DENVER (BVM) — To be considered legendary in any field of life, certain boxes must be checked. First, you must have longevity within the field to build validity. Second, you must have excelled in your performance and be considered at the top of your field. Most importantly, though, you have to have made an impact in some way, shape, or form. The impact that one makes can make or break that legendary status within a particular field. 

One person that has had what it takes to cement themselves as a legend in their field is illustrious Mullen High School football head coach Jeremy Bennett.

Bennett has 26 years of total experience coaching high school football, 17 of which have been spent as a head coach. In 17 years, Bennett’s career coaching record is an astonishing 108 wins and 68 losses. He also has 11 playoff appearances and boasts 14 consecutive winning seasons. 

Beyond the stats, to truly understand why Bennett is considered a Colorado high school football coaching legend, one must look at his timeline to understand how and why he has gotten to where he has gotten. 

Bennett’s story of coaching greatness began in Lafayette, Colo where he grew up here in a single-parent household, being raised by his mother. Because of this, he lacked a male figure in his life, which his mother wanted to combat.

“She wanted to get me involved with something where there was a male figure because I didn’t have that in my life,” Bennett said. “My grandfather and my uncles would be sort of my male figure when I would go back to Indiana every summer, but I didn’t have that on a day-to-day basis.”

Bennett played for the Lafayette Bobcats under the legendary Colorado little league head coach Tom Gomez. Playing under Gomez was not only an experience that would shape Bennett’s life for the years to come, but it also marked the first time, but certainly not the last time, that Bennett would get the opportunity to work under Colorado coaching legends. 

Bennett would play through little league into high school where he was granted the opportunity to play at the collegiate level. He played a couple of years of college ball until an injury cut that opportunity short. Despite the injury, though, after graduating college, Bennett still wanted to play football. So he found a local Colorado semi-pro league to play in. But after playing for two years in that league, Bennett realized that level of competition wasn’t where he wanted it to be. 

At the same time that Bennett joined the semi-pro league, he also decided to take up his second football-related passion: coaching. When he realized that playing was no longer an option, he centered his focus solely on his coaching. 

Bennett was offered his first coaching gig in 1995 at Jefferson Highschool in Edgewater, Colo. At the time, Jefferson had a legendary head coach at the helm of its program, Ty McCluskey, who was the person to offer Bennett the assistant coaching position at Jefferson. This marked the second time in Bennett’s life that he got the opportunity to work with a Colorado coaching legend. 

After getting his feet wet at Jefferson, Bennett moved onto Standley Lake Highschool where he got his third opportunity to be involved with a Colorado coaching legend. This legend was the head coach at the time, Jim Braaten. Bennett served as the defensive coordinator under Braaton for multiple years until he moved to a different school. Bennett would serve as the defensive coordinator for a few more years under the next head coach Jeff Walker.

After his years with Walker at Standley Lake, an incredibly unique opportunity came about for Bennett to be an Arena Football League scout.

“I worked for the Arena Football League as a far west regional scout,” Bennett said. “With that position, you think, ‘Oh man, this is going to be awesome.’ When in actuality, I learned that the position in the arena league was not my calling. My calling was to work with high school kids.”

Bennett wanted to return to the high school game and help kids establish some identity as an athlete and help them learn what it means to be young men. 

Bennett was offered an assistant coaching job as the defensive coordinator with the D’evelyn Jaguars where a unique situation occurred. Shortly after being hired onto the coaching staff, the head coach suddenly decided to up and leave from D’evelyn, leaving the position vacant for the coming season. 

Bennett accepted the position in 2004 and would be the D’evelyn head coach for 15 years until 2019. In that time, Bennett led the Jaguars to a 103-56 record in 15 years. D’evelyn saw the playoffs 11 times and had 14 consecutive winning seasons during that time, with its only losing season being Bennett’s first year as the head coach. 

In 2019, the most significant opportunity came up for Bennett to be the Mullen High School head coach. This put Bennett at a challenging crossroads: decline Mullen and stay with the school he has had success with or leave the school he has been with and take the Mullen opportunity. 

