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Adam Schiermyer changing culture of Skyline football
BY ZACH ALVIRA
Tribune Sports Editor
Adam Schiermyer knew taking over a Skyline program that has struggled as of late would be a challenge. But it’s one that he embraced.
Building up a program is something he had become used to in his three years as offensive coordinator at Eastmark. With his help, the Firebirds became a playoff team in just their second varsity season.
Rebuilding the Skyline program won’t be easy by any means. But Schiermyer benefits from a group of players that are hungry to win and eager to change the stigma of the program.
“In my eyes, they’re really responding to coaching and our expectations,” Schiermyer said. “They want to be pushed. The cupboards weren’t bare when we got here. I think we’ve done a good job getting kids to come back out for football.”
Schiermyer was hired by Skyline Athletic Director Phil Wail in January to replace former coach George Hawthorne, who led the Coyotes for three seasons but went 5-23 during that span.
Wail surveyed players in the program and asked what they wanted in a head coach. In January, Wail said they wanted someone that would push them to succeed and hold players accountable. Schiermyer fit the mold.
Accountability has been one of the main focuses for this year’s Skyline team as they prepare for the season. Alex Sargent, a 6-foot-2, 280-pound defensive lineman for the Coyotes, said he’s seen a noticeable difference in the discipline among players right away.
In year’s past, he said players wouldn’t take things seriously on or off the field. That’s now changed.
“We are working as hard as we can, on and off the field,” Sargent said. “It’s not just on the field, we have to do our schoolwork, so we are able to play Friday night. It’s very important.”
There was a point in time when Schiermyer thought they would struggle to get 100 players out for practice across all levels. So far, they have 130.
His goal now is to keep the players in the program. His way of doing that is to match their energy level on a daily basis. It’s his
New Skyline coach Adam Schiermyer, with the help of juniors Alex Sargent, “middle,” and Jordan Blake, is out to change the narrative of the Skyline football program by establishing a culture that centers around hard work on and off the field. (Dave Minton/Tribune Staff)
The Arizona Interscholastic Association on Friday announced a new proposal for state track that would crown a true state champion, much like in the Open Division for football and basketball, which will take place for the first time this year. (Dave Minton/Tribune Staff)
seeSKYLINE page 30
AIA introduces big school sports changes
BY ZACH ALVIRA
Tribune Sports Editor
The Arizona Interscholastic Association Executive Board on Monday approved an extra state track division and a true state championship format.
The proposal was announced Aug. 12 during the first annual AIA media day held at the association’s offices in Phoenix. Executive Director David Hines also had updates on other sports, including football, basketball and girls flag football.
“We will run a true state championship with a trophy and a banner,” Hines said. “We are going to have a California-style state meet where the elite of the elite get to go against each other.” State track will now have a fifth division. Currently, there are four divisions, with the fourth designated for schools in the 1A, 2A and 3A conferences.
Division V will be for 1A and 2A schools and leave Division IV for 3A teams. The other divisions — I, II and III — would remain unchanged, servicing 6A through 4A schools.
The proposal also included a new format for the state championship meet, which typically kicks off in the second week of May.
The meet will now begin a week earlier and crown division state champions. Divisions IV and V would compete at one location over the course of two days. Divisions II and III would compete the same day at a separate site, and Division I on its own elsewhere.
From there, the top 18 athletes and teams for all events in all divisions will be merged and move on to compete in preliminaries of the overall state championship meet.
The top nine from each event would move on to the second day of the state meet. There, state championships for individuals and teams will be crowned.
“We have done a lot of data on that,” Hines said. “At one point we would’ve had a 1A kid win the state championship, it was a girl that ran the 100. We had multiple kids at 2A and 3A that would be state champions and then of course four, five and six. It will be fun to watch.”
way of showing them that their success is important to him.
Schiermyer admits he is hard on players in practice. He pushes them to their limit at times, but they have all come to realize it’s for their own good. It also helps when Schiermyer is right there doing the work with them.
“If I’m going to ask them to run on and off the field, I’m going to do it with them,” Schiermyer said. “If I’m going to ask them to hustle their butts off, I’m going to hustle. I don’t want to be the guy that just stands there and directs. I want to be a part of it.”
Skyline’s last taste of success came when Angelo Paffumi was at the helm. In 2015, Paffumi coached the Coyotes to a 12-1 record, which included a trip to the Division II – equivalent to the 5A Conference – semifinals. A year later, Skyline went 9-2 before a 6-5 campaign in 2017 and 5-5 in 2018.
During that time, Schiermyer was an assistant coach under Preston Jones at Perry. He helped lead the Pumas to the championship in 2017 and 2018 with Brock and Chubba Purdy at quarterback,
AIA from page 29
New for Open Division football
The Open Division for football was introduced in 2019 to bring together the 6A-4A conferences and to crown a true state football champion.
