Rick Walsworth is in uncharted territory — the first football coach to work at all three area high schools.
What the new Camp Verde High School head football coach has done, though, is create prolific offenses and revive a program. Walsworth’s 15-year experience in the area, knowing how to work with small numbers and knowledge of the programs, has given him an edge. However, it was the type of coaching and values he brings that made him fit with the Cowboys.
“I’ve had two head coaching jobs in the past, and I thought this would be a good challenge for me,” Walsworth said. “I’m excited, I’m looking forward to the opportunity. The kids I’ve met and already worked with I’m excited about. It seems like we’ve got some really good kids here, and I’m just looking forward to working with them and getting to know them better and try to help put them in a position to be successful during the season and in life going forward.”
Despite the fact that he had successful coaching stints at Sedona Red Rock and Mingus Union high schools, Walsworth said in the end all of the schools are in unique situations. Mingus is the largest, and during recent years the enrollment numbers at Red Rock and Camp Verde have virtually traded places.
Nonetheless his time with the Marauders and Scorpions were fruitful. Walsworth was at Mingus from 2003 to 2009 and again from 2014 to 2016, where he was the offensive coordinator beginning in 2006.
The Marauders were state runners-up in 2005 and 2007, and was a semifinalist in 2009. He took over a Red Rock program in 2010 that dressed less than 15 players, including zero seniors, every Friday night and had won just five games during the previous four seasons.
Walsworth led the Scorpions to 6-4 records in 2012 and 2013, and to a state playoff berth in 2012. He was an assistant coach with the Scorpions in 2017 as well. That success came from being able to convince the players to commit to putting in the necessary offseason work.
That senior class he finally had, all of five players, was proof of what that work could do: It had a winning record, went to state and beat rival Camp Verde all in one season. For him, it is about more than wins and losses.
“It was a great group of kids that I had, and I just really enjoyed the kids that I coached [at Red Rock],” Walsworth said. “I’m mostly proud of the relationships I’ve built with those guys that I was coaching.”
His first head coaching job was in his native Arkansas, in 2001 at Hackett High School.
The 1999 University of Arkansas graduate said it was at Hackett High School that he realized he had a lot more to learn to as a head coach. Under former Mingus head coach Bob Young, he did.
“I’ve just had lots of experience and seeing different ways of doing things,” Walsworth said. “Working 10 years with Coach Young was a staggering amount of experience, being able to work in the successful program that he built, and getting to work myself into being an intricate part of that staff and those offenses that we had for a lot of years.”
His football resume stands out, and former Camp Verde head coach and Mingus assistant Jerry Rhoades — whose position Walsworth took over at Mingus in 2003 — referred him to Camp Verde Athletic Director Mark Showers.
Helping Showers’ decision was the fact that he will also be a physical education teacher, but moreover his philosophies align with those of Camp Verde’s: Develop outstanding community members.
“We take our little community very seriously, and we want people that are going to be able to fit into our community and be able to work with our kids,” Showers said. “We really felt like Coach Walsworth was somebody that was serious about coming in and developing relationships with our kids, and that is so key to coaching.”
Robert Ortiz, Mingus Union High School’s first-year head football coach, played for Walsworth during his time at Mingus. Ortiz was his teacher’s aid in his senior year, and he said they had conversations about football from a coach’s perspective.
Those types of conversations, along with his player’s-coach personality, made Walsworth one of the people who got Ortiz into coaching in the first place. Walsworth said the best coaches are good teachers, and Ortiz said that he is going to use some of the things Walsworth taught him in his day.
The thing that stood out to Ortiz most, though, was his ability to adapt to the talent at his disposal. He is an offensive-minded coach who likes to run the triple option with the self-labeled temperament of former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy.
“He’s definitely one of the smartest coaches I’ve ever been around,” Ortiz said. “You could have conversations with him, and if you had questions on why we were doing things he would typically take time to explain and express his thought process on why we were doing certain things that we were doing.”
One thing common between Camp Verde and Red Rock is the small enrollment. He has met with the Cowboys seniors already and hopes to have between 30 and 40 players come out this year. His prior experience with the Scorpions will help.
“Having small numbers you really learn to appreciate the kids that you’ve got because they’re willing to put in the time and the effort and they’re there for the right reasons, and I feel like I need to make it about them as much as I possibly can,” Walsworth said. “A coach’s job is to put kids in a position to be successful, and that’s what I try to do.”
After having been the Red Rock head coach at the start of the decade and an assistant last season, Walsworth acknowledged the irony of taking over at its rival school in Camp Verde. With a three-year stint at Mingus in between, and being practically out of the rivalry, it did not feel like a direct switch.
Looking at the schedule for this season excites Walsworth. He expects to be in a competitive game every Friday this fall — no blowout wins or losses.
In terms of goals, Walsworth said it depends on what the team “earned the right to expect.” The team has been practicing two days a week in June, and will go up to three in July, when the real work begins.
No matter what, the Camp Verde players and faithful can expect to have a head football coach who will work on achieving excellence on and off the gridiron.
This story was updated on Wednesday, June 13, to correct information on Mingus Union High School’s 2005 and 2007 state championship game appearances. It was orginially reported that it was champion both years.