“I was not unhappy there (D’evelyn),” Bennett said. “I was not necessarily looking for a place to go; I was happy with where I was at. But the Mullen job opened up, and I said, ‘I am going after it.’ And it was a blessing to get the job here. There were a lot of great candidates. But this is the place I am supposed to be.” 

Coach Bennett (pictured on the right) after winning the 2021 5A bracket for the annual Denver Broncos 7-on-7 tournament (Courtesy: Jeremy Bennett/ Facebook)

Despite paving his way to become one of Colorado’s premier high school football coaches, Coach Bennett is extremely humble about how and why he has achieved what he has. 

“I had an amazing program there (D’evelyn) because I learned from the best,” Bennett said. “I learned as an 8-year-old what it meant to be a football coach. Coach Gomez and his assistant were two of the most amazing men for me at that point in my life and paved the way for my future. I have had great mentors along the way. I learned so much from Tom Gomez, Randy Penn, Jim Braaten, Ty McCluskey, Dave Sidwell, and Bob Stuckline; these are all guys who did this for many years and put their faith in me, and gave me a chance. I worked my tail off to not let them down because they gave me an opportunity and paved the way for me. Additionally, I always deflect the credit because that is what you should do. You should deflect it to where it belongs.” 

Bennett’s coaching career has been built and supported by those legendary mentors he has worked with. Bennett notes how his entire life path was dictated early on by those legendary mentors that taught him what coaches should be. 

“The football coaches that I have had in my life have really helped raise me from that father figure respect,” Bennett said. “I do not know where I would be in my life today without those coaches. To be honest with you, I could have gone a lot of different ways, and I think they grounded me and taught me about accountability, that what you do and who you are will affect your life. Because of those coaches, I wanted to give back; I wanted to pass along those same messages passed along to me. I coach for all kids, but I coach because I wouldn’t be here without coaches, and I just want to share that experience. I do it because somebody did it for me when I was that age.”

It is that mentality from Bennett which has checked that third box to achieve legendary status: making an impact in your field. Bennett realizes that everyone’s story is different and everyone’s thumbprint isn’t exactly the same. This is why it is vital to understand players as individuals; when a coach treats his players as individuals, they will get the most out of their players; this is Bennett’s mentality. Coach Bennett is one of the most humble and dedicated coaches, which translates to the remarkable impact he has had on his players and the people around him. 

“For example, with team rules, how could a coach have a team rule that says if you are late to two practices, you are not going to play that week?” Bennett said. “Because maybe you have a young man who takes care of his siblings in a single-parent home, and he is late to practice because he has to go home after school and get them fed before he can come to practice. In all actuality, that kid is probably the most responsible young man on your entire football team. When you understand players as an individual, their piece of the puzzle or their link of the chain becomes incredibly strong.”

Bennett’s attitude toward his players is what every single football coach should have. Bennett’s values toward his players is why he is such an impactful coach. He can reach his players because he takes the time to understand them and get to know them personally, which not all coaches do. Bennett truly values his relationships with his players.

“I have been invited to so many weddings, graduations, baptisms, and birth notices,” Bennett said. “There is nothing like that feeling. Relationships are really what I enjoy about coaching the game of High school football.” 

With Coach Bennett moving into his third official year with Mullen High School, the opportunity to truly seal and cement his legacy in Colorado high school football infamy is right in front of him. But, to do this, Bennett has to put the final notch in his belt that he has yet to put in: making it to and winning a state championship. 

“I want to take Mullen back to the top,” Bennett said. “As a coach, if you don’t admit that winning is important to you, you should not be coaching. Coaches compete for a reason, and that is to win. So whether I am here for four years, 25 years, or two years, my goal is to make this program the best it can be, which is to be back on top. I want to go out and be a state championship coach. I want to win it. If I didn’t tell you that, I would not be able to sit here and be the head coach at Mullen High School because anything less than that goal is doing these young men on my team a disservice.”

Will Coach Bennett lead Mullen to its ninth state championship and get that final legendary notch under his belt? The looming high school football season will soon answer that question. 

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