Jan 27 Football: Santa Rita will hire ex-UA QB Heavner - Arizona Daily Star

Santa Rita will hire former Arizona Wildcats quarterback Kris Heavner as its new head coach.

Eagles assistant principal Michael Beck said the move will become official as soon as all the paperwork is completed and the hire is approved by the Tucson Unified School District governing board. That's expected to happen next week.

Beck said the school interviewed a handful of candidates Wednesday and brought three back for second interviews before deciding on Heavner.

"In our opinion, Kris is the person who can make Santa Rita back into one of the top teams in the state," Beck said. "He has the drive and determination to do that.

"We're confident he's the right fit."

Heavner spent the past four years working with the Wildcats.

He spent three years as an office aide to former coach Mike Stoops before being promoted to offensive graduate assistant this past season.

The Fredericksburg, Texas, native wasn't retained by new coach Rich Rodriguez and was looking for a new job.

Heavner, 27, and his wife, Kristen, are expecting a baby boy in March and didn't want to leave Tucson because Kristen is a nurse at University Medical Center.

Heavner hooked up with Salpointe Catholic coach Dennis Bene and was going to be an offensive assistant coach for the Lancers.

Instead, he was contacted by Santa Rita last week and Bene encouraged him to interview for the opening.

"I asked him, straight up, because I had just joined his staff, if this was his son, what would he encourage him to do," Heavner said.

"He told me, 'You better take that job if they offer it to you.' "

The former Wildcats quarterback, who also played at Baylor for a season, went into the interview with a plan he directly learned from Stoops and the Arizona program.

It's a four-quarter plan that stresses how football is a 12-month commitment.

"The first quarter starts the day your season ends," Heavner said. "There, you get in the weight room and start rehabbing. The second quarter is spring football where you start the drills. The third quarter is the power phase where you build your team with summer workouts.

"And the fourth quarter is your regular season and hopefully includes winning some ballgames."

Heavner will take over for Harold Coleman, who led the Eagles for two seasons and went 6-13.

The Eagles went to back-to-back state championship games in 2008 and 2009 under Jeff Scurran and made a semifinal appearance in 2007 in Scurran's first year.