Goodyear High football builds program with details in mind

By Richard Smith
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Everything is falling into place for Goodyear High School and its signature football program.

The initial phases of the nearly $98 million campus on 55 acres on the southwest corner of the intersection of Cotton Lane and Van Buren Street are coming into focus.

Freshmen will start class at the school Aug. 5 and learn about its academy model of a college-like course focus.

Administration even had a little luck on their side during the early months of construction on the former site of Phoenix Trotting Park.

“This used to be the old horse track. Where we are (the football stadium) is the practice facility. It was always a really bad location for them. It’s funny how things come full circle,” Principal Jason Linn said. “They found an old horseshoe. So we’re going to put a plaque on the wall and we’re going to mount that shoe on it. We found out that the first horse to win a race on this track was called Burrsville. We’re going to call it Burrsville’s shoe. It’s kind of like Howard’s Rock at Clemson.”

Agua Fria Union High School District hired Linn as Goodyear High principal in April 2023. At the time he was the Desert Edge athletic director, and he will reprise that role for the first year of two at the new school.

For two years, Linn focused on details of all aspects of the campus. But he was an assistant football coach for a decade at Desert Edge, including on the school’s first state title team in 2015.

Linn served as the Scorpions’ strength and conditioning coach, and can get in the weeds about building a program in the marquee sport.

He hired Pat Parnell as the school’s founding football coach in early December. It is Parnell’s first head coaching job, though he served as interim head coach at Eastlake High School in Sammamish, Wash. in 2012.

“I think it’s kind of a once in a lifetime deal,” Parnell said. “I told my staff and players to soak this up.”

That special feeling includes the Goodyear High School football stadium, which features a second, smaller artificial turf field just on the other side of the fence. It will be a place for younger kids to throw the ball around during the games and for athletes to warm up before competition.

Green and blue panels are built into the Mavericks’ home stands.

While the Mavericks start play this fall with only a freshman team, 11 coaches are already on staff.

The program set up a feeder youth team in the Junior Mavs. Parnell is making connections to local sponsors to support the program.

“There’s no reason why we can’t, in a short period of time, be one of the premier programs in the state,” Parnell said.

A drone's eye view of the Goodyear High School stadium for football, soccer and track. (Goodyear High School)

A place to call home

Parnell arrived in the Valley with his wife, Kim, and children and without a coaching job. He and his family were tired of the instability of life as a college assistant coach — which lured Parnell out of coaching at high schools in Washington to Jacksonville and then Davis, California.

Rather than moving back to Washington, the Parnell family picked a state that emphasizes high school football. He landed at Canyon View High School in the Agua Fria district last fall, coaching the defensive line.

“The energy is the big piece. His passion for kids to strive for greatness in everything they do — failure is not an option for him. We’re going to have him be our student support specialist. He’s going to be a champion for all kids,” Linn said.

He said Parnell cares about kids beyond their play and thinks outside the box, importing some ideas for the program building from his college experience.

Program building gets down to details like a four-year plan for what jerseys the Mavericks will wear each step of the way.

Goodyear has 38-40 incoming freshmen who have been part of the  program since February. The Mavericks met for Friday night camps in February and March and spring ball in April. A summer of 7-on-7 and big man competitions just wrapped.

“The biggest thing is they are high effort players and extremely coachable,” Parnell said.

Players learn quickly and rarely repeat their mistakes.

Wednesday, Aug. 27 is not only the football team’s first game and first home game — against the Canyon View freshmen. As of now it is the first time any Goodyear Mavericks team will wear the green and blue.

“A football program that’s going well is pretty indicative of how the school’s going,” Linn said. “It generates the funds to be able to pay the referees for the rest of the year. I think it’s a great opportunity for the football kids. Whether they like it or not, they’re going to be viewed as leaders on this campus.”

Weights with Goodyear High logos were set up in the new school's weight room June 30. (Richard Smith/West Valley Preps)

Building lift by lift

Goodyear High’s weight room is basically finished with more than 20 racks in place, The weights came in June 30.

With years of experience, Linn prioritized a strength and conditioning coach for the athletic program, not just football.

Kawika Henderson worked as a strength and conditioning coach for Dysart High football as well as professional athletes and an FBI Counter Terrorism Unit. The Mavericks strength coach is a competitive powerlifter and CrossFit athlete.

“He, Jason and I have an alignment on how we want to develop kids. We have very different personalities,” Parnell said.

As the school is built, the football team is doing drills and taking weights out to Falcon Park near Millennium High.

The Mavericks began to feel more like a team on a campus visit earlier this summer. 

“Everybody was wearing a Goodyear polo and for the first time we felt like a team,” Parnell said.

A program’s culture goes beyond players and coaches and extends to parents, how they raise their kids and how they talk about the program, Parnell said.

This is a rare opportunity to start with a blank slate.

“You really don’t have to fight any negative behaviors,” Parnell said.

Teaming up on a staff

Running backs coach Dan Poffinbarger coached with Parnell at Canyon View.

Parnell coached new inside linebackers coach David Hernandez at Eastlake in 2011.

Defensive line coach Lionell Wiggins played for the Jacksonville Sharks of the Indoor Football League in 2024.

“The people that are supposed to be there are showing up,” Parnell said.

Parnell believes in analytics and hired two coaches for analytics and quality control.

Linn’s ties helped bring in offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Trevor Chaco, the line coach at Desert Edge and defensive coordinator at St. Mary’s Catholic. Wide receivers coach Colin Poe worked alongside Linn on the Desert Edge staff.

“It’s a lot harder than people think to hire a football staff with only freshman. I don’t know if some people think it’s a downgrade. You look for the right person to start the program,” Linn said.

Parnell and Linn never worked together until December but have found a unity of purpose.

“Me being new to Arizona, there’s been a lot of conversations and side texts,” Parnell said. “That alignment is huge and he’s been fantastic.”

Building an identity at the start is crucial, Linn said, and a poor early culture makes for a rough first decade. The first two years will set up the next 10 or more.

Both coach and principal are aligned that how the Mavericks build a winner on and off the field is of equal or greater importance as the victories themselves.

“Everything has been funneled through our mission statement. Our mission is to cultivate a championship football program that will pursue competitive greatness while serving and empowering those around us,” Parnell said.

Richard Smith
Senior News Editor | Glendale & West Valley Preps

rsmith@iniusa.org

Richard Smith has been with Independent Newsmedia since 2016, and worked at a Sun City-based news outfit covering the Northwest Valley for 22 consecutive years.

An NAU alum and lifelong Arizona resident, Richard began as a copy editor and page designer at Surprise Today and the Daily News-Sun, then rekindled his love of sports writing by taking the reins on West Valley Preps in 2008.

For most of the mid-2010s he was the Surprise editor and West Valley Preps reporter. Now he’s the West Valley Preps Editor and Surprise Associate Editor.

As COVID restrictions slowly lift, Richard is cautiously optimistic he will visit book stores, football fields and gyms again this fall.