In leaving his head football coaching post at Hillcrest High for a position with a much-less-distinct-sounding title for the University of Utah's football team -- that of graduate assistant -- Lee Leslie knows he's taking a bit of a risk.
His job security as a high school coach and teacher was solid in Midvale, where kids, parents and administrators bought into his system.During his seven years at Hillcrest, Leslie and his staff built a powerhouse of a program from the bottom up. He did a similar impressive rebuild at Tooele the eight previous years.
Leslie's teams had fun with an innovative, high-octane offense and gained a reputation for producing beefy linemen and solid skills players. They made the playoffs five times at Hillcrest, including a rare appearance in the 5A semifinals in 1998. The Huskies, quarterfinalists this past fall, hadn't qualified for the Final Four in 15 years before then.
But Leslie will leave all the high school glory behind -- he hopes in the good hands of one of his assistants -- for a shot at the big time.
When Ron McBride recently offered him a spot on the Utes' coaching staff -- to help with tight ends and perhaps with quarterbacks -- Leslie just couldn't pass up the chance.
Leslie said he really started seriously thinking about joining the Utes after spending a day with the team following its heartbreaking loss to Wyoming this fall. Leslie, who's good friends with U. assistant Kyle Whittingham, came out extremely impressed by how McBride and the rest of the coaches treated their players.
So he was thrilled McBride later asked him to join the staff, even though the opening is on the lower rung of positions that is typically reserved for recent college grads.
Call him an opportunist, because he also took a stab at following his dream to be a pro quarterback when he played for the Utah Catzz. Though he remained as Hillcrest's coach, Leslie was briefly the starting quarterback as well as an assistant head coach for the now-defunct indoor pro football team a few years ago.
The 39-year-old, who has four children with his wife Jill, even openly says he isn't worried about the financial hit he has to take. His new gruntlike college coaching job doesn't have a benefits package and pays only about $750 a month.
"The financial part is going to be tough, but it'll work out," said Leslie, who has a part-time business and will be able to work summer camps with McBride. His wife also works as a paralegal.
This isn't just a midlife crisis for Leslie. It's part of his ultimate game plan.
"Really," Leslie added, "this move is a no-brainer."
Leslie has two major goals he wishes to accomplish soon -- get his doctorate and become a college football coach. The job at the U. promises to give him a great shot at both. He'll finish his master's this spring while he also teaches at Hillcrest and helps the Utes during spring training. He'll then start on his doctorate after football season. He earned his bachelor's degree at Southern Utah University, where he also played college football.
"My whole move is based on goal-setting," he said. "I want to try to better myself educationally and professionally. If you get stuck in one place too long, you get into a rut. It's just time for a change. It's an exciting jump for me.
"Like any graduate assistant, you just hope you do a good enough job something pops open for you or that you get to go with one of the guys."
At one point, Leslie considered making a switch back to Tooele to work.
His oldest boy, Kenny, is a freshman, and Tooele's football coaching job just opened up, so Leslie was seriously thinking about returning. That didn't work out, though, so he veered his plans toward the U.
As far as leaving Huskyville goes, Leslie will obviously miss his players and, yes, even their parents. "I couldn't have had a better experience than I did at Hillcrest," he said. "The parents treated me wonderful, and the boosters were awesome."
One inanimate thing Leslie will dearly miss about Hillcrest is his baby -- the Huskies' coveted weight room.
Players not only lined up to put on the pads in the fall, but they also queued up in droves in the winter, spring and summer to pump iron in the weight room of all high school weight rooms in the state. Between 60 and 80 guys lift daily almost.
"That (getting a new weight room) was the first thing I stressed when I came in seven years ago. I've always tried to teach them a hard work ethic and to keep the body going all year round," said Leslie. "It's not just a three-or-four-month sport anymore."
Leslie is now pushing for one of his former assistants, Bruce Takeno, Dan Bowers and Kirk Merhish, to replace him at Hillcrest.
"I'd like to see them keep it in-house," he said. "Those guys have worked every bit as hard as I have to build that thing."
And, who knows? Maybe someday down the line, they'll all rejoin him -- as his assistants at Fill-In-The-Blank University.