New coaches take charge at CV, U-Hi

This football season will see a changing of the guard at both Central Valley School District high schools.

At Central Valley, longtime head coach Rick Giampietri stepped down after 23 seasons leading the Bears. His successor, Ryan Butner, played on Giampietri’s first CV team and has been an assistant coach for the past 18 seasons.

One of Butner’s first jobs was to replace longtime offensive coordinator, Rick Sloan, who stepped down to concentrate on his duties as head boys basketball coach.

Dave Myers, formerly the head football coach at Interlake in Bellevue, takes over as the CV offensive coordinator. Travis Harmon, formerly of Lake City High in Coeur d’Alene, is the team’s new defensive coordinator.

Also joining the staff is Brian Spencer, who comes to CV from Bothel.

Giampietri, who remains at CV as an assistant defensive coach, said one of his concerns about stepping down as head coach was to make certain the cupboard wasn’t bare for whoever stepped into his shoes and took over his whistle.

As promised, the 2016-17 Bears will not be short on talent.

For starters, the team returns three all-state players.

Kicker and punter Ryan Rehkow already gave his verbal commitment to play at Brigham Young University after going on an LDS mission following this, his senior season.

Rehkow also considered an offer to play at Idaho, where his brother, Austin, is the Vandals kicker and punter.

But in the end, the lure of playing at BYU proved to be overwhelming.

“That was my No. 1 option because it’s my dream school,” Rehkow told the Deseret News. “I just love the campus, love everything about it.”

Rehkow provides CV with an offensive luxury. His long leg gives the Bears the chance to score as soon as they get inside an opponent’s 35-yard line.

Middle linebacker Travis Hawkins and nose guard/defensive tackle Jordan Talafili both are four-year starters and sought after by area colleges.

At University, the Titans also start the season with a new head coach who’s a familiar face.

Adam Daniel, a U-Hi grad and longtime assistant coach, takes over for Rob Bartlett, who resigned to take a job in administration at the school.

Daniel served as an assistant coach under Bob McCray at Mead before leaving to become head coach at Newport.

Daniel turned the Grizzlies around, leading them to a 7-2 season and a berth in the first round of the state Class 1A playoffs in his second season. But he left to return to his roots at University.

Daniel will serve as his own offensive coordinator and has tabbed his brother, Jason, to be his defensive counterpart.

Both Daniel brothers were linebackers at the University of Idaho.