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Faron Seibel stepped down earlier this fall as the Desert Oasis High football coach after two seasons. He led the Diamondbacks to the playoffs in both his years at the helm.
Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010 | 12:45 p.m.
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Faron Seibel stepped down earlier this month as the Desert Oasis High football coach.
Seibel led the Diamondbacks to the postseason in both of his years on the sideline, earning the respect of several in the prep football community for turning the young Desert Oasis program into one of the Sunset Region’s top teams.
Most new schools take a few years to develop into a winner, but Seibel had the Diamondbacks in the playoffs in their second and third year of existence. They placed second in the Southwest Division behind eventual state champion Bishop Gorman the last two years.
“It is kind of a two-edged sword,” Seibel said. “You hate to step away when things are rising to the top, but at the same time, there is no better time to step away when you are at the top.”
Desert Oasis returns most of its contributing players next year and has some of the best participation numbers — a key for building a program — in the city.
“Hopefully the school will put someone in place who can help the students keep this thing going,” Seibel said. “They are going to have some success.”
Green Valley High coach Matt Gerber.
Green Valley, Sunrise Mountain and Valley will also have new coaches.
Matt Gerber won’t return after five years as Green Valley’s head coach. Gerber’s tenure was highlighted by leading the Gators to the Sunrise Regional semifinals in 2008 — Green Valley’s first playoff win in more than a decade.
At Sunrise Mountain, Jason Basso will be replaced by Ky Edwards. The Miners didn’t win a game last year, and haven’t beaten a varsity opponent in the school’s 2-year history.
At Valley, Marcus Sherman replaced John Elwell. Elwell led the Vikings to the playoffs in two of his three years at the helm, and sent two players — Garic Wharton (Arizona) and Kerwynn Williams (Utah State) — to Division I football.
Sherman, a former graduate assistant at BYU, was the head coach at Cheyenne about 10 years ago. He also previously was an assistant at Valley.
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