During this past offseason, Mead High School added former CU Interim Head Coach Mike Sanford as a member of the coaching staff.
“I think it’s a great fit,” said Coach Sanford. “Coach Klatt shares the same ideals that I do about being a positive role model.”
Coach Sanford’s positive, leadership-based mentality is vital to building a solid football team and turning these boys into men during their time at Mead High School.
“I’ve always thought that the most important role of a coach is being a mentor, being a teacher, and really caring about the people you’re entrusted with,” he said.
His coaching style, similar to that of Coach Klatt’s style of building positive relationships, stretches beyond just the sport of football, but to the player’s personal lives and their connection to one another.
“What I love about high school football is the purity of it, that you can truly make it about relationships,” said Sanford. “There’s players out here that are first time football players, so you can actually see growth immediately. Whereas at the college level, for the most part, everybody’s close to a finished product.”
Football has been an integral part of Sanfords life. He was a coach’s kid, ball boy, water boy, and then an actual player. In college, Sanford played football as a quarterback for Boise State University. One of Sanford’s most influential mentors at Boise was his position coach, Chris Peterson, who “ended up being one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, in [his] book.”
“I think people like that had a real impact on my life [and] why I got into coaching,” said Sanford.
Since Coach Sanford’s introduction to MHS, he has become accustomed to the values and family within the MHS community. “[At the] homecoming parade, just seeing streets lined with people and just the pride that this community has, it was really fun for me and my family,” he said.
Sanford also compared the homecoming game pride to “Friday Night Lights”, a movie which adapted a similar tradition in Texas.
This journey to volunteer for the MHS football team started when Coach Klatt’s “Uncle Randy,” Sanford’s neighbor, convinced Sanford to meet Klatt at the Red Rooster for lunch and chicken sandwich.
As the football season progresses, it’s evident that Coach Sanford has found a home at MHS. His attitude towards football and his efforts to help Coach Klatt build these young men up make him an exceptional find. Coach Sanford’s efforts at Mead have made his athletes better both on and off the field. Coach Sanford’s addition to the coaching staff has proven beneficial to MHS football and can only continue to improve as he becomes more comfortable within the MHS community.
