Football: Skyline tabs Justin Vogt as next football coach
Mar. 21—For so long, he's fluttered around the hierarchy of football's coaching ranks like a moth knocking against a porch light.
Finally, though, Justin Vogt — a longtime, successful coordinator under the Friday Night Lights of Texas football — is settling into the top spot.
Skyline High School announced the hiring of Vogt as its next football coach earlier this month. Athletic director Lindsay Yost passed along the news in a school newsletter, which described Vogt as a "visionary leader" with "an impressive portfolio of over 20 years in coaching and education."
"My personal philosophy is, compete forever and expect success," Vogt said by phone last week.
Before getting his first head coaching job in football, Vogt spent 17 of his 20 coaching years in Texas, where he was a coordinator in all three phases of the game — offense, defense and special teams. He was also a head track and field coach.
Most recently, he was in charge of special teams and defensive backs at Byron P. Steele High School in the San Antonio area. His team reached the Class 6A District 2 semifinals last season, the 17th straight postseason appearance in his coaching career, he said.
He now hopes to bring that level of success to a program reeling from a tough 2023 campaign.
The Falcons had seven straight winning seasons, which included reaching the 4A title game in 2018, before falling into tough times last fall, finishing 1-9.
The lack of wins could be attributed to the loss of a talented 2022 senior class. Though, it's likely a sudden change in leadership didn't make things any easier. Longtime coach Mike Silva quietly departed ahead of the season, with the district saying that he'd "decided to retire from coaching" after an inquiry from BoCoPreps.com. Erick Childers took over in his absence.
"They've been a successful program. They went to the state championship six or seven years ago," Vogt said, sounding undeterred by the recent turbulence. "I'm really looking forward to working with the new principal Anthony Barela. We both have the same philosophy: a relentless pursuit of excellence."
Vogt is the son of former Cherry Creek quarterback John Vogt, who went on to play at the University of Colorado and University of Northern Colorado. They moved around as part of John's 50-plus years of high school and college coaching. His first state title as a coach came under Sam Pagano, when Fairview was a co-champ in 1978.
Outside of his 17 years coaching in Texas, Skyline's new coach also had a three-year stint coaching the defense at Durango High School, which was led by his brother David, who took the Demons to their only outright state title in program history in 2020.
Vogt, with a master's degree in educational leadership from Texas Tech, said he is eager to get started. He said he hopes to have the rest of his football staff finalized by the end of the month.
