Central has hired a new head football coach, Brandon Colpitts. The Pine Needle sat down and asked him what his goals were for the team and how he planned to reach them.

By: Kaydence Johnson and Clancy Kimble  

“What happens on the field at each game is a product of your team’s culture and process.” This is the philosophy of Central High School’s new head football coach, Brandon Colpitts. Spending the last five years at Yankton as a special teams coach and previously attending USD for college football, he is enthusiastic to come to Central because he wants to make a positive impact and feels there is lots of potential within the program.  

As a high school athlete, his coach made a huge impact on his athletic career. The advice he took away from his mentor is this: Win the day. You are a product of your habits. What you do today will determine whether you get where you want to be tomorrow. Helping him to see potential in himself, he knew since he was a freshman in high school that he wanted to do the same for future athletes. ”I want them to realize what it takes to be successful in every avenue in life. But more importantly I want them to know how to be good people that will be positive members of society.” 

When asked what he feels needs to shift the most for Cobbler Football, Colpitts says he wants to focus on doing the little things right on a day-to-day basis above anything else. He claims what happens on the field is a product of the team’s culture and process off the field. “They are student athletes first. Playing the game of football is a privilege, not a right. They will be held to a championship-level standard that will demand them to do the right things all the time.” Holding student athletes to a high standard, keeping them accountable, and developing relationships is how he plans to lay the foundation for the new era of Cobbler Football. “I’ll love them like my own family,” says Colpitts. 

This seems like a huge task to take on, but that doesn’t intimidate him. Colpitts didn’t apply for any other coaching positions at the time, stating, “I feel like I am doing what I am called to do. It very much feels like part of my purpose in life.” His wife was a Cobbler, and this created the spark of his interest. “The program has not had a lot of success on the field in the last decade and I am excited to help the team grow and develop into a winning culture.”  

Along with the importance of developing the team, Colpitts wants to be involved more with the community as well. The team will be doing numerous community outreach events as a team to make a positive impact on the student body and Rapid City community, he informed us. “I want Friday nights to be a special experience for not only our players but also for the fans and students.” 

Colpitts has loved the game of football for as long as he can remember and didn’t need a lot of motivating. “I really just needed someone to believe in me and show me how to become the best man and player I could be. My parents and high school football coach did that for me.” It’s clear that he hopes to have the same effect on his own players here at Central, and we couldn’t be more excited to see where he can take the program.