Football: New coaches at Longmont, Legacy carving their own path

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Legacy High School's new head football coach planned to have some of his new staff meet with who'll likely be some of their biggest fans and critics this fall season -- team moms.

Kyle Rider, a longtime Lightning assistant coach who was promoted to the top spot, said he expected about six coaches and around 30 to 40 of his players' mothers to meet up and chat at a barbeque joint on Thursday night. As he put it, "this isn't just about football. It's about family."

Welcome to the all-encompassing job of a high school head football coach. It's that time of year.

"I want my guys to do the right thing all the time, even when no one is looking," said Rider, who hopes to bring his own culture to the program after taking over for 30-year head coach Jay Madden, who accepted the job at ThunderRidge after three seasons with the Lightning. "We want to prepare you for life after football, and after high school, and after we get you to graduate. I'm more about the whole person, not just the football player."

Rider, along with Longmont's Jordan Graff, are the new head football coaches in the BoCoPreps area this fall.

Rider spent 12 years as an assistant for the Lightning, and the last eight as the wide receivers coach and signal caller.

Graff is coming over to Longmont after a five-year stint at Erie, where he most recently was defensive coordinator."

"I just want to instill a culture of working hard, working harder than everybody else," said Graff, who becomes just the third football coach at Longmont in a half-century, following 25-year stints from Gordon Cramer and, most recently, Doug Johnson. "I feel like that's what Erie did more than pretty much anybody they were competing against. ... And I think Johnson already that here, so it hasn't been a big adjustment. We want to come from the standpoint that, if you work really hard and relentlessly, then you'll have the results you want."

Both Rider and Graff know the shadows they walk in, replacing a combined 55 years of head coaching experience in Madden and Johnson.

They also know their respective programs need a spark. Legacy succeeded two winning campaigns under Madden with a 4-6 record in 2024, missing the 5A postseason. Longmont did make the 4A playoffs, but finished 3-8, its third straight losing season.

At Longmont, Graff will have to do so despite having a fairly small turnout (57 kids) out for football.

"The single most we have to do is we have to put a good product on the field that people want to be a part of," said Graff, who had a fairly small turnout (57 kids) in his first season. "And that is no criticism of this great school. I came here for a reason, because it has tradition that Doug (Johnson) and Coach Kramer before him, built. I'm just inheriting that and I want to get it back to that place. And to do that, you've got to win some games. You can't be (3-8) and have huge numbers the next year."

Official practice for high school football started on Monday across the state. First games begin Aug. 14.