Longtime Mesa Ridge football, wrestling coach Braaten retires
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BVM) — Three decades of coaching two sports at the high school level is enough for Rob Braaten, who announced last week that he is retiring at the end of the school year to spend more time with his family.
Braaten became the Mesa Ridge Grizzlies’ head football coach in 2006 after spending 15 years coaching at Yuma. The Grizzlies were 73-78 under Braaten’s leadership on the gridiron. Braaten took over the Mesa wrestling program in 2012 and coached four state wrestling champions and three runners-up, all since 2016. He was named an all-state wrestling coach by the Colorado High School Coaches Association last year and was a two-time Gazette Preps Coach of the Year (2012 and 2018).
Jerimi Calip will take over the football program for Braaten after spending five years as the head coach for Vista Ridge and one year in the same position at Mitchell. Mesa Ridge was 1-4 in a shortened season last fall after going 5-5 each of the previous three seasons. The Grizzlies last reached the playoffs in 2016 when they finished 6-5. Tyler Herbst takes the reins of the wrestling program after spending nine years as a Mesa Ridge assistant wrestling coach. Herbst also has football, cross country and track coaching experience.
