Legendary Valley high school football coach hands off championship legacy to his son

PHOENIX — A legendary Valley high school football coach has retired, leaving a 30-plus-year legacy to his son.

Richard Taylor, who started the football program at Peoria’s Centennial High School in 1990, won more than 300 games and reached 13 state title games.

He capped his historic career with his eighth state championship in December. A month later, he announced he was handing over the reins to his son, Andrew, the team’s longtime defensive coordinator.

Taylor started his coaching career in Ohio but relocated to Arizona in 1986 after a particularly brutal winter.

“One of the worst snowstorms and winters in Ohio ever,” he said. “My wife said, ‘Let’s get out of here.’”

So they did. Soon after, Taylor began working at Peoria High School.

“Doug Clapp was the head coach there then,” he recalled. “I was the JV football coach and freshman baseball coach. And when Centennial opened up, I applied for the job.”

Richard Taylor remembers the early days

When Taylor began at Centennial, both as a teacher and coach, the school’s football program was a far cry from what it would become.

For one, the new school was populated entirely by freshmen.

“Can you imagine 300 freshmen roaming around this school with not enough supervision?” Taylor said.

“Those young kids, that first group, they never had older kids telling them, ‘Hey, that’s stupid man, don’t do that.’”

While still filling its halls with students, Centennial had to face schools able to pull from much larger populations and build more robust rosters.

“It was wonderful opening a new school. … Football-wise, those first years, it was hard. Peoria was right over there, Cactus was right over there,” Taylor said, referring to other Peoria Unified School District programs.

Despite the challenges, students who may not normally have been able to play were provided with an opportunity.

“Every win seemed like it was like winning the Super Bowl. … It was just really exciting, starting a new program from scratch,” Taylor said.

Winning time comes to Centennial High School

The winds began shifting for the Coyotes around 1996, as the players began pushing for greater results — with some setting the goal of winning a state championship.

“Everybody went kind of like, ‘What? State championship?’” Taylor recalled. “Of course, that didn’t happen right away.”

But it was the goal.

In 2005, the Coyotes played in, and lost, their first state title game against Phoenix’s North Canyon Rattlers.

The next year, the Coyotes went all the way, defeating Tucson’s Sunnyside Blue Devils in the title game.

“When the game was over and we were waiting to get the trophy, I just thought back [to] all those kids who helped build this, the kids who were 175-pound offensive linemen getting their nose beat in,” Taylor reminisced.

And it was just a start, as Centennial went on to win state championships each of the next two years, too.

Richard Taylor: More than a coach

The coaching legend heads into retirement with fond memories of his players and students, and the feeling is mutual.

During a recent walk through the school’s halls, students were happy to see Taylor and talk to him.

Campbell Riddle, who graduated in 2018 and played on the varsity team, said Taylor was one of a kind.

“I always appreciated how he treated every player on the team the exact same way with the exact same expectations of their character. Never saw that at any other level of my football career, and it made it so easy to feel like a team with a leader like him,” said Riddle, who went on to play at Rice University.

Isabella Rangel said she felt lucky to attend Centennial while Taylor was there.

“This man is more than a good teacher, fantastic coach, humble and wise mentor,” Rangel commented on a Facebook post asking former students to share their memories of Taylor. “He is kind, patient, encouraging in all the right ways and so much more. I don’t know a single person who wasn’t grateful to have met or gotten to know him.”

The appreciation goes both ways.

“I think you guys are the best generation we’ve ever produced. And you better be, because we’re trillions of dollars in debt,” Taylor said with a grin.

Like father, like son

Taylor made the decision to retire once he knew his son was ready to take over the program after years on his staff.

“I’d say, ‘Hey, are you ready?’ And he’d go, ‘No, I’m going to coach just as long as you have. I’m not in a hurry.’ But this year I asked, and he went, ‘Uh.’ That’s all I needed to hear,” Taylor explained.

The eight-time state champion coach is confident his son will continue to lead the Coyotes to greatness.

“I’m very happy for him. He will do well,” Taylor said.

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