Denver Broncos High School Football Coach of the Week: TCA’s Justin Rich
Photo: Joshua Genz
Since becoming the program’s head coach in 2017, Justin Rich has helped turn The Classical Academy football program into a perennial power in the 2A class.
During Rich’s tenure with the program, The Classical Academy has suffered just one losing season, back in 2018, and has lost no more than twice in a single season, since 2020.
Last season, TCA and Coach Rich became the first team to defeat Eaton, the 2A juggernaut, in nearly two years. It was Eaton’s only loss of the season. Then, in this year’s opener, TCA did it again, upsetting Eaton 14-7. Over Eaton’s last 30 games, they have suffered just two losses, both to Justin Rich and his Titans.
That performance helped head coach Justin Rich earn Broncos Coach of the Week honors for Week 1.
Overall record at The Classical Academy: 45-15
Overall record as a head coach: 47-33 overall
Previous coaching experience:
TCA – OC/LB Coach 2015-2016
CSU-Pueblo – Offensive Assistant 2014
Palmer High School – Head Coach 2012-2013
Augustana College (IL) – Co DC, OLB Coach 2011
Palmer High School – Wide Receiver Coach 2010
Watertown High School (NY) – DC/OL Coach 2008-2009
Ithaca College (NY) – RB Coach 2007
Why do you coach?
I was blessed enough to serve in the US Army as an officer. I love the purpose; I love the idea of taking young men and training them and making them into something—a better unit. That’s kind of always been where my heart was. When I got medically retired from the army, I looked to take that purpose, you know, building better men and try to find a profession with a purpose. I think that football coaching is the closest to that [purpose], that I could find, and I just love being around the other coaches on staff and I love interacting with the young men. It also guaranteed that my vocation, a lot of times, feels like a vacation.
Why do you coach the way that you coach?
I think that there was so much about football that, as an athlete, I didn’t know. So, as I became a football coach, I wanted to learn the game as much as possible, and I wanted to pass that knowledge on to the athletes. It’s kind of like intelligence in the army; if you know yourself and you know the other team, then you have a better chance of succeeding. So, you have that knowledge as aspect.
The other part is the dealing with players. Football is such a sacrifice on these athletes. So, I think I want to affirm them as much as is possible, because it seemed like, in the 90s, you didn’t always get that affirmation. Even if you’re working your tail off, sometimes you just don’t have success. I mention the time at Palmer when we went 2-18 because those kids worked hard. We just couldn’t put it together.
So, I think I coach the way I do because I want to give the kids as many tools as they need to use on the field, as far as technique and skill and intelligence on what’s happening next. I also want them to know that win, lose or draw, it takes a special kind of kid to play football. I want to affirm them for doing that.
What is a lesson or life lesson you try to teach your student-athletes?
We try to tell our athletes that they’re right on time and they’re loved. We try to tell them all the time that, as coaches, we love them, and if we love them, they’re lovable. We try not to talk about championships, we try not to talk about all that kind of stuff. We talk about being a team worthy of competing for a championship. Everybody wants the big salary job. Everybody wants to get into the best college. Everybody wants to do all this kind of stuff. So, understand that you’re right on time with where you’re at in your development, but let’s try to become the person worthy of that job, of that promotion, of that car. If you work to become worthy of that, typically things work out.
What is your favorite memory from your time with The Classical Academy so far?
I think COVID was so hard. And then, as the football coach, it was hard for me to have to wait for the spring season of 2021. When we finally were able to come together in the spring of 2021 and play football, there was such a sense of joy and freedom to get together and play this game. It was pure joy to watch those kids love the game, love each other and play together. It just felt like freedom. I think that’s my favorite season at TCA.
You’ve spoiled the reigning state champion’s season opener each of the past two seasons. What type of pride does that bring to your program?
Both of the wins could have gone either way. You’re talking about two or three plays that kind of changed everything. So, the sense of pride that I got is: we know how good Eaton is. You can turn on the film and see that they’re a great program, a great school, and a great community. We just talked about going out for 48 minutes with a mindset of not being defeated. “Be undefeated for 48 minutes, and if we if we look at the scoreboard after that, and it doesn’t say what we want, we still won’t feel defeated. It will feel like we ran out of time.”
I think they took that mentality. There were some ups and downs in both of those games, but I have a lot of pride for TCA, the way that those boys fought for 48 minutes, and the way that the assistant coaches looked for answers for 48 minutes. In both seasons, in really tight games with a lot of adversity, we were able to get it done.
What is your goal for the remainder of this season?
You can probably guess this one. We want to become a team worthy of winning our conference, and then, we hope to become a team worthy of competing late, late, late into the playoffs. We would love to get another chance to go down to Pueblo again. But, at this point, we’re just becoming a team worthy of having those chances.
