Chris Olson — Jeffco’s jack of all trades

DENVER — On the sidelines, on the bench, in the classroom or in the press box … Chris Olson has seemingly done it all during his three decades working for  Jeffco Public Schools. 

Olson has taught at three high schools — Green Mountain (1994-1996), Conifer (1996-2004) and Chatfield (2004-present), along with coaching a variety of sports at seven different Jeffco schools since 1994. Not to mention, spending the past 23 years announcing the Colorado High School Activities Association’s boys and girls soccer state championship games.

“Approach each day with gratitude and be appreciative of all the opportunities that you do get to be around sports and impact kids,” Olson said of what advice he would give a young teacher who wants to be also involved in high school athletics. “Be a positive influence at your school.”

The Coach

The Class of 1989 Arvada West High School graduate played soccer and basketball in high school before going to college at Western Colorado University in Gunnison. Olson quickly returned to Jeffco to start what is now his 31st year of teaching and coaching in Jeffco.

Olson’s first high school coaching job was actually at Gunnison High School as the girls JV basketball coach from 1992-1994 when he was still going to school at Western to obtain his secondary social studies teaching license.

“I really liked coaching summer camps and stuff other (coaching) I’d been doing,” Olson said. “I wanted a job where I could coach.”

Coaching soccer is where Olson started. He played on the men’s club soccer at Western for a year, but ended up coaching the women’s club soccer team at Western his second year in Gunnison.

When he returned to Jeffco, his first coaching job was the Level 3 boys basketball coach at Arvada West in 1994. He was then named the head varsity boys soccer coach at Green Mountain High School in 1995. During Olson’s 3-year run as the Rams’ soccer coach he complied a 40-8-2 record, including a 5A Jeffco League championship and advancing to the state semifinals. 

“I’m thinking. This is awesome. I’m pretty good at this,” Olson joked after leading Green Mountain’s boys soccer team to the Final 4 and taking 5A Jeffco Coach of the Year honors. “You just show up, coach and go to the Final 4.”

The opening of Conifer and Dakota Ridge high schools in 1996 eventually landed Olson up at Conifer where he was the varsity girls soccer coach for three years and JV boys basketball coach for seven seasons. 

“We weren’t really good,” Olson said of his time at Conifer as the JV boys basketball coach under head coach Michael Deutsch. “We always joked that we might have done our most amazing coaching jobs. We got to experiment with a lot of things during those seven years. I got a lot of background on trying things, implementing things and how to install things.”

Olson actually jumped in to help coach softball and JV volleyball at Conifer. He would eventually head back down the hill to teach at Chatfield, along with coaching at Chatfield and D’Evelyn.

“I’ve been super fortunate to have really good mentors,” Olson said of coaching influences with the likes of Chris Peterson (A-West), Deutsch (Conifer) and Steve Schimpeler (Chatfield).

Olson was the JV girls soccer coach at D’Evelyn in the early 2000s and when the varsity girls basketball job came open in 2006 he had several of the girls soccer players encourage him to apply for the job. After thinking it over during Spring Break, Olson decided to put his hat into the ring.

He was hired by out-going D’Evelyn athletic director Kevin Land and incoming athletic director Jerry McWhorter. Over the past 19 season, the Jaguars’ girls basketball program has won six Jeffco League titles, four Final 4 state appearances and three state runner-up finishes.

“When I got the job in 2006 there weren’t many girls team that pressed and ran. It was a very half-court game,” said Olson, who has 340 career wins and has won the Jeffco Girls Basketball Coach of the Year six times at D’Evelyn. “There wasn’t a lot of girls teams that shot a lot of 3s.”

Olson brought over the Chatfield’s boys hoops philosophy of defensive pressure, running and shooting the 3-ball over to the girls’ side. Olson picked up D’Evelyn’s signature full-court pressing element during his three seasons working with Chatfield’s boys basketball program under Schimpeler. 

Olson said he has never got a complaint from a player about the style D’Evelyn has run for nearly 20 seasons. 

“My rule about shooting is, ‘Don’t shoot it if you aren’t going to make it.’ If you have any reason why you don’t think you are going to make it don’t shoot it,” Olson said. “If you are catching and shooting it you are telling me you are going to make it. You believe and have the confidence you are going to make it.”

The Teacher

Olson’s social studies teaching career has included Green Mountain, Conifer and Chatfield. 

“It is totally similar,” Olson said of his teaching and coaching styles. “My classroom has five groups of six. We call them Mr. O’s teams. We do trivia at the beginning of each class and have a scoreboard in the back of the room to keep score.” 

A lot of group work has been a staple in Olson’s classroom. He refers to days in which students give presentations as ‘game-days’.

“I use humor and try to build relationships with kids whether it be the basketball floor, soccer field or classroom that is why I think I’ve lasted 31 years,” Olson said. “Building good relationships with kids and them knowing I care about them and love them.”

More proof that Olson loves the classroom, he taught summer school for 18 straight years from 1996-2014.

“I tell people all the time I haven’t had a bad day at work yet in 31 years,” Olson said. “Until I feel like I’m having bad days, I have no reason to not keep doing it.”

The Announcer 

Announcing high school soccer games in between teaching and coaching started in 2002 at the North Area Athletic Complex when Olson was in process to get his masters in secondary school counseling. He had a Wednesday night class, so he would announce soccer games at NAAC on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

“I wanted to be involved with stuff still,” Olson said of picking up the announcing gig. 

Also in 2002, CHSAA hosted the 3A state semifinals at NAAC. Olson started his string of announcing the boys and girls state soccer championship games at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park or Weidner Field in Colorado Springs for the past 23 years.

Olson has announced over 75 state soccer championship games across all classifications.

“It is funny when you see people, you take pride of knowing them and knowing how to pronounce their names,” Olson said of announcing athletes who are from families that he has known for years. “To be able to work that side of it has been great.”

For the last 16 years, Olson has been one of the primary soccer announcers at Lakewood Memorial Field.