Third Time’s a Charm for Marc Cowell at Holy Family

BROOMFIELD — The blood coursing through Mark Cowell’s veins has always been purple and gold.

That’s why it should be no surprise that after the resignation of coach John Ray, that Holy Family athletic director Ben Peterson needed to make one call and one call only.

“I first would like to thank Coach Ray for his time at Holy Family.  He guided our program through a cancelled season and a season that did not end until nearly July and resulted in our best 4A baseball finish,” Peterson said. “When the position came open my first call was naturally to Coach Cowell.

“After a great conversation I have decided that having Coach Cowell guide our program is the obvious step at this time. We are really excited to welcome him back as our Skipper.”

Said Cowell: “It’s awesome to be back. Holy Family is such an awesome school and an incredible community. It’s going to be great to be a part of it again.”

Cowell coached the Tigers from 2003-13 and won Class 3A state titles in 2010 and 2013 before having to step away for his full time job as the Executive Director of the Tiny Tim Center in Longmont.

Eric Nakayama took over the program in 2014 and won the schools third state title that season before giving it back to Cowell in 2017 for another three season run.

“It was more a pause to kind of digest, because when I “retired” in 2019 I truly thought that I was done and that that was my last game. And I was at peace with that, then all of the sudden this opportunity presented itself and I was in a place where this could be a real possibility,” said Cowell, upon receiving the call from Peterson. “So I guess it was a little bit of disbelief, but at the same time a lot of excitement. I’ve put a lot of heart, sweat and tears into that program and I absolutely love the school and to have the opportunity to be a part of it all again is pretty exciting.”

The rigors of his full time job again pulled Cowell away in 2019, this time at the Our Center — a nonprofit that has provided critical services such as food, housing and utilities to help families achieve self-reliance in Longmont.

“We’ve created such a good team here and they do such a great job, that I’m in a position that I don’t have to be here every minute of the day managing everything,” Cowell said. “These guys do a phenomenal job and fully endorse me having this opportunity to go do something I love. It all just happened to work out just right.”

Cowell, who always subscribed to the theory that his teams didn’t rebuild, they reloaded, has kept a watchful eye on the Tigers program and knows that despite a state runner-up finish last season with a tremendous senior class, that the cupboard is far from bare and knows that the upperclassmen on the current roster, along with some talented sophomores provide a ton of potential this spring.