Grand Junction football coach Robbie Owens accepts job in San Diego

Robbie Owens, the longtime football coach at Grand Junction, has accepted the head job at Helix High School in California.

Owens, who has led the Tigers since 2008, confirmed his move to CHSAANow.com on Wednesday. He was 47-38-1 in eight seasons, all of which were spent competing at Class 5A.

Owens led Grand Junction to consecutive quarterfinal appearances in 2010 and 2011, and his team was 11-1 in 2011.

Prior to taking over at Grand Junction, Owens spent one season as a head coach in Florida, and was a college assistant at Mesa State (now Colorado Mesa) from 1996-2006.

He is known as an offensive innovator with his fast-paced

. Beyond that, though, Owens was heavily involved in the makeup of the sport. He spent the past two seasons on CHSAA’s football committee, and helped implement the inventive use of the RPI and waterfall.

In Helix, Owens will take over a highly successful program at the charter school, which is located in the San Diego area. The Highlanders, who play in Division I-AA, California’s largest classification, went 11-2 last season and won the San Diego section before falling in the state semifinals. They won a Division II state championship in 2011.

The program has a long history. Current NFL players Alex Smith and Reggie Bush attended Helix, and in 2004, both were finalist for the Heisman Trophy. It was the first time two finalists attended the same high school.

NBA Hall-of-Famer Bill Walton is also an alum.

Owens replaces Troy Starr at Helix, who resigned after eight seasons following the 2015 campaign.

Grand Junction will now start the search for his replacement. The Tigers are set to move to 4A next season.

Follow all of the offseason’s coaching movement in our tracker.