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Casey Coons came to Western in 1977 to play football from Lincoln High School in Denver, Colorado. At LHS, Coons participated in track and field and was an all-conference performer on the football field and on the wrestling mat.
As an offensive lineman for the Mountaineers, Coons was an All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Second Team selection and was named the 1980 RMAC Scholar Athlete. Coons also helped the Mountaineers to three conference titles and two NAIA Playoff appearances under Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame coach Bill Noxon.
Coons graduated from Western in 1980, but stayed in the game of football through coaching.
After coaching stints at Black Hills State University and Western Oregon University, Coons made his way back to Gunnison as an offensive line coach and strength and conditioning coordinator for the Mountaineers in 1988 under Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame coach Duke Iverson.
In 1991, Coons was promoted to Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator. That season, the Mountaineers went 10-2 and 7-0 in conference to win the first RMAC title since Coons was playing in 1979. The Mountaineers also made the NAIA Playoff semifinals that season, defeating Carson Newman University 38-21 in Gunnison.
Coons stayed at Western for the following three seasons, winning two more conference titles and making the NCAA Playoffs in both those championship seasons.
From 1991-94, the Mountaineers had a record of 35 wins and 10 losses.
"Coach Coons created a well-bonded defense and team mentality that focused on hard work, grit, and an unbreakable ideal that we always stood together, as a team," Brent Tollar said in his nomination letter. "The only thing that mattered was the name on the front of the jersey. The very foundation that I believe Mountaineer Football stands for comes from someone like Casey Coons."
Coons continued coaching and was head coach at Arvada West High School from 2002-11. His Arvada West teams made the 5A state semifinals four times and were 5A Academic State Champions twice.
Coons continues to teach at Arvada West and lives in Arvada with his wife Sarah.
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