MURRAY — Longtime southern Utah football coach Blaine Monkres was named the new head coach at Murray High, the school announced Wednesday.

Monkres spent the past season as the offensive coordinator at Dixie State, where he was not retained after former defensive coordinator Shay McClure replaced Scott Brumfield as head coach.

He'll have to re-adjust to the colder weather from that in Southern Utah. But the veteran high school coach spoke with enthusiasm by phone from his home Wednesday night.

"I'm excited about it. There are a lot of people that my wife talks to from Murray, and people I know from Murray, and we've never heard any bad things," Monkres said. "It's a great place to work, and a great place to go to school. The administration is great to work for. It all adds up to signs of a good working environment, which can lead to having success at the school."

Monkres has 25 years of play-calling experience, helping to lead Dixie High to two state championships, two Region 9 titles and two more appearances in the state semifinals.

Prior to his time in St. George, Monkres was the head coach at Fremont High, where he led the Silver Wolves to three Region 2 titles and a state finals appearance after helping Morgan High win a state championship.

In all, Monkres' teams have qualified for the state playoffs 21 times.

"That kind of record is unparalleled," Murray principal John Goldhardt said in a statement. "It is a huge honor for us to have coach Monkres at Murray High. He is well-respected and admired throughout the state. His winning record is substantial, but I am even more impressed with his record of helping young men learn principles of character and his high expectations of academic success."

In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Monkres will work as a full-time physical education teacher at Murray.

He replaces former Murray coach Mike Richmond, who stepped down after four seasons at the school. Richmond led an unprecedented turnaround for the Spartans, taking a team that won just two games in his first two seasons to back-to-back winning seasons that included a first-round upset of Region 7 No. 2 seed Provo in last fall's 4A state playoffs.

Monkres admired the turnaround job Richmond performed, and said he's been regularly speaking with him to make the transition as seamless as possible.

"I don't want it to be a huge change for the kids when I get there. Hopefully we'll do a lot of the same things, and hopefully it won't be too big of a change," said Monkres, who hasn't spoken with Richmond about joining the staff, but didn't rule it out in the future. "It's not something that has to be taken from the ground-up. Mike's done a great job, and hopefully we're just building on what he has done."

Richmond finished his four-year tenure at Murray with a 15-26 record — after the Spartans had experienced just one winning season in the previous 16 years.

"It's an exciting time," Monkres said. "I'm looking forward to meeting the kids and getting to know them, then getting to work out and get back on the field."

Dons tab Davis DC to lead program

Spanish Fork also announced a hiring Wednesday, naming former Davis High defensive coordinator Preston Parrish as its next head coach.

Parrish replaces former coach Jordan Smith, who resigned last month after helping the Dons to a 5-6 overall record and third-place playoff bid in Region 8. A graduate of Bountiful High, Parrish was an all-state lineman who went on to play four years at Portland State and earning a master's degree in education from the University of Phoenix.

Parrish spent nine years at Davis, stepping into the defensive coordinator position in 2012.

"My wife and I have been looking to move further south and I felt Spanish Fork was a good opportunity," Parrish told Provo's Daily Herald. "I know Spanish Fork has been moved up and down between 5A, 4A and 3A, but the size of the school doesn't necessarily determine if you will win or lose.

"Even though Spanish Fork is one of the smaller 4A schools, it has a good athletic and football reputation."

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