Kofa, Yuma High have new football coaches
Crims hire from within; Kings go outside the area
The Yuma High and Kofa football programs will be moving in a new direction after Curt Weber (Yuma High) and David Diehl (Kofa) each resigned following the 2019 season.
Yuma High decided to hire from within, promoting Bo Seibel to head coach, while Kofa went outside the area for its hire, settling on David Bartlett.
Seibel, who’s been the Criminals’ defensive coordinator since 2018, is excited for the opportunity to continue to build the program.
“First off, I was just blessed for the opportunity,” Seibel said. “I look forward to working with the kids I look forward to keep building the program and getting it to where we’re getting the community back involved. I was told Yuma High has some great tradition and I just look forward to getting it back.”
Seibel will have some obstacles his first year as the head coach, as he’s inheriting a team that’s gone 12-38 over the last five seasons. However, the new head coach expects to win games in year one.
“Obviously, the goal is to win games,” he said. “At the same time, we’re preparing the studentathletes for life while on and off the field to see them grow as individuals. I know the coaching staff is going to put in the time. I know the players are going to put in the time. Once we get that recipe together, good things will happen.”
Seibel is a defensive-minded coach. But one focal point for the Criminals last season was their inability to produce points (11 points per game). Yet, in their eight losses, the Criminals averaged just 4.5 points per game. Seibel is hoping to change the offensive dynamic by bringing in several new assistants to help on that side of the ball.
The Kofa Kings, meanwhile, decided to hire someone from outside the program as they’ll bring in Bartlett to be the new head football coach. Bartlett, who has over 20 years of high school and collegiate coaching (Sacramento City College), also played collegiate football at the University of California-Davis.
Bartlett is familiar with the Yuma area as he’s owned a home here for the past several years. And he’s always wanted the Kofa High School job.
“I’ve always said, ‘After I retire from California, I wanted to be the head football coach at Kofa,’” Bartlett said. “Going back through the years, I’d always drive by the school. The demographics and the stadium itself…Then meeting with (athletic director) David King and (principal) Mike Sharp, it just made it even better. They’re a great group of guys. My level of excitement is out of the roof.”
Bartlett is ready to hit the ground running but inherits a Kofa football team that has lost 21 consecutive games. That doesn’t bother the new Kings coach. He’s used to rebuilding broken programs.
“We’ve done this before,” he said. “We did this back at San Diego High when they were just dreadful. It’s not a new thing. It’s building a culture; a specific kind of culture and getting away from that individual mentality. We want to build a task oriented culture where kids buy-in…That’s why we’ll win.”
The Kings were shut out in six of their 10 games a season ago and Bartlett envisions bringing a fast, fun offense to Kofa.
“I don’t want to give too much away, but I’m a UC-Davis guy,” he said. “The coaching tree under Mike Bellotti includes Nick Aliotti and Chip Kelly, who have been very creative in that “Oregon” offense. That has a lot of foot prints in it and I have a lot of foot prints in that offense.”
“I also have my foot prints in the triple-option and veer offense. The combination, that you’ve probably never seen, Oregon is close to running it, is deadly if you know how to do it correctly and it’s unstoppable. When you ask what I’m going to run, it’s a zoneoption, but I really don’t want to give it away too much.”