Denver Broncos High School Football Coach of the Week: Otis’ Garrett Pickett

Over the past two seasons, few 6-man football programs in the state of Colorado have been able to rival the dominance of coach Garrett Pickett’s Otis Bulldogs, boasting a 15-3 record during that span.

Pickett took over the program with limited experience and, despite that, quickly turned the Bulldogs from a struggling squad to being one of the best teams in its class. Now, they have their sights set on securing Otis its first football state championship since Jimmy Carter was in office.

That quick turnaround paired with Otis’ electric 6-0 start this season, which has seen them outscore their opponents by a combined score of 369-108, helped Pickett earn this week’s award.

Overall record at Otis: 22-20
Overall record as a head coach: 22-20 overall
Previous coaching experience:
Yuma – LB Coach (2017)
Lone Star – Offensive assistant (2011-2012)

Why do you coach?
That’s a tough one. I just want these to have the same love for the game that I did, when I was a kid. Have somebody that’s going to get to go out and fight for them. Push them to be better people and in the end of things, enjoy the sport as much as I have.

Why do you think football is important?
It teaches a lot of things. It teaches these kids how to get knocked down and be able to get back up again, how to work as a team, and there are a lot of life lessons that I don’t know if you get into other sports. I mean, you can take kids that don’t have the best home life and give them a home, give them a family.

What is your favorite part of coaching?
Being able to watch scrawny little freshmen come in, in that baby giraffe stage, and see how they progress over four years. How they’ll go from barely being able to run down the field without tripping, to being an All-League or an All-State player.

What are you most proud of so far this season?
That’s a tough one. There’s a lot really to be proud of. My kids have done awesome things. We’re putting up big numbers. We’re putting up great stats. But this is the first year I really feel like that team has really come together and become essentially a family. After practice or after our team suffers, they’re all getting together and just getting to know each other and becoming really tight-knit group.

Otis is off to a red-hot 6-0 start. How do you maintain that strong opening through the rest of the season?
For us, it’s just hammering on the basics. It’s 6-man football. There’s nothing fancy about it. Nothing really tricky [about it]. It’s blocking, tackling, following blockers, just the basic stuff. If we can continue to improve on our basics, and master our basics, everything else is going to come together fine.

What is your goal for the remainder of this season?
We want to play in Pueblo. I’ve got an awesome group of coaches. They’re 100% committed to it. I’ve got a great group of kids that got a taste of the playoffs last year, and they want to go play in Pueblo.