Dear Football Players and Families-
I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Todd Casebier. I am the new Dean of Students and Head Football Coach at Rifle High School. Normally I would already have had a parent meeting to get to know the families, but due to the craziness of Covid I am going to have our first parent meeting on March 6th at 11:30 a.m. at RHS Stadium. We can hold the meeting outside and have plenty of space to do so.
I have been in Western Colorado for most of my life. I grew up in Palisade and went to college at Fort Lewis in Durango. I was an assistant football coach and teacher at Farmington High School in New Mexico for a year and an assistant coach and teacher at Durango High School for seven seasons. Along the way, my wife Patty and I had our first child, Drew. My first Head coaching position was at Palisade High school. Our first year at Palisade, our daughter Katie was born. We were at Palisade for seven years and with the help of my staff had great success. We won the 2003 State Championship. From Palisade, we went to Montrose where I was the Head Coach for 10 years. Both our kids graduated from Montrose High School. Our time at Montrose was successful as well. We won the league seven times in 10 years and played in the 4A State Championship in 2013.
From Montrose, I was the Head Coach at Fruita Monument for three years and then Head Coach at Castle View High school in Castle Rock for three seasons. Both stops were successful. In both cases, the teams had not been successful in previous years. In both places, we won the first 5A playoff game in school history. While we enjoyed our time on the front range, we’re happy to be back in Western Colorado. Patty is the Academic Coach at Graham Mesa and we’re both excited about living in Rifle and continuing our careers here.
We begin football March 1 at 4:15. All players 9-12 are invited. The basketball players and wrestlers will join us after they finish their seasons. Players will need sweats and cleats. (I have several used cleats that players can borrow) We expect cold conditions so I recommend that players bring extra clothes. All players must have a current physical and all paperwork cleared at the high school with Jo Shaffer. They cannot begin practice without clearance from Jo.
The #1 concern I have for our football team is grades. We have many players who are ineligible or close to it. We will begin Bear Fridays on March 5. Bear Fridays will be 8:00-10:00am and players will work on school work. We will get tutors and teachers to help players with missing assignments. We plan on doing Bear Friday on March 5 and 12 and on April 2, 9 and 16.
We will checkout football gear on March 6. Players will be fitted for helmets, shoulder pads and other gear. CHSAA has specific rules regarding gear and contact and we will follow those rules.
We will practice FRIDAY AND SATURDAY on March 5 and 6 and March 12 and 13. Practice will be 9:45-11:45 on those days. All after-school practices will be 4:15-6:00. Parents can plan on picking up players at 6:15.
All other information we will go over at our parent meeting on March 6, at 11:30.
SPRING BREAK-(March 22-26) We will practice Monday-Thursday from 3:00-5:30. Our first home varsity game will be March 26 against Aspen. All players will have to be at practice on Wednesday and Thursday to play against Aspen on Friday. Obviously, we hope to have all our players at practice the entire week. Frosh parents can reach out to Jeremy Harrison with questions or concerns. (Frosh Head Coach 1-219-776-9808)
We will discuss many items at the parent meeting on March 6. Please plan on having at least one parent from your household attend. I will introduce the coaching staff, answer any questions, and go over football-related information.
I look forward to meeting you all in person.
Todd Casebier
970-216-1253
tcasebier@garfieldre2.net