”
But another top moment came while coaching his son, Matt, during another undefeated season at the JV level: “We went down to Casa Roble in the 10th game of the year and both teams were undefeated. On the first play of the game (Matt) goes for a 70-yard touchdown and we ended up beating them pretty badly.
“Coaching my son was something special.”
Coaching at his alma mater was another.
“We'd always had a solid program, but when Randy and Dave came in and brought the Wing-T, it became a powerhouse overnight,” he said. “It really took off. When you have a program that you really take pride in and have that kind of success, it makes it a lot easier to come back out each year.”
Yet now, Sharpe says he's ready to continue life as a high school P.E. teacher, but without heading out to his night job for the first time in a career that spans nearly four decades.
“I'll miss Friday nights and the atmosphere,” he said. “But I'll be connected somehow.”
And, no doubt, the Miners will be better for it.
Brian Hamilton is sports editor at The Union. Contact him via e-mail at bhamilton@theunion.com or by phone at 477-4240.
But, of course, that would have been the case even if Nevada Union's freshman football squad hadn't gone undefeated this fall.
Considering the coach's track record, there were plenty of opportunities to call it a career after such a season. The guy's been an incredibly consistent staple of success for an amazingly long time with the Miners, cranking out more league championships than he can even count.
Not that he's actually bothered to do so.
In fact, Sharpe's 1979 NU junior varsity team, led by quarterback Chris Cota, was among his teams that went through the season unbeaten.
Thirty years later Sharpe coached his final team, this year's NU freshman squad with co-head coach Greg Brown, to an identical 10-0 mark. And the Miners were led by none other than quarterback Kyle Cota, the son of Sharpe's former signal-caller three decades earlier.
“Oh my goodness,” Sharpe said. “It made me feel really old.”
In all, Sharpe has coached 36 seasons at his alma mater — Class of '67 — and won what he guessed to be “somewhere around 25” league championships.
The only reason he said his guess might be in the ballpark is because he and Bruce Kinseth, his former co-head coach of the NU JV team, once led the Miners to 14 consecutive crowns during a run that included 103 wins with just one league loss.
“It was 14 and half years without a league loss,” Sharpe said. “There were four or five preseason games we lost here and there, but in league we went 14 and a half years and then Grant (High) beat us with a last-second touchdown.
“Bruce and I were actually kind of relieved that it ended. That streak was really getting to be bigger than it should have been. It got to be a lot of pressure on the kids. They were just scared to death to be the ones to end the streak. It got to the point that we were playing more not to lose than to win.”
Sharpe started his coaching career in 1974 at the same level he finished, guiding a group of freshmen into their first year of high school football. In between were the 25 years he shared on the sideline with Kinseth at the JV level, before returning to coach the freshmen when Kinseth retired from coaching to focus on a promotion to assistant principal.
But through all those years, he never really considered looking for an opportunity to be a varsity head coach. Instead he took pride in preparing young men for the varsity level, working somewhat in the shadows and out of the glare of Friday night lights.
“To be a successful coach at the varsity level, it's got to be your life,” he said. “It's got to be something you do 12 months a year, every day. I see what Dave (Humphers, NU's varsity coach) does. There's no days off.
“I liked working with the kids at the freshman and JV levels, watching them mature and then go on to the varsity. And when our season was over, it was over. We didn't have to get ready for the next season until the following year.”
Rest assured NU's varsity coaches — Gary Musick (1972-75), Marshall Nixon ('76-83), Randy Blankenship ('84-90) and Humphers ('91-current) — were all thankful for having Gary Sharpe in the fold.
“He's been a longtime fixture here,” Humphers said. “He's a huge part of the success of Nevada Union football. Any story about ‘Miner Magic' has got to include Coach Sharpe. He knows the Wing-T (offense) as well as anybody in the country. And he works extremely well with young men.
“I hope after retiring he un-retires for about the 10th time. But I also feel real fortunate that he stuck around long enough to coach my own sons.”
Sharpe admits he's been kicking retirement around for awhile, but finally felt the time was right before the season kicked off this fall, even telling a local reporter to be sure to “put it down in print to make sure I do it.”
“I guess for the past 10 years it's been ‘one more year, one more year,'” Sharpe said. “I really enjoy the kids and more than anything I enjoy the relationship you have with them after the season and after school.
“You know, you'll have a student in P.E. and 20 years later see them on the street or at the store and they might come up and say ‘Hi.' But a football player will come up and hug you and shake your hand and you just remember them all. The connection is just amazing.”
One of Sharpe's favorite memories include coaching at NU when Bear River High School first opened, leaving him with a short roster: “We had 18 kids and had to go recruit kids in the school to just get to 22 or 23 players. We lost that first game, but went 9-0 after that.”
He also remembers beating De La Salle's junior varsity, which had not lost in nearly six years in the late '90s: “Bruce and I were watching that film and then we realized ‘No wonder we beat them. We had (Josh) Roenicke, (Spencer) Havner, (Jefferson) Heidelberger, (Logan) Carter and (Jason) Leach. I think there were five Division I guys on that team and two of them are professional athletes.”
His 1974 freshman team claimed the first football league title in school history: “And the same group won the school's first league championship (for Nixon) at the varsity level in '78.”
But another top moment came while coaching his son, Matt, during another undefeated season at the JV level: “We went down to Casa Roble in the 10th game of the year and both teams were undefeated. On the first play of the game (Matt) goes for a 70-yard touchdown and we ended up beating them pretty badly.
“Coaching my son was something special.”
Coaching at his alma mater was another.
“We'd always had a solid program, but when Randy and Dave came in and brought the Wing-T, it became a powerhouse overnight,” he said. “It really took off. When you have a program that you really take pride in and have that kind of success, it makes it a lot easier to come back out each year.”
Yet now, Sharpe says he's ready to continue life as a high school P.E. teacher, but without heading out to his night job for the first time in a career that spans nearly four decades.
“I'll miss Friday nights and the atmosphere,” he said. “But I'll be connected somehow.”
And, no doubt, the Miners will be better for it.
Brian Hamilton is sports editor at The Union. Contact him via e-mail at bhamilton@theunion.com or by phone at 477-4240.
