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Friday, March 9, 2012 | 8:54 p.m.
Coach Gerber
Sun coverage
Matt Gerber would have been content staying as an assistant high school football coach. Then, the head coaching position opened at Durango High.
Gerber, who was on Durango’s staff from 1998 to 2005, was hired Friday as the Trailblazers’ new coach. He was Green Valley High’s head coach for five years through the 2010 season before spending last year as the offensive coordinator at Silverado.
“I didn’t think it would happen this quickly,” Gerber said of returning to the role of a head coach. “The opportunity arose and I certainly jumped at it. Durango was No. 1 on the list of places I wanted to get back to.”
The time off from the demands of being a head coach has helped recharge batteries. At Durango, he replaces Gary Maki.
“It was really nice getting back to just focus on the game aspect of coaching,” Gerber said of his year at Silverado. “But what I learned is that I enjoy the other stuff (involved in running a program). I really felt the need to put the stamp on my career. I wanted to go out on my terms. I have a lot of unfinished business.”
Gerber was Durango’s offensive coordinator in 2001 when it captured the Sunset Regional title. He also helped coach Jamaal Brimmer, the school’s best all-time athlete who led them in 1999 to a deep playoff run before becoming an All-American at UNLV.
At Green Valley, Gerber posted a 24-30 record and in 2008 led the Gators to their first playoff victory in 11 seasons.
Durango took fourth in the Southwest Division last year and lost in the Sunset quarterfinals to Palo Verde. They return one of the best backfields in the Las Vegas Valley with rising senior running backs Marcus Williams and A.J. McQuaig, and quarterback Scott Martinez.
“They’ll be very happy with our offense,” said Gerber, who is known for his run-first playing calling.
Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or ray.brewer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21.
He's terrible!
Another retread. Why are these schools so afraid to hire young coaches w a lot of fire and energy, that will put in the extra time and effort to build a program. Another spread coach like his predecessor when this team is obviously built to be a power run team.
I hope he proves me wrong and does a lot better than he did at Green Valley, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Scary thing is I believe he's good friends with Maki (who they fired). Hope he at least let's all the kids start w a clean slate instead of listening to any advice from Maki.
Good luck Durango. It'd be nice to see you live up to all the talent you have.
Probably should have hired a coach from Bishop Gorman. #winning
Gerber is decent, not his dad, but decent. I agree with LVfootball that maybe they should give some fresher blood a try but with the pay I don't know how many worthwhile candidates put their hat in that ring. Id love to know how many applied. Plus they gotta pass pretty thorough background checks maybe that's why they settle sometimes. Good look to durango the new 3A excuse me 4A Light has a good competition for 2nd place as I see Cheyenne dominating that new division.
Tuasdad, I understand several kids have or are transferring out of Cheyenne. Plus they lost several Srs. Milo is a very good back but not much help for him. Not sure why you made the comment though, Durango wasn't dropped down. Just moved over to Palo's division. Durango has the biggest backfield. McQuaig is now about 230 lb and benching a car. Germaine is 225 and a beast. And Williams is the 205 and one of the top athletes in the country.
Hey, but isn't great we're already talking about football in march.
If anyone has any news on other kids or what's happening at any of the schools please share info. It's great to hear about local kids and football.
for some reason I thought Durango was dropped to 4A Lite...thanks for correcting. I wasn't privy to the Cheyenne transfers....even with that, they've always been tremendously athletic and that alone will keep them competing in the lower division. I still think open enrollment will see a good portion of their best players follow open enrollment into the regular 4A programs just for the sake of playing for a more meaningful title.
That said however this whole thing shakes out, I hope they don't send Reed to represent NV in the Sollenberger classic this year. If it took Gorman three tries, and a solid McQueen team got blown out, I'd hate to see what they'd do to Reed.
Tuasdad, I have some more bad news. Gorman was not asked back for Sollenberger classic. Apparently no teams from Nevada. I heard they (AZ) are playing Colo. Teams.