When Hunter plays at West Jordan Friday night, two of the best football teams in the state will be battling on the field. Which is kind of amazing when you consider the football traditions of these two schools from the west side of Salt Lake valley.
Five years ago West Jordan had one of the worst football programs around after winning just nine games in its initial nine years. And Hunter? It didn't even exist until three years ago. Talk about no tradition.How the two schools came so far so fast might seem remarkable until you look at the coaches at the two schools.
West Jordan's Rick Bojak and Hunter's Mike Fraser started coaching at about the same time in the early 1980s. They are nearly the same age and have compiled nearly identical records in coaching stints at two different schools apiece. And they just happen to be two of the best football coaches in the state.
Don't ask Fraser or Bojak what it takes to be a great coach. They'll hem and haw and give credit here and there. They'll mention their great assistant coaches or hard-working kids or something along those lines.
But while Fraser and Bojak may not know exactly what makes a great coach, they've shown it. Their records speak for themselves.
Fraser coached at Granger for 10 years and had 10 straight winning seasons and 10 straight state playoff appearances. His record of 63-24 over a decade translated to a .724 winning percentage (remember that number).
A year after Fraser started at Granger, Bojak took over a program at Jordan that hadn't won a game in nearly three years. But he immediately turned the school into a contender and during six years his teams played in two state finals, two semifinals and the quarterfinals. His record at Jordan was 50-19, a winning percentage of . . . .724.
Bojak tried college coaching, assisting at Southern Utah for a couple of years when the school first went to NCAA status. But in 1989 he returned to the prep ranks at West Jordan and the school promptly had its best year ever, going 3-6 including a win over then top-ranked Granger (coached by Fraser). The next year, the Jaguars improved to 5-5 and last year moved up to 7-3, making the state playoffs both years.
Fraser decided to accept the challenge of a new school and moved from Granger in 1990. Hunter was built in West Valley in 1990, combining students from Granger, Kearns and Cyprus. During Fraser's first year, the Wolverines took their lumps as do most first-year schools without seniors, going 0-9. But last year, the Wolverines shocked a lot of folks by compiling a 10-3 record and rumbling into the state semifinals.
This year Hunter is unbeaten in four games, while West Jordan is 3-1 with a win over defending state champion Timpview. Hunter ranks No. 2 in the latest Deseret News rankings and West Jordan is No. 5.
So what makes Bojak and Fraser so successful?
It isn't lucking into the best football players in the state. Both coaches give much credit to their players, but the fact that they've both been successful at different schools disproves that theory. As Bojak says, `Kids are kids - they aren't any different at West Jordan or Brighton."
And despite the fact that both coaches work at newer schools with more modern facilities, they don't exactly have the same financial backing that some east-side schools do.
"I'd like to think we've been able to install a good work ethic in the kids," says the 38-year-old Fraser. "The kids expect to win after awhile."
Bojak agrees the mental side is most important. "It's absolutely true that attitude makes a difference," he says. "You have to keep drilling it into the kids' heads about believing in themselves. If they see success, whether it is in the weight room or on the field, they start believing more. I don't think the X's and O's have much to do with it. But you have to have a leader out there and that's where we (coaches) come in."
Both coaches praise their assistants.
"One thing you have to do as a coach is come up with good assistant coaches - and I'm fortunate to have good assistants," says Fraser. "I can't overemphasize it enough."
One of Fraser's former assistants, Chad Van Orden, won a state championship at Timpview last year, while another, Tom Larson, has his Olympus team off to a good start this year.
As successful as both coaches have been, neither has aspirations to move on to colleges or pros.
"I really like the high school level and working with the kids," says Fraser. "It's the purest teaching form. You have a chance to teach 16- to 18-year-old kids about values and how to deal with all sorts of things in life. It's almost kind of scary."
"I'm too old to do that again," laughs Bojak, who is only 41. "I like the classroom and the many rewards in working with these kids."
About the only thing missing from the resumes of Bojak and Fraser is a state championship. As mentioned, Bojak's teams played in two state championship games at Jordan. Fraser's clubs made it to the semis four times at Granger and again last year at Hunter.
It might be this year or next year or 10 years from now, but Fraser and Bojak will coach their teams to state football titles. They're too good not to.