Former area coach honored in Arizona

PEORIA, Ariz. — Western Reserve coaching transplant Dick Taylor needed to find a way at the start of the 2022 football season to put what had happened in 2021 behind both the school and the community. Even without the usual roster that was dotted with NCAA Division I recruits, Taylor and a staff of assistants, including his son, pulled it off. The pair led Centennial High School to an 8-2 season to again return to the Arizona state quarterfinal playoffs. How he managed to reverse a three-win season back to national prominence did not go unnoticed by members of the Arizona High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame committee. Dick Taylor is their choice to enter their Hall of Fame next spring at Arrow Head Country Club in Phoenix. There would be no miracle, however, in the 2022 playoffs for the Coyotes of Centennial High School. They drew the No. 16-ranked team in the country, Chandler (Ariz.), as their first opponent. "Man, my kids fought as only Coyotes have done over the years," Taylor said. "We were not chopped liver at season's end, grinding our way all the way up to No. 6 in the state when we faced Chandler. We did not play well early in the game, or maybe Chandler was only proving their national ranking was correct." Trailing 20-7 at the half, Taylor rallied his team in the third quarter. Going into the final quarter, they had Chandler on its heels in having to fight from a 27-23 deficit. "We just had to play error-free football in the final quarter," Taylor said. "But, we couldn't do it. Our specialty teams made three mistakes that turned victory into defeat. I could not be prouder of this group, and the great part is nine starters return along with a bunch of underclassmen that saw a lot of playing time. "There was talk of me retiring, but I talked to my son and he said he is fine just how things stand for next year," Taylor said. As far as the Hall of Fame induction, Taylor said it's a humbling honor. "But, to enter as a transplant from another state makes it even more meaningful," he said. "Arizona high schools are well known for what they send to college rosters. Centennial has done it for years and will continue to do so no matter who heads this program." After serving as an assistant at Edison, Taylor was the head coach at Western Reserve from 1977-85. His teams finished with a 49-38-3 record, including a Firelands Conference championship and playoff win in 1984. "What I learned under Jim Whittington has served me well over the years," Taylor said. "Every coach adds a bit of knowledge ever year, be it from using a winning play or tasting defeat. Long term, though, it's all about the student-athletes and how they buy into what you are teaching including the long-term lesson of life." Taylor was nominated to the Hall by one of the first coaches he was associated with in Arizona, Bartt Underwood. "Our paths crossed in 1991 when I was teaching and coaching at Ira A. Murphy Elementary School in the Peoria Unified School District," Underwood wrote. "Dick had taught first at Ironwood H.S. and then Peoria High before being hired at the new city school, Centennial. He coached both baseball and football and asked me to assist him in baseball. "After that first year, he said he wanted to leave the baseball program and concentrate on football and that he would do everything in his power to see that I get the head baseball job. That happened in 1992 when I was hired as both the head baseball and football coach." While also assisting Taylor as his freshmen and junior varsity football coach, Underwood was starting his own coaching dynasty, one that in 30 years has seen his softball teams win more than 600 games, including a state championship in 2010, along with seven state runners-up finishes. In 2017, he was inducted into that sport's state Hall of Fame. In his acceptance speech, he mentioned Taylor as his long-time mentor. In addition to Taylor's coaching record at Centennial High School, Underwood made mention of the many "giving back" opportunities Taylor has been responsible for over the years. "When you are a coaching legend like Dick truly is, when he walks into an assembly of your people, they give him the immediate respect he deserves," Underwood wrote. "That is the reason he is a most sought-after speaker at grade and high school assemblies. He even takes the time to put on both behavioral and coaching clinics for the city of Peoria Park and Recreation Department. "He teaches his athletes the importance of being good citizens by what they do in the community and even more important to his football program, mentoring grade school students. He is constantly on the go in speaking at elementary school clinics, Pop Warner events, youth football organizations and college and universities. He has been on clinic programs for Nike and Glazier clinics as well as a speaker at football clinics at Arizona State, Arizona U. and Brigham Young University." But, his own athletes come first. Taylor is relentless in helping every athlete he coaches get to the next level, he spends countless hours editing film and sending it to college and university coaches. He does the same with his assistant coaches. It could be said, Taylor is a man in demand. --------------------------------- Taylor's Coaching Numbers Total Years in Coaching: 41 years (as a head coach) CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHOOL Wins: 318 Losses: 133 Winning Percentage: .707 State Championships: 7 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018) State Runners-up: 4 (2005, 2010, 2012, 2016) Division/Region championships: 15 Coach of Year Awards Arizona Chapters 2 (2014, 2015) League, West Valley Region 4 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2015) Area/City West Valley Preps 4 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2015)