Broomfield’s Blair Hubbard named the Denver Broncos high school football coach of the year

What a difference a year can make.

That was certainly the case for the 4A Broomfield Eagles and head coach Blair Hubbard.

In 2021, Broomfield dropped some very close games on their way to a 5-6 record and a first round playoff exit.

In 2022, they finished off every single game on their way to a perfect 14-0 record and a 4A football state championship.

The improvement of nine wins from one season to the next is the second-most in Colorado football history. As a result, Broomfield brought home the gold trophy for the first time since 1984.

Hubbard, who became just the third coach in Colorado football history to win a state title at two different schools, is this year’s Denver Broncos high school football coach of the year.
 

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Blair Hubbard bio

Years as Broomfield head coach (record): Seventh Year (64-19)
Overall head coaching record: 228-54
Coaching resume: Faith Christian head football coach, Lutheran head football coach

Question: What made you want to get into coaching?

Hubbard: When in college I started as a business major and switched when I realized that I wanted to do something that involved being more interactive with people on a daily basis and being involved in athletics instead of being stuck behind a desk all day. I switched my major to Physical Education at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. When I got my first job teaching I was given the opportunity to join the football staff at Faith Christian in Arvada where I started out coaching football, basketball, and baseball in 1996 and became the head coach in 1999. My friends from youth would say that I was always the one that organized pick-up games of all sports and created play-books at a young age. I always had an affinity with sports strategy, especially football and I’m still a student of the game.

Q: What kind of coach would you say you are? What do you think your players would say?

Hubbard: I would say that I am a balanced coach in the areas of discipline and relationship. You have to have a level of discipline to be successful and also a level of building relationships with your players. If you are too far in the discipline relm, players will not want to play hard for you and you will wear people out. If you are too far in the relationship relm, your teams will lack the respect and discipline needed to get the job done and be successful.  You have to have a sense of when to have fun and cut loose with your players and also when it’s time to get to work. I think my players would all agree with this balance and they understand when it’s time for us to have fun and when it’s time to focus-in. I hire guys on my staff that understand this balance as well. I’ve tried to maintain this balance at the three schools I have coached at and I don’t think winning a state championship at two different schools, 4 total, would have been possible without this balance of fun and discipline.

Q: What kind of impact has football had on your life? Why do you think it’s important for young men to be involved in football?

Hubbard: Football has opened a lot of doors for me professionally. My team’s successes over the years at three different schools have offered me opportunities to speak at over 30 national coaching clinics around the country and internationally, as well as produce coaching resources and do offensive team installs that have led other teams around the country to find success, especially offensively. These opportunities would not have happened without the trust, hard work, and dedication of my players and staff over the years. These opportunities benefit our program in-return as I can be a student of other coaches when speaking at a clinic or meeting with other staffs, I am always looking for ways to get better in those settings.

I think football is the ultimate team sport. Football players have to trust each other in every phase of the game for the other 10 guys on the field to do their job. Obviously there is shared pain through training, hard practices, and tough games and enduring those things together builds a bond like no other sport can build. We talk a lot about our Eagle-DNA made up of being Fearless, being Tough, and Loving each other, and that Fearless-Tough-Love builds a tough bond in our team.

Q: Considering your season last year, did you see a championship team in your squad at the beginning of fall camp?

Hubbard: Last year we were 5-6 making the playoffs but lost 4 basically one-score games. The main reason was that we were very young at many positions, and still are pretty young this year but that youth showed last year. This year we thought we had the pieces together and the development over the off-season to take a big step forward and we did.

Q: What was the biggest change from last season to this one to be able to pull off such a remarkable turnaround?

Hubbard: Like I mentioned before, we were very young last year compared to this year. It was an off-season dedicated to working hard in the weightroom, building team unity, and developing skills. We had some very good seniors last year who were leaders and they laid the ground-work for our seniors this year to take the torch and be great leaders, selfless leaders, that invested in the young guys to bring us up to a championship level. We were close last year but our record didn’t reflect that. This year, our team was able to win those close, tough games, and that came down to the senior leadership we had. I think we all knew we had an opportunity to have a special season.

Q: It’s obviously never easy to go undefeated in a season, especially at the larger school ranks. What did you do as a coaching staff to keep the team level-headed as you guided them through an unblemished season?

Hubbard: Our mindset all the time was that we were 0-0 and that we had not accomplished anything yet, whether that 0-0 was the score of a game in-progress or our season record. If we were in the locker room at halftime up 40-0 or down 17-7 we always wrote 0-0 on the whiteboard communicating that what happened in the first half doesn’t matter now, be hungry to win the 2nd half. At the end of every game, we emphasized that our record was 0-0 and that we had not accomplished anything yet. We literally never talked about being 10-0 or 13-0. We always emphasized that we were 0-0 and that the only game that mattered was the next one. This mind-set really took the pressure off of being undefeated through the season.

Q: Having more time to reflect on it now, what is it like to be able to call you, your staff, and your players state champions?

Hubbard: It feels great! I am so happy for these players on our team and coaches on our staff that had never won a state championship before, it’s quite a thrill. Being a state champion is something that no one can take away from you. You can set records but those can always be broken, a championship lasts forever and these guys will be able to talk about this season with their buddies forever. Also, to be able to look back at all the steps and work it took to get there will benefit our players in their future lives seeing that hard work and dedication does pay off. It’s simple to lay out a plan to get there, but it’s not easy to get up every day and take the steps to get there. These guys did that!

Q: What does the community of Broomfield mean to you, and what was it like to bring home a title to the people of this town?

Hubbard: Many people look at a map and see Broomfield as just another Denver suburb school but it was a small town that the urban sprawl grew out to and around. The school has been around since 1959 and that brings a unique small-town feel to our school and community. We have sons, nephews, grandsons of former players and alumni on our team and that creates a bond in our community that is so special. Broomfield is a proud community that supports all athletics and activities and especially loves their football and it has been special to take this team to Mile High three times in the seven years we have been here. To finally bring home the title, 3rd time’s a charm, is just amazing! I couldn’t think of a better place to be!