WEST JORDAN FOOTBALL: Coaching staff
WEST JORDAN’S COACHING STAFF
BACK (left to right): Mike Morgan, Marv Paynter, Kody Byrd, Sean Ponce, Gary Erickson.
FRONT: Chris Booth, Taylor Pitcher, Todd Tovey, Mark Smith, Gene Bartel.
WEST JORDAN COACH MIKE MORGAN
relies heavily on his experienced group of
assistant coaches. While Morgan is the group’s
leader, Morgan believes that coaching is not a
one-man show.
Morgan has put together his eight-person
staff from relationships he has built in his highschool football career, which has since expanded
to over 20 years in the Utah coaching profession.
Morgan was a lineman during his
formative years, but now serves as the receivers
coach. He recognizes his staff’s abilities and
places them where they can help the team.
While football is a fall sport, there’s no
doubt that a lot of thought has gone into this
year’s team, beginning when last season ended.
Here’s the group involved:
MARK SMITH
Coach Smith enters his second
season at West Jordan and serves as
the offensive coordinator, while also
helping with QBs and running backs.
Smith, 42, has 20 years experience in coaching, including eight as a
head coach. He grew up in Salt Lake,
attending Olympus High School, where
he was an all-state quarterback and
led the Titans to a 4A title in 1984.
He later attended Utah State
Coach Smith
and was the Aggies’ starting QB in
1986.
Smith and his wife, Kristine, have three children.
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WEST JORDAN FOOTBALL: Coaching staff
KODY BYRD
MARV PAYNTER
Coach Byrd is West
Jordan’s defensive coordinator,
while focusing on the team’s
defensive backs.
Byrd, 34, has 13 years
experience coaching at the highschool level. He is a graduate of
Salt Lake’s Granite High School,
where he was twice named allstate as an offensive lineman.
Byrd moved on to play
four years at Occidental (Calif.)
Coach Byrd
College.
He and his wife, Andrea, are the proud parents of
four children.
GARY ERICKSON
Coach Erickson is West
Jordan’s linebackers coach.
Erickson, 49, is a graduate
of Brighton High School in Salt
Lake, and has 21 years of coaching experience.
After graduating from
Dixie College, he was a Little
League football coach for eight
years. After that, he was part of
Jordan High’s program for 10
Coach Erickson
years and then joined the West
Jordan staff for the 2007 season.
Erickson and his wife, Tracy, have two children.
TAYLOR PITCHER
Coach Pitcher should be
a familiar face to West Jordan fans.
Pitcher, 27, is the the Jaguars’
offensive line coach, a position where
he excelled as a Jaguar during the
2000 season.
After graduating, he
immediately became an assistant
coach on the sophomore team,
and has moved up the ranks.
Pitcher is married to Shasta,
and they have two daughters.
Coach Paynter is the head coach
of the West Jordan sophomore
football team.
Paynter, 50, is a graduate of
of Kearns High School and attended
Salt Lake Community College, BYUHawaii and the Univ. of Utah.
Paynter and his wife, Peggy, have
four children.
Coach Paynter
TODD TOVEY
Coach Tovey handles the slot
receivers for the West Jordan offense.
Tovey, 50, is a graduate
of Brighton High School in Salt Lake,
where he was a teammate of coach
Morgan. He played QB for the Bengals,
and extended his playing career
calling signals for Dixie College.
Tovey and his wife, Laurie, have
two children.
Coach Tovey
SEAN PONCE
Coach Ponce
Coach Ponce has the important
task of being West Jordan’s defensive
line coach.
Ponce, 40, graduated from
Antioch (Calif.) High School, where he
was named first team All-Bay Area as
an offensive tackle. He later walked
on at BYU and played noseguard.
Ponce and his wife, Claudia, have
two children.
CHRIS BOOTH
Coach Pitcher
Coach Booth’s primary responsibility
is as the sophomore team’s defensive
coordinator.
Booth, 35, grew up in South Carolina,
where he was a three-year player. He then
attended the Univ. of Utah. Booth has 10
years experience coaching at the highschool level.
He and his wife, Chelsea, have four kids.
Coach Booth
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