At the time, Saguaro was dominating at the 4A level. The Sabercats were moved up to the 5A level two years ago and again to 6A with the most recent update to the football classifications. That change also brought up teams like Cactus and American Leadership Academy - Queen Creek, two 4A schools that made the Open Division last season.
Hines said a vote in May by the 4A Conference committee to continue including the conference in the Open Division finished in a tie. But to offset that, new multipliers were introduced.
All 6A teams will receive a multiplier of 10 after the regular season. Teams in the 5A Conference will have a multiplier of nine and 4A teams a multiplier of eight. Hines said this will even the playing field, to a certain degree.
In retrospect, it will reward teams that play a tougher schedule in the higher conferences. And while it doesn’t fully eliminate 4A teams from contention, it respectively.
Schiermyer learned how to be a successful coach during his time at Perry and Eastmark. He knows what it takes to run a program the right way and how to lead it to success. It starts with the work ethic
from players and them buying into the philosophies of coaches. Now, with the season beginning shortly, it’s about putting it all together. Junior running back Jordan Blake believes they’ve made good progress so far. “We don’t want to be seen as a losing team anymore,” Blake said. “We want to Schiermyer was hired in January to take over the Skyline program. He get back to what previously was the offensive coordinator at Eastmark where he turned the Firebirds into a playoff program in short order. Now he’s hoping to lead Skyline to success. (Dave Minton/Tribune Staff) we were when Paffumi was here. We want to be a winning team. We want to get some banners in the gym.” Skyline moved down to the 5A Conference this season from 6A after the latest AIA reclassification that takes place for football programs every two years.
makes their path to the Open harder. “Our process of reclassification has made a huge difference in the parity of high school football,” Hines said. “Even with the multiplier, if they’re good enough, a 4A team can still make the Open.”
Basketball Open Division
The AIA will host an Open Division basketball tournament for boys and girls to conclude the winter sports season this year. It will feature the top eight teams from the 6A-4A conferences and the next best rated eight teams from those conferences.
Those 32 will be put into a bracket, with the first round taking place before other conference tournaments. The second round of the Open tournament will coincide with conference play-in games, which feature an additional 16 teams.
Those who are eliminated from the Open Division will be placed back into the conference playoffs with teams that win play-in games.
Those teams from the Open will maintain their original ranking before being taken to the Open tournament. The eight who remain in the Open will then play for a true state championship, much like the football format. Conference champions will still be crowned for 1A-6A.
From the start of basketball playoffs through the first few days of March, the AIA will host 275 tournament games. All championship games will take place at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
“It’s a humongous job but we’ve worked with the coaches and our schools, and we think we are going to have, basically, 30 days of state basketball,” Hines said.
Hines said the AIA will also introduce 335-second shot clocks for 3A-6A conferences this season. The 1A and 2A voted against them.
During the regular season, shot clocks will be used if schools have technology in place. If they don’t, games will be played without them.
In the playoffs, however, shot clocks are mandatory for all games. If a host school does not have the technology, the games will be moved to a different venue.
“All state games, 3A through 6A, will use a shot clock,” Hines said.
Girls flag football
Girls flag football has grown exponentially in the last few years. The Chandler district crowned its first-ever champion after district-play between the six high schools last spring.
THE MESA TRIBUNE | AUGUST 21, 2022
Schiermyer and his players expect the move to help the Coyotes compete in non-region games. He also has faith in his players to remain competitive against region opponents. Though, he admits the 5A Northeast Valley is still a gauntlet with Desert Mountain and Notre Dame Prep, two teams that could make a push for the Open Division, leading the way.
He knows for his team to be successful it will require support from everyone on campus. He’s already received that from administrators and fellow teachers. He’s received it from the team booster club, too. But he hopes to provide free food and a fun game day atmosphere for students to get them to pack Coyote Stadium for home games.
That’s something that has crossed his mind several times already, running out onto the field with his players in front of their peers. It’s a moment he is excited for.
“I’m getting goosebumps right now just thinking about it,” Schiermyer said. “I just want to go out there and compete. Most coaches are in it for the competition because they were a competitor once. Then we hang them up and still have that juice.
“Coaching is one of the ways we get it back.”
With Chandler leading the way, other districts have now started recruiting student-athletes for programs at their high schools. Mountain Pointe, all Mesa schools and others have jumped on board this year. With that, the AIA has identified girls flag football as an emerging sport. If it continues to grow, it could officially become a sanctioned sport under the association as soon as next year.
“We are going to have a committee together and start talking about that,” Hines said. “We are hoping to tie that to state football. The culminating event for that would be tied to our state football.”
