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Mesquite football coach steps down

BY ZACH ALVIRA GSN Sports Editor

Scott Hare, who led the Mesquite Wildcats the last three seasons and won back-to-back 4A state titles in 2018-19, announced Monday he has stepped down as the program’s head football coach.

Hare, who has recently obtained two master’s degrees and is in the process of completing his doctorate in sports leadership, said completing his dissertation was one of the main reasons for him stepping away as it will take “a great deal of time and energy.”

“I will explore various options in leadership, sliding over to more of an advisory role within the football community,” Hare said in a prepared statement. “I would like to be back as a head coach in the near future, but now is the time to for me to develop personally.”

Hare spent the past three seasons building Mesquite into a powerhouse at the 4A level.

The Wildcats went 30-8 overall in his three years, winning two 4A state titles with former five-star quarterback and current Oregon Duck Ty Thompson leading the offense. This past season, Mesquite was written off after losing Thompson and star wideout Eric Lira to graduation. The Wildcats were thumped in the first game to Open Division-bound Cactus but responded with yet another trip to the semifinals.

More important than the wins, however, were the relationships Hare said he built with players and his staff. His father and brother joined him for the two championship runs, something he cherished in real time and now after it has ended.

“More important than the wins, have been the relationships I have cultivated with awesome student-athletes who really bought into the standards and high expectations that allowed us to be successful on and off the field,” Hare said. “I hope they enjoyed the process as much as I did.”

Before Mesquite, Hare coached at Anderson High School in California in the early 2000s. He was hired to rebuild a struggling Spanish Springs (Nev.) team after an 0-10 campaign. He led the program for eight years, going 37-46

Mesquite’s Scott Hare announced Monday he has stepped down as head football coach to focus on his dissertation as he pursues his doctorate in sports leadership.

(Zac BonDurant/GSN Contributor) see HARE page 27

Arizona Arsenal to hold soccer tryouts

BY ZACH ALVIRA GSN Sports Editor

Arizona Arsenal Soccer Club, one of the top organizations for youth soccer in the state, is further expanding its empire to cater to adults looking to play at a high level.

Arsenal announced Wednesday it had become the latest club to expand and join the United Premier Soccer League and Women’s Premier Soccer League. The leagues, which cater to players ages 1830 in a highly competitive club format, are among the largest professional-development organizations in the country and world.

Teams in the two leagues span across the country. The women’s league alone has more than 125 teams with Arizona Arsenal being the latest to join.

“We at Arizona Arsenal Soccer Club are super excited about this,” said Ty Iannone, the general manager of Arsenal’s two team joining the Premier Soccer League. “We’re going to expand into the professional soccer realm now. We want to give something to our youth they can strive for and play with. It will be the top team, in some sense.”

Iannone said the process of putting these two teams together and joining the UPSL has been a long one. He, alongside Arsenal Technical Director Dave Belfort, Arizona Arsenal Soccer Club recently announced it was named an expansion for the United Premier Soccer League, a professional-development league catering to high-level players ranging from ages 18-30. Tryouts will be held in three sessions in February at Bell

have worked countless hours trying to put the logistics in place for the teams to join as expansions for Arizona.

But they managed to get it done. Now, comes the fun part: finding players.

Arsenal will hold three tryouts for prospective players for both the men’s and women’s teams. The cost per player to tryout will be $50, which allows them to attend all three days – though not a requirement.

Tryouts will be held Thursday, Feb. 10, Wednesday, Feb. 16 and Monday, Feb. 28 on the turf fields at Bell Bank Park, the new multi-million-dollar sports and entertainment facility that recently opened in Mesa. Bell Bank, which is managed by Legacy Sports USA and partnered with Arsenal, will host all home matches for the two teams in the UPSL. Games will be played inside the main stadium at the park.

“With our staff and with our partnership with Legacy, I think it’s going to be really exciting,” Iannone said. “I’m excited to see where it goes. I’m going to be playing for one of the teams as well.”

Iannone and Belfort are currently in the process of securing sponsors for the team. Iannone hopes, aside from the tryouts, players will not have to come out of pocket for any costs related to playing for the two teams.

In total, they hope to have 40 players per roster.

Arsenal joins FC Arizona and FC Tucson as another club team from the state to join the UPSL. In total, 18 teams are joining as expansions for the 2022 season, including Arsenal. “We are excited to finally get it launched and have the tryouts and get to compete against other teams in the area,” Iannone said. “We are trying to make this as professional as possible and create a steppingstone for our youth and an opportunity for our alumni to play for the summer and get ready for the MLS Draft, college or wherever they may be playing.

“I think this is good not only for Arsenal, but all of Arizona.”

For more information about the tryout process and to register, visit www. azarsenalsc.org/upsl. during that span.

In 2014 he was hired to take over the Mesa football program for Kelley Moore, who five years earlier led the Jackrabbits on an improbable run to the state title game where they fell to Hamilton.

He coached Mesa for two seasons, reaching the quarterfinals in his second year before stepping down to focus on his education. It was during that time he entered into an administrative role at Mesquite as athletic director. But when Chad DeGrenier stepped down to take on the Mesa job in 2018, he also stepped down to return to the sideline to coach Mesquite.

Hare said he hopes to one day return to the sideline as a head coach. But for now, he plans to explore options in a leadership role and become an advisory for the football community.

“I would like to be back as a head coach in the near future, but now is the time to for me to develop personally,” Hare said. “I have been incredibly blessed in my life and look forward to where the future takes me.”

Mesquite now becomes the latest East Valley program that will have a new head coach next fall. Westwood was the first to announce its new head coach in former Higley assistant Brandon Large, who took over for a retiring Kyle Ide. Former Westwood defensive coordinator Sean Freeman was hired to take over at Tempe.

Perry hired Joe Ortiz from Cactus to take over the program for the retiring Preston Jones. Corona del Sol hired Casa Grande’s Jake Barro after former coach Jon Becktold also announced his retirement. Desert Vista recently tabbed Sierra Linda’s Nate Gill as its next head coach after the school agreed to part ways with Ty Wisdom in December. Wisdom has since been hired at Millard South in Nebraska.

Skyline hired former Eastmark offensive coordinator Adam Shiermyer to rebuild its program, while Red Mountain last Friday announced coach Mike Peterson retired and promoted defensive coordinator Kyle Enders.

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