By Jim Thomas

Two Montezuma-Cortez High School head coaches of fall varsity sports have announced their resignations. A baseball assistant has also quit. A new girls basketball assistant has been hired. And so it goes, coaches come and coaches go.

Dick Geddes, who has guided the football fortunes for the past seven seasons has decided to hang up his whistle. Jim Schulz, who has led the boys soccer program for the past three years, also decided to end it. Baseball assistant Randy Carver also submitted his resignation. The lone person coming on board is Scott Ortman. Action was taken on these personnel matters at the regular Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 Board meeting on Nov. 16.

During his tenure, Geddes had two winning seasons. The 1994 team advanced to the Class 3A Playoff Quarterfinals. In 1998 his team went 6-4 and this season’s team fell just short with a 4-5 record as a Class 4A independent. A highlight this year was an amazing 52-46 win at Aztec, N.M.

"Dick is a consummate professional," Brad Jones, MCHS athletic director, said. "He has all the qualities of a good coach. He understands how to take care of his program, inventory, and do all the extra things a good coach does."

Hint of Geddes’ impending resignation came when he was upset with his players following a lopsided loss to Delta earlier in the season. In earlier off-seasons he found it hard to motivate his players especially during the summer to go to camps or even compete in a local passing league. Some players refused to lift weights during the off-season as a result some of his teams were usually smaller, weaker, and slower than many of their opponents.

His team’s on offense were always fun to watch, though. Since bringing the run-and-shoot offense to MCHS, the Panthers have led passing statistics three of those years including this year and last year. He also was not afraid to use end-arounds, double reverses, quarterback draws, and fake punts when situations called for it. It was not uncommon for him to tell his players to go for the first down when facing fourth-and-long at times.

Geddes certainly was knowledgeable about the game of football. He was a standout in high school and college in Illinois. He played lineman for a short time with the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League.

"It was unfortunate he did not have more success here. It was not because of his lack of organization or his lack of effort, or understandment of the game," Jones added. "As both an athletic director and as a parent of a former player, I appreciate all that he has done for the program. And I wish him well in what ever he decides to do."

For many of those years, the Panthers were always competitive. The only sore spot for Geddes was not being able to beat nearby Durango. His team came close a couple years ago, though.

"We didn’t have a lot of wins as compared to losses (27-40) but we maximized mileage with the players we had," Geddes commented. "We often adjusted our style to take advantage of the talent we had. I would have to say our teams improved greatly every year. I think we excelled at turning boys into young men and that’s what high school athletics is all about."

Geddes will continue to teach physical education through the remainder of this school year. He indicated he is not sure about future plans.

"I wish absolutely the best of luck to all players and coaches in the future. And most of all to the football boys and coaches. But the time has come for me to hang up my whistle," he added.

As for the Panthers for the next two years anyway, they will competing as a Class 3A team in the far-flung Western Slope League.

Paul Dellacroce took the boys soccer program from infancy to a maturing program. Kevin McGarigal brought the technical and tactical aspects to the program. Schulz, in three seasons, refined both technical and tactical aspects and he took the program a step forward. The Panthers not only became competitive against the Grand Junction area teams, they were beating them more often than not. Bas Dommerholt, a Dutch foreign exchange student who played and still holds scoring records at MCHS some six years ago, said the program is much better then now than it was then. Dommerholt returned to the area to work on a college release program and was an assistant under Schulz this past season.

Like earlier Panther teams, they sometimes had problems finishing on goal. They always seemed to have pretty good defensive players. With highlights sometimes there are low lights. Several key players were kicked off this year’s team for training rule violations during a road trip. The Panthers went from being a good team to a mediocre one.

Schulz also was knowledgeable about soccer and brought many new schemes and tactics to the program. His teams always seemed like they were in shape and they could run up and down the field.

He currently does social work in Shiprock, N.M., and will continue to work there but reside in Cortez. The Panther soccer team will continue to play in Class 4A for the next two years.

"Jim stepped into a difficult situation, trying to coach a team from long distance.

He had a successful run here and I think the team improved. Unfortunately our numbers were down (this season) but he did some nice work in taking us forward to the next level," Jones said.

Ideally, Jones said he would like to have both positions filled as soon as possible so the coaches can get in some work during the spring. However, he said they may have to wait and see if there are any teaching positions and that would be towards the end of the school year or early summer. He reported no decision has been made as to exactly when the positions would be filled.