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Three more MCHS coaches hired

David Pressgrove

Moffat County High School Athletic Director Jim Loughran has been busy this summer with eight head coaching positions needing to be filled before the start of the school year.

After Kip Hafey was named head football coach on Sunday, only the rodeo team sponsor remained on Loughran’s to do list.

“We had some good candidates for positions,” Loughran said. “It made it a hard job to pick one for each spot but we are excited about our decisions.”



The seven sports and the coaches that have been hired are: boys basketball, Mike LeWarne; boys soccer, Mick Havrilla; cross country, Dustin Ence; girls track, Vicki Haddan; volleyball, Rosie Lear; girls soccer, Carla Bamford; and football, Kip Hafey.

The most recently named coaches are Hafey, Bamford and Lear.



Hafey led the Bulldogs as a quarterback in high school to the state quarterfinals and hopes to be just as successful as a leader with headphones instead of a helmet.

“The team has a strong core of returning players,” said Hafey, who was an assistant on the football team for four years after coming from Palisade High School as an assistant there for two years. “We might not have any All-Americans, but if we focus on playing together as a team we should do well. I’m excited about the opportunity.”

Loughran said he hired Hafey because he thought he was energetic and he has a good relationship with the players.

Hafey, who is also the baseball coach, said he was looking at what worked best for the student athletes and the school, but he planned on remaining the head coach of both teams.

Bamford, who has been active in the Craig Youth Soccer Association and was an assistant for the girls team last year, will take her first head coaching job this fall.

She has a familiarity with the team since her daughter, Jeni, will be a senior on the squad.

“We have a solid returning group of seniors with what will be backed up by a good core of freshmen,” said Bamford.

“I look forward to coaching the team.”

The new coach said a new opportunity for the team this year will be a 10-game fall season.

“The girls will get to play together and to know each other before the spring season starts,” she said.

“That will also help me get a feel for them before the fast-paced spring season starts.”

New volleyball coach Rosie Lear will be a fresh face coming to Craig from Idaho. She was unavailable for comment.


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